The Dominion SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 1929. THE DRUG EVIL

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 288, 31 August 1929, Page 10

The Dominion SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 1929. THE DRUG EVIL

A cable message the other day told the story ot the chase and capture of opium smugglers in India. The persistent world-wide traffic in drugs has been the subject of many discussions at the League of Nations’ assemblies. Reform, however, appears to be a slow and difficult task. . ,-o j At a recent meeting of the League an Opium Control Loard was constituted, and plans were evolved for immediate action. This represents the beginning of a new phase in the war which is being waged on the drug traffic. In this particular connection the League organises internationally. It is for Governments to take national action. The League’s part is to suggest the most effective method of coping with the traffic in drugs. The opus of putting these measures into operation is upon the individual Governments concerned. . , , The Hague Convention of 1912 aimed at "the control ot the distribution of raw opium, and also provided for a rigorous restriction of the traffic in prepared opium, the products of which werff to be confined to strictly medical and legitimate purposes. Then came the War and a consequent interruption in the campaign. With the Peace Treaties, the initiative passed to the League of Nations, thus ensuring a continuous survey of the problems involved. . This was done by permanent officials of an international institution capable both of originating new measures and of exercising some degree of pressure upon countries inclined to be dilatory in the performance of their obligations. . • u u Countries where the evil is most prevalent, and from which the traffic can spread most rapidly, like Turkey, not members of the League, or like China, plunged in domestic difficulties, make the control of the traffic most difficult. The smuggling of opium derivatives is extraordinarily lucrative, and at the same time very difficult to detect. The utmost vigilance of Customs officials only captures a fraction of the traffic. • Where laxity of control exists the reactions may be incalculable. The League of Nations recently discovered, as the result of investigations by the Dutch police, that a certain firm during 1927 and the first half of 1928, had exported 932 kilogrammes of morphine. 3015 kilogrammes of heroin, and 60 kilogrammes of cocaine. These went to China, Japan, Turkey, and Austria, and small consignments went to other countries. Actually, the heroin exported by this single firm was equal to over twenty times the annual legitimate needs of Great Britain. The vigilance of a Customs official, in Wellington quite recently resulted in the seizure of a large quantity, of opium. The real problem in dealing with the drug traffic is to get the nations of the world to act in concert, and by co-operative action stop the circulation of drugs. The newly-constituted Opium Control Board is composed of capable investigators, none of them representing Governments, but all chosen by the League of Nations for their individual knowledge and character. The Board is somewhat of an experiment. Whether it will be able to evolve effective measures for the control of the traffic in drugs remains to be seen. Its greatest handicap is the fact, that the traffic is highly remunerative to those engaged in it. Illicit trading in which rich rewards accrue finds divers means of eluding detection.