2. The export of raw opium to countries prohibiting its entry to be stopped and its export to countries restricting its import to be controlled.
3. The export and import of prepared opium to be prohibited except to those countries not yet ready to suppress its use.
4. The use of alkaloids of opium and its derivatives to be con fined to medical and legitimate purposes; a Government licence to be obtained by all persons engaged in the manufacture, sale, dis tribution, import and export of the drugs.
5. The last chapter of the convention consisted of clauses deal ing with assistance to China and with certain obligations under taken by China herself.
6. Before the convention came into effect the adherence of the 34 non-signatory Powers in Europe and America was required.
International opium conferences were held at The Hague in July 1913 and June 1914, at which a number of Powers ratified the convention. During the World War all action in this connec tion was suspended until the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. In the peace treaties of 1919-20 the signatory Powers agreed that the ratification of these treaties should constitute a ratification of the convention of 1912 and the protocol adopted by the third Opium Conference of 1914 (according to which the convention should come into effect upon its ratification regardless of the non-signa tory Powers).
The Advisory Committee and the League of Nations.— Under the Covenant (Article 23 c), the duty of supervising the execution of agreements with regard to the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs devolved upon the League of Nations. In order to carry out this obligation, the first Assembly of the League constituted an advisory committee on opium and other dangerous drugs.
The committee, which sits once a year except in special circum stances, has obtained certain important and definite results, such as additional ratifications to The Hague Convention (56 States have now ratified, so of these States being members of the League) and the adoption by a very large number of countries of an important certificate system. Under this system no Govern ment may allow the export from its territories of any dangerous drugs covered by The Hague Convention, except on the production by the exporter of a licence from the importing country, certifying that the drugs in question are required for legitimate purposes.
The Import Certificate.—The Council, on the recommenda tion of the advisory committee, invited the Governments and members of the League to prepare an estimate of total annual requirements for the inhabitants of their territories for medical, scientific and other uses, with a view to proposing at some future date to the States concerned a new distribution of production which would limit the total output of raw material to the amount required for legitimate medical and scientific purposes. Subse quently two conferences met during the latter part of 1924 and the early months of 1925.
The 1924 conference did not find it possible to recommend the immediate complete suppression of the use of prepared opium, but drew up an agreement which embodied the substitution of government monopoly for other systems in force. No general agreement could be reached regarding any provisions for register ing or rationing addicts, nor was it found possible to embody in the agreement provisions for uniform prices or uniform penalties for the infraction of law, or to limit imports. It was held by the majority of members of the conference that no rationing could be enforced or total suppression imposed so long as a large illicit supply of opium remained uncontrolled. To this the representa tive of China objected, protesting against the refusal of the majority to take immediate steps to suppress opium-smoking until producing countries should find it possible to control smuggling. The conference, in a protocol to the agreement, decided to take any necessary measures not already taken for the entire suppres sion within a period of 15 years of the consumption of prepared opium in the territories under their authority, this period to begin so soon as the effective execution of the measures required to pre vent illicit exportation of raw opium from their territories had been undertaken by the poppy-growing countries. Provision under the agreement is made for a League commission to decide when these measures have been effectively executed. The agreements reached took the form of an agreement, a protocol and a final act. Instruments of ratification have been deposited by all States represented at the conference, other than China and Japan. The agreement is therefore now in force.