270 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. XIV.
hibition, viz., in Turkey, Egypt, Greece, and Trinidad. For the first three of
these, the only information at the disposal of the Commission is contained in the
communications from Her Majesty's representatives addressed to the Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs in 1892 in consequence of a requisition made on them
by the Earl of Rosebery at the request of Mr. W. S. Caine, M.P.
Turkey.
558. The ground of the prohibition in Turkey is thus stated in a note
addressed by the Grand Vizir to the Ministry of
Commerce, Constantinople, on 1st March 1292 (sic):
"From the reports furnished by the Imperial Medical Council, it appeared that the
use of hashish in the preparation of medicines was extremely rare, and that, being
a narcotic, its use must of necessity be injurious, and that consequently the sup-
pression of the cultivation of hashish could not fail to prove highly advantageous."
The effect of the prohibition is thus described in an enclosure to the Ambassa-
dor's reply: "The importation and sale in Turkey of hashish, though contraband,
is still, I hear, largely carried on, and is used for smoking, in the composition of
various sweetmeats, and as an opiate in general."
Egypt.
559. In Egypt the cultivation, use, and importation of hashish were first for-
bidden in 1868, but in 1874 it was allowed to be
imported on payment of duty. In November 1877 an
order was received from Constantinople that all hashish brought into Egypt was to
be seized and destroyed, and finally, in March 1879, the importation and culti-
vation of hashish were prohibited by a Khedivial decree. In March 1884 it was
provided that confiscated hashish should be sold by the Customs (for delivery
abroad) instead of being destroyed as formerly, and the proceeds of the sale
divided amongst the informers and officers who took part in the seizure. "This
measure was rendered necessary," says Mr. Caillard, the Director-General of
the Customs, "by the absence of any fund from which rewards could be
distributed; while, on the other hand, the profits of smuggling being very
great, large sums were paid by the smugglers to insure the silence or com-
plicity of the Customs officers, coastguards-men, and others. A considerable
number of persons are employed in the smuggling trade, many of them having
no other means of subsistence. Great ingenuity is displayed by the smugglers
in this illicit trade, and no sooner has one trick been discovered than another is
invented. The great obstacle, however, to the complete repression of the contra-
band trade is the refusal of some of the European Governments to recognize the
right of the Egyptian Government to search suspected shops or warehouses, and
to punish the delinquents by fine as well as confiscation
In view
of the impossibility of suppressing the contraband trade in hashish under the
circumstances described above, I suggested to the Minister of Finance the
desirability of removing the prohibition against the importation of the drug,
and I proposed to collect a customs duty of P T. 100 per kilogramme (9s. 3d.
per lb.), besides a license-tax on the sale of the hashish. It has been abun-
dantly proved that the vice of hashish smoking cannot be suppressed by legis-
lation, whereas by a system of licenses it may be kept under control to some
extent." Mr. Caillard estimates that the quantity of hashish consumed annual-
ly in Egypt cannot be less than 50,000 okes (about lbs. 140,000) notwithstanding
the prohibition. He states that the hashish appears to be manufactured chiefly
in Greece.