Office of the Historian

81. Memorandum From the Secretary of State to the President1

Washington, July 5, 1955.

SUBJECT

  • Italian Narcotics Situation

You will recall that Ambassador Luce was quite disturbed about the Italian narcotics situation. We have looked into the matter and talked with Mr. Anslinger, the United States Commissioner of Narcotics. It developed that:

(a)
Mr. Anslinger did not endorse the “Bluebook” article,2 although there are indications that he informed the magazine publisher that the situation described in the article was correct a few years ago;
(b)
The Italian Government has made very substantial progress in this field, having suspended all production of heroin in 1951 and imprisoned for 11 years the chief offender in the illicit production of heroin;
(c)
While some local magistrates might have been corrupted by traffickers in heroin, Mr. Anslinger stated that there is no evidence to prove that the Italian Government is involved in the present smuggling activities;
(d)
While the situation in Italy is vastly improved, Mr. Anslinger would like the Department to make representations to the Italian Government asking for a prohibition against heroin production as recommended by the World Health Organization (instead of the present suspension) and urging Italy to ratify the Opium Protocol of June 23, 1953.3

In recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Anslinger praised the Italian Government’s present efforts. The Italian heroin production figures submitted to the United Nations show no production [rise?] since 1951. We do not feel that the situation is a serious problem in the relations between the United States and Italy, although we are instructing Ambassador Luce and Ambassador Lodge, through their respective channels, to support the United Nations recommendation that heroin production be prohibited rather than merely “suspended”, and that Italy adhere to the United Nations Narcotics Commission Protocol.

We are advising Ambassador Luce of the facts we have learned, which seem to indicate that the impressions she was under when she was last here are quite distorted.4

John Foster Dulles5
  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File. Confidential.↩
  2. Not identified.↩
  3. Reference is to the “Protocol for limiting and regulating the cultivation of the poppy plant; the production of, international and wholesale trade in and use of opium,” June 23, 1953. For text, see TIAS 5273; 14 UST (pt. 1) 10.↩
  4. In instruction A–34, July 15, the Department of State informed the Embassy in Rome that the charges made in the “Bluebook” article were investigated and found to be without foundation, although it was true that Italy lagged behind other countries in adopting safeguards against the manufacture and use of heroin. The Ambassador was therefore instructed to discuss the matter with the Italian Government in order to obtain increased cooperation from them in the area of international narcotics control. The Department was particularly anxious to have Italy ratify the Opium Protocol. (Department of State, Central Files, 865.53/7–1555) In telegram 3298 from Rome, March 27, 1956, Chargé Jernegan informed the Department that the Italian Government had, on March 14, issued a decree prohibiting the manufacture and sale of heroin. (Ibid., 102.14/3–2756)↩
  5. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩