File No. 774/358–359.
I assume, although I have not as yet been so advised, that these
regulations are those which the Chinese Government bound itself, under
the provisions of Article XVI of our treaty of October 8, 1903, and of
Article XI of the British treaty of September 5, 1902, to issue “at once
“to prevent the manufacture and sale of morphia and instruments for its
injection.
The importation of morphia and instruments for its injection can not as
yet be stopped, as Japan stills holds back from agreeing to this
measure.
[Inclosure 1.]
A memorial in response to imperial orders to
deliberate.
The board of law memorializes in reply to the memorial
of the governor of Kiangsu.
On the 10th day of the eleventh moon of the thirty-third year of
Kuanghsu—December 14, 1907—the grand secretariat copied the memorial
of Ch’en Ch’i-t’ai, the governor of Kiangsu, in regard to fixing the
punishment for the sale of morphia and the manufacture of hypodermic
needles, and the rescript was received that it should be referred to
the proper board. Therefore it was referred to this board of law
where it has been carefully considered. The original memorial reads
as follows:
“Morphia contains a poison capable of causing a man’s death. In
foreign countries it is produced by chemical methods and classified
as a drug for medicinal uses. It comes into China along with a
hollow needle and is used to satisfy the opium craving. Its
qualities are the same as those of opium. Men use it in hopes of
curing the opium habit, but if morphia is used once hypodermically
its use can not be discontinued. Every time it is used a puncture is
made, and these punctures increase in number day by day and month by
month until the whole body is corrupted and death follows. Morphia
is more poisonous than opium. In the supplementary English and
American treaties it is stipulated that except for medicinal uses,
and covered by a special customs permit, morphia shall not be
imported. Last year when the Government
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council memorialized in regard to the
regulations for the suppression of opium the tenth article provided
that the treaty regulations should be studied and instructions
issued to the customshouses to notify the public. Shops, both
Chinese and foreign, were forbidden to deal in hypodermic needles.
But scoundrels greedy of gain delude men with morphia. Those who use
it imagine it to be a means of breaking off the use of opium. The
opium shops have been closed. The poor are unable to provide opium,
and morphia, with hypodermic needles, can be used to satisfy the
opium craving. Moreover, the cost of an injection is less than 10
cash, and it will satisfy a craving which would require several tens
of cash of opium. The stupid people do not know its harmfulness and
many are deceived by it.
“If the case is so in Kiangsu it must be the same in other Provinces.
Regulations should be promptly drawn up so that the punishment of
one may be a warning to many. It is provided in the code that those
who secretly concoct poison with intent to take life, as well as
those who order others to do so, are to be punished by decapitation.
If a man causes the death of another by administering poison, or
knowingly sells poison, he is to be punished as a criminal. Now,
those who concoct the poisonous morphia and make hypodermic needles
and sell them to people to cure them of the opium craving, thereby
causing them to become enslaved to the needle and ultimately to die,
are in the class of those who ‘concoct poison with intent to take
life.’ Formerly the opium prohibitions had a clause inflicting the
death penalty. As morphia is worse than opium, if the death penalty
were inflicted under the law of ‘concocting poison’ it would not be
too severe. But, as the original intention is to make gain and not
cause death, arising from the fact that those with the opium craving
are willing to bring death on themselves, a small distinction may be
made. As to how the special regulations should be drawn up it is
requested that the board of law in conference with the commissioner
for law revision may decide and announce.”
To the above memorial the imperial rescript was that the ministers of
the board of law should consult and memorialize. The ministers of
the board aforesaid observe that the essence of morphia is the same
as that of opium. Foreigners use chemical methods to prepare morphia
and class it among the medicines, using it in the treatment of
disease. It causes artificial sleep, whence its name, which means
the “god of dreams.” Its strength is greater than that of opium.
Last year the imperial order was received to eradicate the opium
curse, and clear away entirely the chronic evil habit.
Among the regulations of the Government council it is stated that the
importation of opium ought to be stopped, to eradicate the source of
the evil, and it is remarked that morphia, called “ma-fei” or
“mo-fei-ya,” and the morphia needles used for puncturing men’s
flesh, are more injurious than opium. The contents of the eleventh
article of the British commercial treaty of 1902 and the sixteenth
article of the American commercial treaty of 1903 ought to be widely
published and the customs officials should be notified that morphia
not intended for medicinal use should be prohibited from entry.
Shops in China, whether Chinese or foreign, should be strictly
prohibited from preparing morphia or manufacturing hypodermic
needles, so that there may be hope of removing the evil. The
imperial sanction is on record for all this.
Now, although the prohibition is very strict, yet fellows greedy of
gain are still deluding the people into the use of the morphia
needle, and there has been no effectual restriction. From this it
may be seen that at present the prohibition of opium ought to be
carried out with thoroughness. The opium dives have been already
closed, and the poor have no other means of satisfying the opium
craving, and so they try the morphia needle. They are first
attracted by the cheapness of it. They use it more and more and when
the poison has got hold of them they are obliged to go on with the
needle. Their bodies are covered with the festering holes until
there is no place left for the needle. There is nothing worse than
this. If the opium is not broken off, it will be hard to escape the
evil of morphia; and if opium is abandoned, the injury of the
morphia poison will be still greater. This is to avoid “Yang “to
fall under “Mo” (two ancient heretical leaders). How can calamity
cease?
Therefore the governor asks that a special law may be drawn up on the
lines of the law for “concoction of poisons with intention to take
life “to remove effectively the evil and save lives. We observe that
the law regarding “concocting poisons with intent to take life”
fixed the penalty at beheading without regard to whether life had
actually been taken or not. This class of miscreants
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had murder as their business, and so
their crime was reckoned as that of those men scheming to take life.
Now, those who prepare morphia and hypodermic needles sell them to
satisfy the opium craving, in this not differing from those who
“concoct poisons;” but, studying the motive, it is to make gain, not
to take life. Moreover, those who have the craving risk their own
lives, but do not plan death by this means. If this be ranked as
identical with the crime of “concocting poison to take life,” there
is really a small distinction between the facts and the statements
of the original memorial, and deliberation is required. Unless the
law is carefully considered, justice will not be displayed. In
regard to the sale of morphia by dealers, the English and American
treaties have the provision that unless the morphia is required for
medicinal purposes and covered by a special permit, it may not be
imported. The commissioners of customs ought to be cautioned to act
according to the treaty provisions. Tricky people in the interior
who scheme to sell morphia secretly against the law have no name by
which their crime may be called, but there is punishment provided
for such. They may be dealt with by the law regarding “those who
know the poisonous nature of a drug, but sell it as medicine.” So
those who know the poisonous nature of morphia, but carelessly sell
it, should be ranked as criminals under the above law.
The old opium law, which was repealed, condemned to death by
strangling all those who prepared opium or who dealt in opium for
gain. No distinction was made between those two classes. So those
who prepare morphia and needles, and those who sell them, although
they may not be punished with death, yet their crime is essentially
the same.
The memorialists have come to the conclusion that all dealers in
morphia needles who may be apprehended hereafter, without regard to
whether or not they have caused death, shall be dealt with according
to the law of “concocting poisons, etc.,” with the penalty of
decapitation lightened to that of banishment to remote and unhealthy
regions. Shops which deal in morphia, if found to be without the
customs permits, shall be treated according to the law of “knowingly
dealing in poisons “and given the same punishment as the others, and
the shops closed. Also the customs officials must be ordered to make
public the treaty regulations and stop the smuggling to remove the
root of the evil.
By this openly published law tricky people will be terrorized, and it
may be hoped that opium restriction can be thoroughly carried out.
If the imperial sanction is obtained, the boards of the memorialists
will notify the governor (of Kiangsu) and the various officials
concerned, that the regulations may be respected.
This memorial was specially drawn up by the board of law in
consultation with the commissioner for the revision of the laws, and
has been delayed by the amount of correspondence required, and is
now respectfully presented in obedience to the imperial order.
Kuang-hsu, thirty-fourth year, sixth moon,
eighteenth day (July 16, 1908).
