ASIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY
Series One: The Opium Trade & the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, 1945-1948

(Public Record Office Class FO 371/50647-50654, 57020-57024, 67641-67644, 72907-72915)

REEL 1: 1945
FO 371/50647: Measures for suppressing opium traffic including:
- US Embassy and Government pressure on British Foreign Office for more information and a response to State Department proposals.
- Article by George A Morlock in the Department of State Bulletin on 'Limitation of the Production of Opium'.
- Meeting of Inter-Departmental Opium Committee
- Drug situation in unoccupied China.
- League of Nations Form of Annual Report for the use of Government's 'Traffic in Opium and other Dangerous Drugs'.
- Minutes of the 37th meeting of the Inter-Departmental Opium Committee, 31st January 1945.
- 'Production et Distribution des Stupfiants et de Leurs Matires Premires avant la Guerre'. Copy of Permanent Central Opium Board document.
- First drafts of British reply to US State Department memorandum on the limitation of Opium production.
- Resolution passed by the British Women's Temperance Association.
- Draft notes from Secretary of State for India and further amendments to British memoranda on the Opium traffic in response to US proposals.
- British response to be published in the US Department of State Bulletin (ff1-196).
FO 371/50648: Shipments of opium from Bushire (ff1-16).
FO 371/50649: Estimated world requirements of dangerous drugs in 1944 and 1945 (ff1-95).
FO 371/50650: Hashish campaign in Syria and Lebanon (ff 1-21).
FO 371/50651: Seizures of opium and other dangerous drugs (ff1-161).
FO 371/50652: Accession of Afghanistan to International Opium Convention (ff1-9).
FO 371/50653: Permanent Central Opium Board and Drug Supervisory Body (ff 1-42).
FO 371/50654: Control of opium in Burma including the draft direction on dangerous drugs. for commanders in South East Asia Command and South West Pacific Command.

REEL 2: 1946
FO 371/57020: Extraction of morphine from poppy straw (ff1-19).
FO 371/57021: Indian representation on Opium Board (ff1-3).
FO 371/57021: Consideration of narcotics - Bill introduced into the House of Representatives in Washington DC by Representative Mills (Democrat for Arkansas) and various memoranda on policy on opium (ff1-43).
FO 371/57023: Enquiry into drug addiction (ff1-8)
FO 371/57024: World requirements of dangerous drugs in 1946 (ff1-55).

1947
FO 371/67641: Opium smoking control: protocols on narcotic drugs (January - March 1947) including:
- Policy regarding control of opium in Burma.
- Traffic in narcotic drugs: Khat.
- Correspondence and other papers relating to the signing of protocols on narcotic drugs and incorporating amendments to the Agreements, Conventions and Protocols on Narcotics which were concluded at the Hague on 23 January 1912, at Geneva on 11 February 1925, 13 July 1931 and 26 June 1936, and at Bangkok on 27 February 1931 (ff1-63).
FO 371/67642: Narcotic protocols (April - December 1947) including:
- Telegram from Sir Alexander Cadogan referring to plenary sessions of UN Council meetings.
- Limitations on the drug 'Khat'.
- Text of protocol amending the Agreements, Conventions and Protocols on Narcotics which were concluded at the Hague on 23 January 192, at Geneva on 11 February 1925, 13 July 1931 and 26 June 1936, and at Bangkok on 27 February 1931.
- Further papers on the drug 'Khat', especially the control of traffic in Ethopia.
- UN assumption of duties formerly covered by the League of Nations.
- Questionnaire regarding legal and practical standpoint taken up regarding Drug Addiction and Drug Addicts.
- Opium trade in China.
- Recommendations by the National Research Council on synthetic drug Amidone.
- Notes on various sessions of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, 1947.
- Traffic of Narcotics to and through Singapore.
- Documents on Malaysia.
- World requirements of dangerous drugs in 1947.
- Booklet 'Estimated World Requirements of Dangerous Drugs in 1947' issued by Drug Supervisory Body, especially figures for the Philippines, Syria, Burma, North Borneo, Sarawak, Ceylon, Cyprus, Hong Kong, the Malayan Union and Singapore.
- Amendments to the Geneva Narcotics Convention of 1925.
- W.H.O Paper on Habit Forming Drugs.
- Foreign office and Ministry of Health exchanges of notes and views.
- UN Questionnaire.
- New Bill to enforce control of opium in Burma.
- Control under the Drug Convention of Pethidine and Desmorphine.
- US Government views (ff1-175).
FO 371/67643: Annual reports and ratifications relating to narcotics conventions (ff1-43).
FO 371/67644: Reports on the traffic in dangerous drugs including:
- US Government Report on the Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs.
- Documents of UN Economic and Social Council.
- Report of the second session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, 24 July - 8 August 1947.
- The International System of Control under the Conventions and Agreements on Narcotic Drugs. Report of 57th meeting of International Committee, 7 October 1947(ff1-213).

REEL 3: 1948
FO 371/72907: Protocols and Memoranda on Drugs and Narcotics including:
- Draft Convention to control drugs not covered by the 1931 Convention.
- Manufacture in Peru of cocaine hydrochloride.
- Statutory Rules and Orders, 1947, covering dangerous drugs.
- Draft note on the control of narcotics in Germany and Japan.
- Annual statistics covering Sudan.
- Candidates for the Permanent Central Opium Board.
- Losses of dangerous drugs in Yugoslavia.
- Reports of sessions of the UN Economic and Social Council (ff1-148).
FO 371/72908: Protocols and Memoranda on Drugs and Narcotics including:
- Iranian Government opium monopoly.
- Notes of UK delegation to the UN Economic and Social Council.
- Copy of International Agreement of 1939 with respect to the Unification of Pharmacopoeial Formulas for Potent Drugs.
- Acceptance by the Ukraine of the Narcotics Protocol.
- Draft Protocol to bring under International control drugs not covered by the 1931 Convention.
- Form of annual reports on traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs.
- Provisional agenda for the third session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (ff 1-144).
FO 371/72909: Protocols and Memoranda on Drugs and Narcotics including:
- Statistics for the Sudan
- Statistics for the United Kingdom
- Setting up of a Far East Drugs Bureau in Singapore.
- Synthetic drugs draft protocol.
- Shipping of opium from Khorramshahr.
- Sales of opium to Indo-China and Siam.
- Notes of UK delegation to the UN Economic and Social Council (ff1-104).
FO 371/72910: Protocols and Memoranda on Drugs and Narcotics including:
- Notes of UK Delegation to the UN Economic and Social Council.
- Reports concerning Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland.
- Losses of dangerous drugs in Yugoslavia.
- Setting up a Far east Drugs Bureau in Singapore.
- Amending laws and regulations in Sudan (ff 1-97).
FO 371/72911: Protocols and Memoranda on Drugs and Narcotics including:
- Control of narcotics in Peru.
- Draft Protocol to control drugs not covered by the 1931 convention.
- Considerations regarding coca leaf.
- Establishment of a more powerful Far Eastern Drugs Bureau.
- Statistics for Ceylon.
- Import of narcotics into Singapore.
- Notes on resolutions of the UN Economic and Social Council (ff 1-123).

REEL 4: 1948 continued
FO 371/72912: Protocols and Memoranda on Drugs and Narcotics including:
- UK legislation.
- Notes on determining the origin of opium.
- Report to the UN Economic and Social Council of the third session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, 3 May - 22 May 1948 (pp1-44).
- Draft protocol to control drugs not covered by the 1931 Convention.
- Negotiations by Persians for non-stop air transportation of Opium from Iran to Siam.
- Steps to prevent transportation of opium from Tehran to Bangkok.
- Control procedures in Germany.
- Controls in Ceylon (ff 1-168).
FO 371/72913: Protocols and Memoranda on Drugs and Narcotics including:
- Ratification by Egypt and Greece of 1946 Protocol.
- Narcotics legislation in Southern Rhodesia.
- Notes and papers of UK delegation to the UN Economic and Social Council.
- Papers relating to Ceylon.
- Methods of determining the origin of opium by chemical and physical means.
- Codeine.
- Controls in various British colonial territories (ff 1-145).
FO 371/72914: Protocols and Memoranda on Drugs and Narcotics including:
- Papers on Ceylon.
- Suppression of opium smoking in the Far East.
- Signing of the protocol on synthetic drugs.
- Agreement in principle of the Japanese Government with the Protocol of 1946.
- Papers on Bahrein, Chile, Newfoundland, South Africa, and numerous other British territories (ff 1-122).
FO 371/72915: Papers of the UN Economic and Social Council and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs including:
- Report on the second session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, February 1948.
- Resolutions of March 1948.
- Report on the third session of the Commission of Narcotic Drugs, May 1948.
- Estimated world requirements of narcotic drugs in 1948, second supplement.
- Copy of draft protocol to bring under control outside the scope of the 1931 Convention (ff 1-87).