500.C1197/151
The Secretary of State to Senator Reed Smoot 68
Sir: Replying to your letter of March 12, 1928,69 inquiring concerning the policy of this Government with regard to the control of the traffic in narcotic drugs, I have the honor to state that this subject is one in which this Department continues to be deeply interested.
The policy of the Government, domestically and internationally in
cooperation with the other governments, has been and continues to be to
seek the eradication of the abuse of opium and coca leaves and their
derivatives. To this end it initiated the movement resulting in the
calling of the International Opium Commission at Shanghai in 1909.70 It participated in the conference called at The Hague
which resulted in The Hague Opium Convention of 1912,71 and
when the League of Nations called the two conferences held at Geneva in
1924 and 192572 this
Government participated in the second of those conferences under the
authorization contained in the Joint Resolution of Congress of May 15,
1924, which directed our representatives not to sign any agreement which
did not “fulfill the conditions necessary for the suppression of the
habit-forming narcotic drug traffic as set forth in the preamble” of
that resolution which interpreted the purposes of The Hague Opium
Convention of 1912 in the following way:
The American Delegation to the second opium conference withdrew from that conference before the completion of its work, because it was forced to the conclusion that the convention which [Page 445] was being drawn up did not conform to the principles and policy laid down in the Joint Resolution under which they were instructed to act for this Government. Their reasons were set forth in the memorandum which was attached to the letter of February 6, 1925, addressed by the Honorable Stephen G. Porter, Chairman of the American Delegation, to the President of the Second Opium Conference. Copies of the memorandum and of the text of the Joint Resolution (Public Resolution No. 20—68th Congress) are attached for your information.73
It has furthermore been and continues to be the policy of this Government, both in regard to its domestic situation and internationally in cooperation with the other Powers, to seek the enactment of pharmacy laws and regulations which will limit the manufacture, the sale and the use of morphine, cocaine and their respective salts to the medical needs of the world. (Cf. Hague Convention, Chapter III, Article 9.) With this in view, this Government on October 14, 1926, addressed an instruction to the American diplomatic representatives in the countries signatory to The Hague Convention directing them to bring to the attention of those Governments the steps which have been taken for the control of the manufacture of and traffic in narcotic drugs within the territorial limits of the United States pursuant to the requirements of The Hague Convention and to point out the need for similar control in other countries, particularly those producing opium derivatives, if the illicit international traffic in these drugs is to be eradicated. A copy of this instruction with its enclosures is transmitted herewith for your information.74 Since the instruction of October 14, 1926, was issued, in order to perfect its system of control, this Government has adopted a new form of import certificates for narcotic shipments and has revised the regulations issued in pursuance of the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act. A set of the new import forms and a copy of the revised regulations, which become effective April 1, 1928, are attached.75 Moreover, Treasury Department Regulations No. 35 on the subject of narcotic control have been replaced by Regulations No. 5, effective January 1, 1928, a copy of which is enclosed.75
As a further means of meeting this situation and because of the increasing evidence that illicit narcotics found within the territorial limits of the United States by the preventive forces of this Government originated from sources outside of the territorial limits of the United States, the Department, in December, 1927, directed its representatives [Page 446] at various capitals75a to arrange with the governments concerned for the direct exchange of information, relating to persons and organizations engaged in the illicit international traffic in narcotic drugs, between the officers directly concerned with the control of that traffic in the United States and the corresponding officers in such foreign Governments. Arrangements have already been effected for such a direct exchange of information with the Governments of Great Britain, France, Germany and The Netherlands, and it is hoped that arrangements will be made with the following countries to all of which the Department’s proposal has been communicated: Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Rumania, Free City of Danzig, Japan, Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Turkey and Greece.
On April 12 there is to be held in Geneva a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs of the League of Nations. I am instructing Mr. John K. Caldwell, a Foreign Service Officer who has been attached to the Consulate at Geneva and Mr. Pinkney Tuck, American Consul at Geneva, to attend this meeting as unofficial observers, as Mr. Tuck has done at previous meetings of the above mentioned Committee.
I have [etc.]
- Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance.↩
- Printed in Establishment of Two Federal Narcotic Farms: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, 70th Cong., 1st sess., on H. R. 12781 and H. R. 13645 (Serial 29–Revised print) (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1928).↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1909, pp. 95 ff.↩
- See ibid., 1912, pp. 182 ff.; text of convention on p. 196.↩
- See ibid., 1924, vol. i, pp. 89 ff.↩
- The memorandum is quoted in Mr. Porter’s undated telegram to the Department of State, Foreign Relations, 1924, vol. i, p. 125. The resolution is printed in 43 Stat. 119.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1926, vol. i, p. 250.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Instructions of December 1927 not printed.↩