511.4 A 1/1793: Telegram
The Consul at Geneva ( Haskell ) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 7—2:43 a.m.]
The Advisory Committee adopted a resolution in four paragraphs74 regarding the two American proposals which were submitted by the American representatives.
[Page 106]- Paragraph 1 reads as follows:
“That the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium accepts and recommends to the League of Nations the proposition[s] of the United States representatives as embodying the general principles by which the governments should be guided in dealing with the question of the abuse of dangerous drugs and on which in fact the international convention of 1912 is based subject to the fact that the following reservation has been made by the representatives of the Government[s] of France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, and Siam: the use of prepared opium and the production, export and import of raw opium for that purpose are legitimate so long as that use is subject to and in accordance with the provisions of chapter II of the convention.”
- Paragraph 2 expresses the belief that all the governments concerned will be desirous of cooperating with the United States in giving the fullest possible effect to the convention.
- Paragraph 3 reviews the work of the Opium Committee during the past two years.
- Paragraph 4 reads as follows:
“That as a means of giving effect to the principles submitted to [by] the representatives of the United States and the policy which the League on the recommendation of the Committee has adopted and having regard to the information now available, the Committee recommends to the Council the advisability of inviting (a) the governments of the above75 states in which morphine, heroin, cocaine and their respective salts are manufactured and the governments of the states in which raw opium or the coca leaf are produced for export for the purpose of such manufacture, (b) the governments having territories in which the use of prepared opium temporarily continued under the provisions of chapter II of the convention of [and] the Government of the Republic of China, to enter into immediate negotiations (by nominating representatives to form a committee or committees or otherwise) to consider whether with a view to giving the fullest possible effect to the convention of 1912 agreements could not now be reached between them (a) as to a limitation of the amounts of morphine, heroin or cocaine and their respective salts to be manufactured, as to a limitation of the amounts of raw opium and the coca leaf to be imported for that purpose and for other medicinal and scientific purposes, and as to a limitation of the production of raw opium and the coca leaf for export to the amount required for such medicinal and scientific purposes. The latter limitation is not to be deemed to apply to the production and export of raw opium for the purpose of smoking in those territories where that practice is temporarily continued under the provisions of chapter II of the convention, [b] as to a reduction of the amount of raw opium to be imported for the purpose of smoking in those territories where it is temporarily continued and as to the measures [Page 107] which should be taken by the Government of the Republic of China to bring about a suppression of the illegal production and use of opium in China.”
Germany, India and Great Britain insisted that the use of raw opium in accordance with the established practice in India was legitimate under the convention but finally all of them abandoned the contention except India which made the following reservation: “The use of raw opium according to the established practice in India and its production for such use are not illegitimate under the convention.”
The reservation in paragraph 1 appears to be merely a reaffirmation of chapter II of the convention and as such raises no question. Paragraphs 2 and 3 require no comment. Paragraph 4 is quoted above. Until yesterday the situation seemed to be hopeless and the acceptance of the American proposals came unexpectedly. We have informed the Committee that we were without instructions in regard to paragraph 4 but would report its substance to our Government for favorable consideration. The public meeting materially aided in bringing about this satisfactory result. Throughout the negotiations we have followed the procedure outlined in our previous telegram with gratifying results and our report will show the corresponding proposals and counter proposals and final result in a way that leaves no doubt as to our position with reference to the Committee and prevents any question of fact being raised hereafter in regard to the negotiations. Signed Porter.