THE DRUG EVIL IN NANKING

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 170, 15 April 1939, Page 9

THE DRUG EVIL IN NANKING

Thousands Engaged In

Traffic

CONSUMPTION OF OPIUM AND HEROIN

News lias just come to me from a friend, a well-known American long resident in Nanking, about the growth of the drug traffic there, says a writer in the “Manchester Guardian.” He bases his information ou the direct observation of himself and his friends, on the regulations put out by the Opium Suppression Bureau, and the provisional regulations for opium supply establishments and special licences, and on statements from dealers and officials. He is convinced that though there may be minor errors in detail the main picture is true beyond question. My friend writes: — '“The present generation has not known large supply and consumption of opium in Nanking, nor opium sale in a way to attract the poor and ignorant. Opium was used in a private and semi-private manner by certain members of official and merchant groups, usually of the older type, and by few others. Particularly during the last five years has the use of opium ' been, slight, owing to the fairly consistent and cumulative Government pressure against the trade, plus the result of educational effort during the past 30 years. Heroin was practically unknown and enormously expensive (SOO dollars to 1200 dollars an ounce). Today heroin and opium are abundantly supplied by the public authorities, or by those who enjoy their favour and protection. Tens of thousands of persons have become addicts, including children and numerous young people of both sexes. Thousands are engaged in the business. The interests already dependent on the trade for livelihood or for profit are so powerful and extensive that it would require a determined will among the military and civil authorities to crush them. Notorious Officials. “A new generation is .beginning, with the weight of ruling authority thrown in favour of narcotics. Some officials are notorious and open consumers. Public revenues are being built on the ruin of human bodies and spirits. It is made possible for everyone to secure narcotics conveniently and cheaply. More than that, licensed dens in the public system advertise upon the streets that their products increase the health and vigour of those who use them.” T’he report from which I am quoting has already been published in China in the form of an open letter appealing to Japanese and Chinese men “of high character” to reverse the present policy. We British were not so clever in the use we made of our victory in 1918 that we can glibly lecture the Japanese for the way in which they are following up today the capture of Nanking a year ago. But this consideration does not free us from the responsibility of carefully studying the drug-poisoning process which is gradually spreading to so many parts of the world. It is not an exaggeration to soy that the human race is imperilled by the trade. My friend reports separately on the. two evils, opium and heroin. He says: “Of opium the daily sales are GOOD ounces. Most of it comes through Shanghai from Dairen, but 400 cases of Iran opium arrived recently. The broad social view of the policy is indicated by the arrangements for supplying hotels and brothels with special licences, and by private licences to cover marriages and funerals and social entertaining.” But the opium evil seems almost a small thing to those who know what heroin can do to men, women, and, alas! children, too. It looks innocuous, like powdered sugar. It is offered as a gift and swallowed or smoked in ignorance. After a few grains of it one wants more and develops a craving. As it has no odour, the initial stages of addiction are not easily detected by friends, parents, or teachers. Its cheapness is an added danger. Whereas the opium addict’s daily dose costs ninepence, the heroin addict’s will cost only fourpence. The report says: » Users of Heroin. .“A sensible private estimate is that 50,000 persons, one-eighth of the Nanking population, are now users of heroin. Others put it higher. The trade in heroin is private, widely scattered in retail peddling, and conducted by agents who work under a hierarchy of intimates. One friend khows of 72 places of sale. There is general testimony that a good deal of the wholesale trade is carried on by Japanese firms which outwardly deal in other goods but handle heroin through rooms in the rear. The names and addresses of certain of these firms are notorious. In at least one case known to me the premises of the company have represented no other business than the occasional arrival and distribution of fresh stocks of heroin from Shanghai. There is also a petty trade carried on by runners who bring loads of goods from Shanghai on the trains and boats, supplementing their trivial profits by a little heroin and assisting the process by a small bribe to the military police when necessary.” Of course, this sort of thing is not new. It was several years ago that. Japan set up the first pseudo-clinic in ) a Chinese village purporting to cure tuberculosis but selling heroin instead. I suppose it is the close connexion between the poison and the victorious military that makes the Nanking situation peculiarly noisome. As I left China last March I was getting news j, from the coolies, business men, and I doctors about the same development in Shanghai and its environs. As the-. Japanese controlled and censored the post, news had to go by another route or by word of mouth, and home-goers like myself were useful. I remember the grave face of a woman doctor as she initiated me Into the latest aspect of the drug traffic. I had to lean over the side of the tender just as it left to catch the last whispered word from another.