The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-05-11
OPIUM IS NOT HARMFUL.
Such Is the Verdict of Englands
Royal Opium Commission.
Provided 1t Is Used I'm Proper QUAINT
ties-NOt as Injurious
Alcohol.

NEW YORK, April 2T.-The Suns
London special says: The report of
the ROyal Commission on the use of
opium, presented in Parliament this
week, will much astonish many peo-
pie, especially in America, but it
must be accepted as the decisive YER
dict of truth and science upon this
vexed subject. The inquiry was con-
Quoted on a great scale, and the de-
cision was practically unanimous.
Only 720 witnesses were examined,
including 152 called at the desire of
the Anti Opium Society. Every care
was taken to obtain representative
testimony, and the Commission record
the conviction that the eN idence forms
Trustworthy ground for the conclusions
reached.
Upon the crucicaI issue, whether the
use of opium, as habitually practiced
in India, is or is not injurious, the
Commission relied TO a great degree
on the statements of 161 medical wit
nesses. The evidence of the doctors in
the service of the government was
practically unanimous. 1t is cor
roborated by other medical men in
private practice, and by some
medical missionaries. Medical wit
nesses who advocated prohibition
were few, and all of them were more
opposed to the use of alcohol than to
that of opium. The general effect of
the medical testimony is declared In
the report to be that 1.-THE temperate
use of opium in India should be viewed
in the same light as the temperate
use OF alcohol in England. Opium is
harmful, harmless or even beneficial,
according to the measure of discretion
with which it is used"
That is the judgment of science
upon the actual consequences of the
opium habit. Natives of India, on
the whole, agree with the doctors, but |
they attach greater value TO the drug /
than science directly warrants. 1t is |
universally allowed that excessive |
consumption of orium is all evil, |
though an evil of which the eff |
fects have been grossly exaggerated. |
Opium is largely taken as a stImulant |
by those past middle age. They use |
it, in the striking phrase of one of the |
witnesses, "as prop to a falling |
house, The opinion of the great |
majority oil native medical practition-
ers and representatives of large and |
influential classes is that this employ |
ment of the drug is attended by bene- |
fetal results.
Opium-eaters of fifteen to twenty |
years standing appeared before the |
Commission. They believed the habit |
had done them good Their appear
ance anu vigor satisfied the Commits
sIoners, at all events, that il had done
them no possible harm.
OniT1n1 ia aIan nSo0 an occasional
in physical emergencies.
It has been issued, by medical advice,
to troops engaged in lighting and
road. making among the mountains OF
Sikkim. It is taken occasionally by /
who work In the ex-
tremes of heat and cold that prevail
in Raiputana desert. Many consumers
in the PuDjab use the drug in the win
ter months only.
Another striking fact about the
opium habit is that it prevails among
some of the most manly. hard-work-
ing, thrifty races of India. The
splendid Sikh soldiers and peasants,
Marwari traders and Rajputs are
among the opium eaters. Opium Is
in the native army, and the
witnesses say does no perceptible
used among the natives in the public
service and in the service of railroad
companies, planters and mill owners.
The evidence of employers is all to
the same effect. Dismissals for intern
perance in the use of opium are prac-
tically unknown. Opium, Sir William
Roberts obser yes, does not appear to
beget any specific disease. Opium
eaters bear surgical operations as well
as non-eonsumers, and the manager of
4 large insurance company said that
after twenty years experience his
company charged no extra premium
on the lives of moderate opium eaters.