HC Deb 06 April 1927 vol 204 c2036
1. Colonel DAY

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the Report of the investigators of the Advisory Committee of the League of Nations on. Opium and Drug Addiction, wherein they stated that there are 700,000 men and women engaged in Europe in the illicit sale of cocaine, morphia, heroin, and opium, a good percentage of these being employed in Great Britain, he can state what action has been taken with reference to the recommendation to the British delegate of the League that an inquiry should be instituted amongst chemical manufacturers for the purpose of discovering to whom these drugs are supplied?

The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. Godfrey Locker-Lampson)

The hon. Member appears to be under some misapprehension. The Advisory Committee has no investigators and no such Report as he mentions has been made. Neither the Advisory Committee, nor, so far as I am aware, any other responsible body has made the statement mentioned by him, which I am informed is without foundation. The recommendation which he describes as made to the British delegate was a recommendation adopted by the Advisory Committee at its recent meeting on the proposal of the British delegate. The Council of the League have instructed the Secretary-General to bring it to the attention of Governments.

Colonel DAY

Are the recommendations of the British delegate going to be carried out?

Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSON

I cannot say now.