This, the final of the series of articles on the narcotte velt in Shanghat, and China generally, deals with the Government's efforts at opium suppression through rehabilitative end punitive measures, erect at 20 THE
If one were to ask any authority for even @ rough estimate of the—hé number of opium smokers in Shang-hal, no definite answer could be gives, tone would' deny, however, that the number is large end that' the [Government as a tremendous task Jon iis hands in trying to stamp out the evil—here as elsewhere In China. [The thousands. of men and. women who ere treated annually in the three fanti-narcotic hospitals of the Shanghat City Government provide an in-Jdication of the commonness of the addiction, but they are only a fraction for the actual number. And' the ma-ferity' of those cases come to the attention of the authorities only befeause the victims of the drug apply Voluntarily for treatment. They are tie ones who want to be cured—those who have no desire to be rehabilitated not come to light unless they Somehow tangle with the law. And then, of course, there is the category of registered smokers.
'A registered opium addict is one who publicly admits having the habit and obtains' a licence from the iorities which enables him to. carry fon limited opium smoking under Supervision. He is entitled to secure certain quantity of the drug from licensed opium shop. Shanghai has nearly 31.000 registered smokers and 4 survey has revealed the depressing {oct thst 18,00 of these belong to the poorer classes. "Of course, there are any more actual addiels in this city than' the. 31,000 "who. have gone through the humiliating "experience of registering, but it is reasonable to assume that. elmilar ratio of pont and rich exists among the smokers explain the mental processes involved been noted by international observers. The latest comment along this line to reach Shanghai from abroad comes indirectly from Geneva, and is quoted by the "Living Age." New York:—
"A, E, Blanco, director of the Anti-Opium Information Bureau in Geneva, has written an article for the Nation:
"People's Tribune" of Nanking. revealing the extent of the drug tram™e in China, He recalls a Chinese Government Report of 1928 stating that one million of the 11 million inhabitants of Shansi Province were Grug addicts and spent $100.000,000 a year in Chinese currency on narcotics, Since 1926 drug consumption has Increased throughout China, especially {in the areas occupied by the Japanese, who are systematically doping millions of Chinese with legalized Inarecties. Mr. Blanco quotes offtelal figures to the effect that there are 210,000 addicts in Manchoukuo feompared with 120,000 in the United States.
"These addicts do not belong to the well-to-do classes, Heroin, the leheapest and most' eMcacious' drug, has dropped steadily in price, and Mr. Blanco reports that when he was Harbin it was 'a daily occurrence' toe him to pass on the way to my ofice the bodles of three or four coolles, whose resistance had been und mined By drugs, and who had pald the penalty with their life, The International Labour Omce also states, that opium smoking is most widespread among workers in the most Another tragic circumstance di closed by the registration data is that the vast majority of the addicts are men and women between the ages of 20 "and 80 years. 'Those in their thirties account for 9408 out of the total of 30,833; those in their forties account for 943%. There is litle plum smoking among the very young, fand the very old—it fe those who are {nthe prime' of lite who' become
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