§ 30. Sir J. D. REESasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether there is at present a serious deficiency in the 1560 supply of opium for medicinal purposes; whether prices have greatly risen; and to what extent the deficiency in stocks and the rise in prices is due to the Government policy of destroying the opium trade?
§ Mr. C. ROBERTSI am informed that at present the market for opium for medicinal purposes in this country and the United States is well supplied, and that prices are tending to fall. Opium for these purposes has hitherto been drawn from the Levant or from Persia, and the supply is quite independent of the Indian Government's opium policy.