June, 1912. J 



508 



Druga and Medicinal Plants. 



medicinal opium, morphine, cocaine, &c, 

 and laying down (4) a system of legisla- 

 tive co-operation to suppress smuggling 

 of opium in China, and also opium smok- 

 ing there, and (5) the processes of accept- 

 ance of the convention by other nations 

 and its ratification. In the respective 

 chapters it is thus provided that the 

 production and distribution of raw opium 

 shall be controlled by laws or regulations 

 of each contracting country which shall 

 limit the number of ports or towns for 

 importation or exportation by authorised 

 persons, and in specially marked pack- 

 ages if above 5 kilos, weight ; or if one 

 country forbid import the others would 

 forbid export, so far as that particular 

 country is concerned. Similarly, in res- 

 pect of prepared opium, each contracting 

 power, so far as its peculiar conditions 

 admit, agreed to the gradual suppres- 

 sion of the manufacture of, and internal 

 traffic in, this article ; importation and 

 exportation was to be prohibited, either 

 immediately or as soon as possible and, 

 in the case of countries not able to do so 

 at once, similar regulations to those for 

 the export of raw opium to apply. Then 

 in rdgard to item 3, medicinal opium, 

 morphine, cocaine, &c. —a phase of the 

 matter which was dealt with largely 

 through the insistence of Great Britain — 

 the contracting Powers agreed that 

 manufacture, sale, and use should be 

 restricted by laws and regulations to 

 medical and legitimate purposes only, 

 and that for that object manufacture 

 should be limited to authorised premises 

 or places ; persons engaged in any stage 

 of the commerce should be licensed or 

 make an official declaration to the 

 authorities, and a strict account should 

 be kept by them of the quantities hand- 

 led — this not necessarily to apply to 

 medical prescriptions and sales by phar- 

 macists. Such a condition of affairs was 

 to be applied to medicinal opium, to all 

 preparations containing more than 0'2 

 per cent, of morphine, or more than 0*1 

 per cent, heroin, and to all new deriva- 

 tives of morphine, cocaine, or alkaloid of 

 opium, which occasion similar abuse. 



What of the Non-Signing Countries ? 



Thus a fairly close network is pro- 

 posed to be wound round the articles 



indicated, and the chief obstacles at the 

 moment are the Powers who were not 

 represented at the Congress, Those who 

 signed were Germany, the United States, 

 China, France, Great Britain (including 

 India), Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, 

 Persia, Portugal, Russia, and Siam. The 

 list includes nations of great diplomatic 

 influence and power, which will no doubt 

 be brought to bear on the countries 

 which did not participate. With those 

 who signed were three of the chief pro- 

 ducers of raw opium — India, China, and 

 Persia ; the two first have a reciprocal 

 arrangement for the gradual suppression 

 of cultivation, and Persia— from which 

 of course, we get some of our pharmaceu- 

 tical supplies — was professedly fanatical 

 in its desire to squash the trade in all it9 

 aspects, although in doing so it would 

 make a great sacrifice- As an earnest, 

 Persia pointed out that last year it 

 passed a law under which every ex- 

 portation of raw opium was to be con- 

 trolled and stamped by the Government, 

 and that its laws aimed, in eight years, 

 at the suppression of opium smoking in 

 its own territory ; moreover, in the 

 deliberations it wanted all prepared 

 opium entering commerce to be regarded 

 as contraband, seized and confiscated. 

 Persia was, however, the first to ask 

 why the absent countries were not re- 

 presented at the Conference, it being 

 obvious that those countries, if they did 

 not subsequently sign, would be free to 

 cultivate the poppy and produce opium. 

 This view was emphasised also by Prance 

 and Portugal, the latter unsuccessfully 

 endeavouring by resolution to show that 

 co-operation by non-represented nations 

 was indispensable. This was unaccept- 

 able to the British delegation. The in- 

 vitations had been issued, it appears, to 

 those attending the Shanghai conference, 

 in which Turkey did not participate. 

 The non-signatory countries are the 

 Argentine, Austria Hungary, Belgium, 

 Bolivia, Bulgaria, Chili, Colombia, 

 Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Dominica, 

 Ecuador, Spain, Greece, Guatemala. 

 Haiti, Honduras, Luxemburg, Mexico, 

 Montenegro, Nicaragua, Norway, Pana- 

 ma, Paraguay, Peru, Rouraania, Salvador; 



