511.4A6/296
The Secretary of State to the Chairman of the American Delegation to the Conference on the Limitation of the Manufacture of Narcotic Drugs (Caldwell)
Sir: With reference to the Department’s instruction informing you of your appointment as Chairman of the American Delegation to the Conference on the Limitation of the Manufacture of Narcotic Drugs which is to convene at Geneva on May 27, 1931, you should be guided during your participation in the Conference, by the following general instructions. Telegraphic instructions should be requested in regard to any matters which, in the opinion of the Delegation, are of fundamental importance and are not clearly covered by these instructions:
1. The note from the Secretary General of the League of Nations, dated June 14, 1930, which invited this Government to participate in the Conference quoted the following resolution adopted by the Tenth Assembly of the League of Nations on September 24, 1929, following the report of its Fifth Committee regarding the purpose and scope of the Conference:
“The Assembly,
“Impressed by the disclosures made in the report of the Advisory Committee as to the large quantities of dangerous drugs still passing in the illicit traffic;
“Recalling the proposals made in connection with the Geneva Conference of 1924–25 for the direct limitation by agreement between the Governments of the manufacturing countries of the amount of such drugs manufactured;
“Taking note of the important declaration made in the course of the present meeting of the Assembly by the representative of France that his Government has decided to impose such limitation on its manufacturers, and of the declarations made by other Governments as to limitation;
“Recognising that the Geneva Convention of 1925 provides indispensable machinery for the national and international control of the traffic in drugs, the effective application of which should be secured in all countries at the earliest possible date; but that, owing to the delay in bringing the Convention into force, its full effects cannot be realized in the near future;
[Page 655]“Desiring that, if possible, steps supplementing the Convention should be taken without delay to limit the manufacture of dangerous drugs to the amounts required for medical and scientific purposes;
- “(I) Regards the principle of the limitation of the manufacture of the drugs mentioned in paragraphs (b). (c) and (g) of Article 4 of the Convention of Geneva by international agreement as now accepted;
- “(II) Requests the Advisory Committee to prepare plans for such limitation, regard being had to world requirements for medical and scientific purposes and the means of preventing an increase in price which would lead to the establishment of new factories in countries which are not at present manufacturing countries;
- “(III) The Committee’s report will be submitted to the Council, which will decide on the convening of a Conference of the Governments in whose countries the above-mentioned drugs are manufactured and the principal consuming countries in a number not exceeding that of the manufacturing countries, and whether certain experts proposed by the Opium and the Health Committees should be included;
- “(IV) Recommends that the Advisory Committee be enlarged in order to ensure more effective representation on that Committee of the non-manufacturing countries;
- “(V) Agrees that the sum of 25,000 Swiss francs shall be included in the budget of the League for 1930 in order to meet the expenses of such a Conference.”
A subsequent note from the Secretary General of the League of Nations dated March 11, 1931,94 enclosed “the report of the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and other Dangerous Drugs on the plan drawn up by it with a view to the limitation of the manufacture of narcotics, and also a draft Convention for that purpose, likewise drawn up by the Committee at its Fourteenth Session,” (a copy of which is enclosed).95 The Secretary General stated that he had been instructed by the Council to draw the attention of this Government to the fact that “the provisions of the draft Convention are somewhat wider than the resolution of the Tenth Assembly, which provided for the limitation of the manufacture of narcotics referred to in Article 4 (b), (c), (c) of Geneva Opium Convention, whilst the draft Convention proposes to extend certain of the provisions of the Convention to other drugs not covered by the Geneva Convention.”
On page 2 of the report of the Advisory Committee there appears the following paragraph quoting the text of the Resolution regarding the scope of the Conference, which was introduced in the Council by the Spanish representative on January 24:
“M. Quiñones de León asked that, at the end of the paragraph beginning: ‘The Council has before it a letter …’, after the words ‘next Conference’, there should be inserted the words: ʻ… and to discuss [Page 656] the limitation of all derivatives of opium and the coca leaf, as well as the control of the quantity limited by the future Convention’.”
2. This Government is of the opinion that in addition to the indirect limitation of manufacture which may result from the application of the import and export certificate system and other measures designed to control the distribution of narcotic drugs, it would be distinctly advantageous to effect a direct limitation of the quantities of all dangerous and potentially dangerous narcotic drugs to be manufactured, and you should lend your support to any scheme which seems likely to achieve that end.
3. The plan prepared by the Opium Advisory Committee of the League of Nations will, presumably, be the first plan to come up for discussion at the Conference. Since it is incomplete in certain fundamental respects and embodies detailed provisions which will involve administrative difficulties, it should be regarded only as a basis for discussion.
4. This Government is of the opinion that, as a matter of practical administration, it will not be possible to apply effectively any scheme for the limitation of manufacture without limiting the quantity of raw materials which factories are permitted to transform into narcotic drugs, and you should endeavor to have provision for this included in the convention. It would, of course, be essential that the morphine content of the raw materials be determined by government assay and that the quantities of dangerous narcotic drugs manufactured from such raw materials be checked against the government assay.
5. Particular care should be exercised in drafting a limitation convention to ensure the adoption by all signatories of adequate measures for the control of the distribution of narcotic drugs, bearing in mind that certain countries which may sign the proposed convention may not be signatories of existing narcotics conventions.
6. While it would be clearly advantageous for the proposed convention to be drafted in such a way that this Government could be a party to it, the American Delegation should not oppose a convention which would be acceptable to other governments and inacceptable to the United States Government, provided it would seem likely to accomplish the desired restriction of manufacture, since the manufacture of narcotic drugs is already restricted in the United States and since the proposed convention would presumably not effect any further limitation of manufacture in this country. The failure of this Government to sign would not make possible over-manufacture of dangerous narcotic drugs which would be a menace to any other country.
7. The successful operation of any scheme for the direct limitation of manufacture would seem to involve the communication by all countries to a central office of estimates of the quantities of narcotic drugs [Page 657] required for domestic consumption and the checking by the central office against such estimates of exports from manufacturing countries.
8. The proposed convention should include provisions which would prevent the nullifying of its provisions by a large re-export trade. It would seem to be advisable, if possible, to limit the movements of dangerous narcotic drugs by re-export to one re-exportation, and that the right of re-exportation be restricted as much as possible.
9. If it should prove to be impossible to obtain agreement upon a convention based on the quota idea contained in the Opium Advisory Committee draft, the principles of the “Scheme of Stipulated Supply”, or a combination of both, consideration should be given to the possibility of obtaining agreement upon a scheme which would provide for:
- a.
- The submission to a central office of annual estimates of needs of dangerous or potentially dangerous narcotic drugs for domestic consumption and for conversion into non-dangerous substances;
- b.
- An undertaking on the part of governments in which factories are situated that they would permit their factories to obtain only such quantities of raw materials as would provide for the manufacture of the quantities of narcotic drugs which in their opinion, based on available information, are clearly essential for medical and scientific purposes;
- c.
- The checking by a central office of proposed exports of dangerous and potentially dangerous narcotic drugs, in advance of the issuance of an export permit, in order to prevent exports of such drugs to any country in excess of the quantity which it should be allowed to import on the basis of its estimates.
Very truly yours,