Drugs and Medicinal Plants. 



452 



[Mat 1908. 



COCAINE IN INDIA. 



We have been desired to solicit the 

 co-operation of the home trade with the 

 authorities in India and the best of the 

 Indian drug-trade in controlling the dis- 

 tribution of cocaine and its congeners 

 which have caused most deplorable 

 ravages by excessive use among the 

 native population of our great depen- 

 dency. The present is an opportune 

 time for presenting facts which may 

 not be as well known n Europe as they 

 are to English chemists in our great 

 dependency. 



In India cocaine is commonly dealt 

 in by persons (including pedlars and 

 hawkers) of a lower class than dealers in 

 Europe, and its use as a stimulant has 

 so spread as to become a national danger. 

 The authorities can expect little help 

 from the general public in their cam- 

 paign against the cocaine-habit, and 

 there is good reason to believe that the 

 native subordinates, on whom they 

 must depend, are often not above the 

 temptations which are offered to them 

 to collude in the malpractices which 

 they may detect. It therefore behoves 

 all honest dealers in cocaine to co-oper- 

 ate with the Government. This applies 

 particularly to English and Continental 

 wholesale druggists or drug-houses. 

 India obtains its cocaine entirely from 

 Europe, and the Indian dealers would 

 have little opportunity for the evasion 

 of the regulations by which Government 

 attempts to regulate the trade in the 

 drug if only the wholesalers who supply 

 them would study those regulations and 

 co-operate in making them effective. 

 The wholesale trade as a body have acted 

 up to the high standard of English com- 

 mercial integrity, but there are excep- 

 tions, all but one being in Germany. 



The regulations in force in the Punjab 

 are typical of those in other Provinces. 

 Bengal was the first to adopt, in 1902, 

 regulations respecting the importation 

 and sale of cocaine; Bombay followed 

 in 1903, then Madras, and in 1906 the 

 sanction of the Legislature was given to 

 a measure which enabled the Punjab to 

 issue rules and regulations (C. & D., 

 1906, II., p. 627). Now the cocaine-trade 

 throughout India is at present controlled 

 by the Government, which prohibits the 

 use of the Post Office for the import- 

 ation of the drug, and officers connected 

 with the mail and postal service have 

 been authorised co search postal articles 

 suspected of containing the drug, and to 

 take steps for its confiscation. The 

 Government also restricts the importa- 

 tion of cocaine by means other than the 

 post to persons or their authorised 

 agents who have been especially per- 



mitted to import the drug by a local 

 Government or Administration (i.e., the 

 authorities of one of the Provinces), 

 Customs officers at the seaports are in- 

 structed not to pass cocaine to any ex- 

 cept persons so authorised. From infor- 

 mation which we have received from 

 correspondents it appears that evasion 

 of the Government control over the 

 trade is most often effected by post, and 

 it is therefore desirable to recall the 

 rules and regulations. We site those of 

 the Punjab, which are the most recent, 

 and are practically the same as in other 

 Provinces. According to these the 

 possessions of cocaine, except under a 

 licence, is forbidden saving the special 

 cases (a), (b), (c) noted below. The rules 

 apply to eucaine, novacocaine, tropa-co- 

 caine, alypin, and all admixtures or pre- 

 parations of these, as well as to cocaine. 

 The special cases are : 



(a) Possessions of the drugs, purchased 

 from a duly authorised vendor for all 

 medicinal purposes, on the prescription 

 of a person who practises medicine accor- 

 ding to Western methods ; 



(6) Possession of the drugs, up to the 

 limit of 1 oz. each, required for the 

 exercise of his profession, by a person 

 who has beeu registered under a Euro- 

 pean or American Medical Act, or who 

 has received a medical diploma from an 

 Indian University or College, and who 

 practises medicine according to Western 

 methods ; and 



(c) Possession up to the limit of 1 oz. 

 as in (b) required for the exercise of his 

 profession, by a person who has received 

 a European or American degree in dental 

 surgery and who practises dental surgery 

 in the European method. 



In no other case is unlicensed posses- 

 sion allowed, and unlicensed sale is for- 

 bidden in all cases. A qualified medical 

 practitioner or dentist may without a 

 license dispense cocaine or its substitutes 

 in his own prescriptions, but if he sells 

 them he must be licensed to do so. 

 Licenses for sale are issued free of charge 

 but they are not given to any person 

 who is not a chemist and druggist or 

 medical practitioner. Ordinarily a 

 license is authorised to possess only 1 oz., 

 but in special cases the limit may be 

 raised. The alkaloids must be kept and 

 sold in approved and specified premises, 

 and may be purchased by a license f rom 

 Europe or from another licensed vendor 

 in India. Licensees are required to 

 register their transactions in cocaine or 

 its substitutes, and may sell them to 

 any other licensee or to a qualified 

 medical practitioner or dentist, but to 

 no other person except upon the pres- 



