Filed No. 774/245B.
The Acting Secretary of State to Ambassador Reid.2
Washington, July 11, 1908.
(Mr. Adee directs Mr. Reid to inform the foreign office that the United States opium commission is now at work on the question with a view to limiting the use and transportation of the drug in the [Page 93] United States, which has already been restricted in the Philippine Islands, and that investigation to date demonstrates the opium question to be of highest importance to the United States quite apart from its possessions. Informs Mr. Reid that the subject is being considered as follows: Imports of crude opium, its derivatives, and chandu; internal consumption of crude opium, licit and illicit; internal manufacture of chandu; manufacture of morphia and other derivatives; use of crude drug and preparations; use of morphine and other derivatives, licit and illicit; extent of poppy cultivation in America; possibilities of poppy cultivation; Federal laws regarding importation; municipal laws governing the use of opium and derivatives.
Mr. Adee says the United States therefore suggests that for the ultimate success of the joint commission it would be advantageous if each commission could, before the joint meeting on January 1, at Shanghai, study the opium question as it affects its respective country, as well as its possessions, in the same manner as the United States commission is now carrying on its investigations.)
- Repeated to France, Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal, and China.↩