Chapter 190.
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CHAP. 190.— Joint Resolution Requesting the President to urge upon the governments of certain nations the immediate necessity of limiting the production of habit-forming narcotic drugs and the raw materials from which they are made to the amount actually required for strictly medicinal and scientific purposes. March 2, 1923.[[H. J. Res. 453](/us/bill/67/hjres/453).][[Pub. Res., No. 96](/us/bill/67/pubres/96).] Whereas the unlawful use in the United States of America ofNarcotic drugs control.
Preamble. opium (the coagulated juice of Papa ver somniferum) and its derivatives (morphia, codeine, heroin), and cocaine (obtained from coca leaves—Erythroxylum coca) and other preparations made from these plants or their by-products, with attendant irreparable injury to health and morality and resultant death from continued use, is increasing and spreading; and Whereas the special committee of investigation of traffic in narcotic drugs appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, in its report dated April 15, 1919, having considered the secrecy connected with the unlawful sale and use of these drugs, and the other difficulties in obtaining information which would give the exact number of addicts in the United States, says:
“The committee is of the opinion that the total number oi addicts in this country probably exceeds one million at the present time,” and further says that “the range of ages of addicts was reported as twelve to seventy-five years. The large majority of addicts of all ages was reported as using morphine or opium or its preparations.1432Narcotic drugs—Con.* * * Most of the heroin addicts are comparatively young, a portion of them being boys and girls under the age of twenty. This is also true of cocaine addicts,” and as this report is m harmony with the opinion of many who have carefully investigated the subject; and Whereas the annual production of opium is approximately one thousand five hundred tons, of which approximately one hundred tons, according to the best available information, is sufficient for the world’s medicinal and scientific needs, and the growth of coca leaves is likewise greatly in excess of what is required for the same needs, and thus vast quantities of each are avail-able for the manufacture of habit-forming narcotic drugs for illicit sale and consumption; and Whereas opium is obtained in paying quantities from poppies cultivated in small areas of India, Persia, and Turkey, where the soil and climate are peculiarly adapted to the production of poppies containing opium rich in morphia, codeine, and other narcotic derivatives; and Whereas in Persia and Turkey tire growth of the poppy and the production of opium therefrom, resulting in large revenues to those respective governments, is controllable by virtue of their sovereign power to limit the exportation thereof and to restrict production to the quantity actually required for strictly medicinal and scientific purposes; and Whereas the British Government in India, which derives large revenues from the growth of the poppy and the production of opium therefrom, has full power to limit production to the amount actually required for strictly medicinal and scientific purposes; and Whereas the production of coca leaves (Erythroxylum coca) is limited to certain areas of Peru and Bolivia and the Netherlands possession of Java, and their production is controllable by virtue of the sovereign power of those Governments to limit the exportation thereof and to restrict production to the quantities actually required for strictly medicinal and scientific purposes; and Whereas the antinarcotic laws of a majority of the larger nations of the world provide severe penalties for dispensing habit-forming narcotic drugs without a record of the amount thereof dispensed, thus providing reliable data from which a reasonably accurate calculation can be made of the amount of these drugs needed for strictly medicinal and scientific purposes; and Vol. 38, p. 1912.Whereas on January 23, 1912, as the result of the meeting of the International Opium Commission at Shanghai, China, in 1909, and the conference at The Hague in 1912, a treaty was made between the United States of America and other powers which was intended to suppress the illicit traffic in habit-forming narcotic drugs, and notwithstanding that upward of seven years have passed since its ratification, the treaty and the laws in pursuance thereof subsequently adopted by the contracting powers have utterly failed to suppress such illicit traffic, by reason of the fact that the treaty attempted to regulate the transportation and sale of these drugs without adequate restriction upon production, the source or root of the evil; and Whereas failure of such treaty and the laws adopted in pursuance thereof to provide adequate restrictions upon production has resulted in extensive and flagrant violations of the laws by reason of the fact that the great commercial value of these drugs, the large financial gains derived from handling them, and the smallness of their bulk, which renders detection in transportation and sale exceedingly difficult, have induced and encouraged the un1433scrupulous to divert enormous quantities into the channels ofNarcotic drugs—Con. illicit international traffic, thereby rendering partially, if not wholly, ineffective the treaty and the laws adopted in pursuance thereof; and Whereas in June, 1921, the opium advisory committee of the council of the League of Nations adopted a resolution urging the restriction of the cultivation of the poppy and the production of opium therefrom to “strictly medicinal and scientific” purposes, which resolution was approved by the council of the league but when said resolution was presented for final approval to the assembly of the league, which is composed of a representative from each nation which is a member thereof, it was amended by striking out the words “strictly medicinal and scientific” and substituting the word “legitimate” in lieu thereof; and Whereas the substitution of the general word “legitimate” for the specific words “medicinal and scientific”permits the continuance of the sale of enormous quantities of opium and its derivatives in many sections of the Orient by the opium producers of India, Turkey, and Persia, where it is “legitimate” to sell and transport these drugs in unrestricted quantities regardless of their ultimate use by the purchaser; and Whereas the continuance of the sale and transportation of such drugs, without restriction on their use, results in the diversion of large quantities thereof into the channels of illegal international traffic and in the unlawful importation into the United States, and the sale here for unlawful purposes, of preparations made therefrom such as morphia, heroin, and cocaine; and Whereas the United States of America, in dealing with the traffic in habit-forming narcotic drugs within its own territory and possessions, notably in the Philippine Islands, and in cooperating sympathetically with the efforts of the Government of China in dealing with its opium problem, has always been committed, without regard to revenue, to a program for the complete suppression and prohibition of the production of and traffic in them, except for strictly medicinal and scientific purposes:
Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it is theNarcotic drugs habit. Duty declared of protection against. imperative duty of the United States Government to safeguard its people from the persistent ravages of habit-forming narcotic drugs. Sec. 2. That the effective control of these drugs can be obtainedEffective control obtained only by limiting production. only by limiting the production thereof to the quantity required for strictly medicinal and scientific purposes, thus eradicating the source or root of the present conditions, which are solely due to production many times greater than is necessary for such purposes.
Sec. 3. That in the hope of accomplishing this end, the PresidentPoppy and opium. Limiting production to be urged upon Governments of countries producing. be, and he hereby is, requested to urge upon the Governments of Great Britain, Persia, and Turkey the immediate necessity of limiting the growth of the poppy (Papaver somniferum) and the production of opium and its derivatives exclusively to the amount actually required for strictly medicinal and scientific purposes. Sec. 4.
That the President be, and he hereby is, requested to urgeCoca leaves, etc. Limiting production to be urged upon Governments of countries producing. upon the Governments of Peru, Bolivia, and the Netherlands the immediate necessity of limiting the production of coca leaves (Erythroxylum coca) and their derivatives to the quantity exclusively required for strictly medicinal and scientific purposes. Sec. 5. That the President be, and he hereby is, requested toReport to Congress of results. report to Congress on the first Monday in December, 1923, the result of his action.
Approved, March 2, 1923.