The .1909 Nations Smoking Study

Shanghai is the birthplace of a movement for international drug control.From February 2-26, 1909, the International Opium Commission, proposed by the United States and held by China, was officially signed at Palace Hotel, the most luxurious hotel along the Bund in Shanghai. Representatives from 13 countries -- China, US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Turkey, Siam (now day's Thailand) and Persia (now day's Iran) -- attended the conference. Generally, the conference could be divided into three sections according to its contents. The proposals submitted by representatives were discussed seriously during the conference, and nine proposals were passed as the final achievement of the conference. Representatives submitted and discussed the reports on opium issues in their country and territory respectively. Nine proposals on the prohibition of plantation, smoking, trafficking of opium and its derivatives are passed.The conference won great coverage in Chinese media, and its contents and achievements were spread widely. Chinese people's emotions on opium suppression were inspired further, and the opium suppression campaign began to boom all over the country and to win great success, including the prohibition of plantation, sale and smoking. After the conference, at the international level, the majority of countries expressed their approval for Chinese achievements on the field of opium suppression pre- and post-conference. As one part of the international opium suppression movement, the Chinese opium suppression campaign prompted its development greatly, and it eventually led to the 1912 Hague International Opium Convention, where Chinese leaders provided counsel and advice from experience. The success of Chinese opium suppression forced the UK to renew its opium suppression article with China, which added weight for China to eliminate opium.Shanghai International Opium Commission was the first multinational drug prohibition conference in human history, recognizing that drugs such as opium ought to be banned worldwide for the first time, and evoking governments' attention toward the issue of drugs for the first time. The main content of the conference were adopted by the 1912 Hague International Opium Convention, and became the universal principles of world joint drug control.The opening of International Opium Commission means that the war against drugs was declared formally and the prelude of world joint drug control began.