Illicit Narcotics Concerted efforts organized through the League of Nations
are gradually 'making an impression on the illicit drug traffic. Russell Pasha, the Cambridge man who is doing such brilliant work as the head of the Cairo police, mentions in his annual report, which has been issued in the past week, that on a given day in 1929 there were no fewer than 5,681 drug addicts among the convicts in Egyptian prisons; and on the same day in 1983 only 674. That is due only partially to the effectiveness of repres- sive measures in Egypt itself, but at least as much, and probably much more, to vigilance in other countries, which' prevents the drugs from reaching Egypt at all. It is reassuring to learn from so experienced an observer as Russell Pasha that the only Eunipean country gravely at fault at the present moment is Bulgaria, for Turkey, since Mustapha Kemal decided to suppress drug manufac- ture within his borders, has been taking vigorous measures against it. But the curse of this traffic is, and always has been, that no sooner is one leak stopped up than another breaks Out. The latest is Manchuria, where a Government opium monopoly seems to have been established, and the drug traffic is sufficiently lucrative to make it certain that production will be raised to the utmost. The Japanese action of 1931 makes the situation in Manchuria particu- larly difficult, and it is hard to see how, under present conditions, it can be tackled at all. * *
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