and shall issue from time to time such instructions not inconsistent with law, as he shall deem best calculated for carrying out the provisions of this Act and for protecting the United States and aliens migrating thereto from fraud and loss, and shall have authority to enter into contract for the support and relief of such aliens as may fall into distress or need public aid, and to remove to their native country, or the country from whence they came, or to the country of which they are citizens or subjects, at any time after entry, at the expense of the appropriations for the enforcement of this Act, such as fall into distress or need public aid from causes arising subsequent to their entry and are desirous of being so removed but any person thus removed shall forever be ineligible for readmission except upon the approval of the Secretary of State and the Attorney General. He shall prescribe rules for the entry and inspection of aliens coming to the United States from or through Canada and Mexico, so as not unnecessarily to delay, impede, or annoy persons in ordinary travel between the United States and said countries and shall have power to enter into contracts with transportation lines for the said purpose. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization to detail officers of the Immigration and Naturalization Service from time to time as may be necessary, in his judgment, to secure information as to the number of aliens detained in the penal, reformatory, and charitable institutions (public and private) of the several States and Territories, the District of Columbia, and other territory of the United States, and to inform the officers of such institutions of the provisions of law in relation to the deportation of aliens who have become public charges. He may, with the approval of the Attorney General, whenever in his judgment such action may be necessary to accomplish the purposes of this Act, detail immigration officers for service in foreign countries; and, upon his request, approved by the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Treasury may detail medical officers of the United States Public Health Service for the performance of duties in foreign countries in connection with the enforcement of this Act (8 U. S. C. 101-02). The duties of immigration and naturalization officials in charge of districts, ports, or stations shall be of an administrative character, to be prescribed in detail by regulations prepared under the direction or with the approval of the Attorney General (8 U. S. C. 108): Provided, That no person, company, or transportation line engaged in carrying alien passengers for hire from Canada or Mexico to the United States, whether by land or water, shall be allowed to land any such passengers in the United States without providing suitable and approved landing stations, conveniently located, at the point or points of entry. The Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization is hereby authorized and empowered to prescribe the conditions not inconsistent with law, under which the above-mentioned landing stations shall be deemed suitable within the meaning of this section. Any person, company, or transportation line landing an alien passenger in the United States without compliance with the requirement herein set forth shall be deemed to have violated section eight of this Act, and upon conviction shall be subject to the penalty therein prescribed (8 U. S. C. 160): Provided further, That for the purpose of making effective the provisions of this section relating to the protection of aliens from fraud and loss, and also the provisions of section thirty of this Act, relating to the distribution of aliens, the Attorney General shall establish and maintain immigrant stations at such interior places as may be necessary, and, in the discretion of the said Attorney General, aliens in transit from ports of landing to such interior stations shall be accompanied by immigrant inspectors (8 U. S. Č. 161): Provided further, That in prescribing rules and making contracts for the entry and inspection of aliens applying for admission from or through foreign contiguous territory, due care shall be exercised to avoid any discriminatory action in favor of foreign transportation companies transporting to such territory aliens destined to the United States, and all such transportation companies shall be required, as a condition precedent to the inspection or examination under such rules and contracts at the ports of such contiguous territory of aliens brought thereto by them, to submit to and comply with all the requirements of this Act which would apply were they bringing such aliens directly to seaports of the United States, and, from and after the taking effect of this Act, no alien applying for admission from foreign contiguous territory shall be permitted to enter the United States unless upon proving that he was brought to such territory by a transportation company which had submitted to and complied with all the requirements of this Act, or that he entered, or has resided in, such territory more than two years prior to the date of his application for admission to the United States (8 U. S. C. 162). (39 Stat. 892-893; 50 Stat. 164; 8 U. S. C. 101-102, 108, 160-162.)

March 6, 1945.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. DOUGHTON, from the Committee on Ways and Means, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 2348]

The Committee on Ways and Means, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 2348) to provide for the coverage of certain drugs under Federal narcotic laws, report favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that the bill, as amended, do pass.

The amendment is as follows:

Page 2, lines 2 and 3, strike out the phrase "and declared by the Secretary to have been so found" and substitute in lieu thereof the phrase "and proclaimed by the President to have been so found by the Secretary."

The purpose of this bill is to provide a prompt and convenient method for bringing under the control of the Federal narcotic laws any newly discovered synthetic drug which is determined, after appropriate inquiry, to possess the same or similar dangerous, habit-forming, or habit-sustaining qualities as morphine or cocaine.

At the time the legislation classifying isonipecaine under the Federal narcotic laws (Public Law 414, 78th Cong.) was under consideration by your committee in 1944, it was advised that this synthetic drug has an effect similar to morphine upon the human organism, although it has no chemical similarity to morphine; that scientific experimentation in this country disclosed that this drug possessed addiction liability comparable to morphine; and that it was being produced for distribution in the United States at the rate of 300 ounces daily. The belief has been expressed by the Treasury Department that a number of new synthetic, habit-forming or habit-sustaining drugs will appear on the market during and after the present war. Your committee understand that information has been recently received from Argentina that the German Bayer firm has a new compound, called No. 446, which is quite similar to isonipecaine.

Under existing law each time a synthetic drug of this nature is dis covered and produced for distribution on the market, special legislation must be enacted by the Congress before regulatory control of the drug can be established. The necessity of obtaining legislation for each new drug involves a cumbersome procedure, and considerable danger may result by reason of the spread of addiction before essential regulatory control can be put into effect.

It is the opinion of your committee that enactment of this bill will make possible prompt control over any such synthetic, habit-forming or habit-sustaining drug which may be discovered as soon as such qualities are determined and generally before such drug could be released for commercial distribution.

In order to accomplish the above purpose, the term "opiate" has been selected as a generic term to be applied to synthetic drugs which are found to be dangerous and which are to be brought under control. The test to be applied under the bill in determining whether a drug is an "opiate" is whether the drug has an addiction-forming or addiction-sustaining liability similar to either morphine or cocaine.

Provision is made in the bill for notice and opportunity for a public hearing to be granted to any person interested in the production and distribution of a new drug before the Secretary of the Treasury can make a finding that the drug is an "opiate." In order to give notice to the general public of the fact that a particular synthetic drug will be covered by the Federal narcotic laws as an "opiate," your committee has proposed an amendment to the bill requiring that the finding made by the Secretary of the Treasury, before becoming effective, be proclaimed by the President. All such proclamations would be published in the Statutes of the United States and the Federal Register. The remainder of the bill merely inserts the key word "opiate" in the appropriate sections of the Internal Revenue Code and the United States Code to make applicable all provisions of the Federal narcotic laws to such drugs in the same manner as was followed in Public Law No. 414, Seventy-eighth Congress, relative to isonipecaine. Thus, new synthetic drugs, upon the proclamation of the President, will be subject to the same restrictions as morphine with respect to manufacture, distribution, importation, and exportation. The most important of these restrictions is one which limits retail sales to those made pursuant to a registered practitioner's prescription issued in good faith for medical purposes.

Your committee is informed that the proposed legislation has the approval of the Treasury Department, the Federal Security Agency, and the Bureau of the Budget. It is the belief of your committee that the measure is meritorious and prompt passage thereof is recommended.

EXPLANATION OF BILL

SECTION 1

Section 3228 of the Internal Revenue Code contains definitions of terms as used in certain sections of the Internal Revenue Code pertaining to narcotics and coca leaves. Section 1 of the bill would add to that section a new subsection (f), defining the word "opiate" as used in the sections of the Internal Revenue Code proposed to be amended. "Opiate" would be defined to mean any drug (as defined

in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) found by the Secretary of the Treasury, after due notice and opportunity for public hearing, to have an addiction-forming or addiction-sustaining liability similar to morphine or cocaine and proclaimed by the President to have been so found by the Secretary. Also, the Secretary would be authorized to issue necessary rules and regulations for carrying out the provisions of this subsection, and to confer or impose upon any officer or employee of the Treasury Department, as he shall designate or appoint, the duty of conducting any hearings authorized thereby. The term "opiate" was selected as a generic term to be applied to the drugs so proclaimed as a convenient means of classifying such drugs.

SECTION 2

Section 2550 of the Internal Revenue Code provides for a tax of 1 cent per ounce on opium, coca leaves, isonipecaine, any compound, salt, derivative, or preparation thereof, produced in or imported into the United States, and sold or removed for consumption or sale. This tax is represented by narcotic commodity tax stamps, which are to be affixed to the bottle or other container. Section 2 of the bill would make any drug proclaimed to be an "opiate," and any compound, salt, derivative, or preparation thereof, subject to this tax and the control incident thereto.

SECTION 3

Paragraphs 5 and 6 of section 2557 (b) of the Internal Revenue Code, derived from sections 1 and 2 of the act of August 12, 1937 (50 Stat. 627), and sections 1 and 2 of that act also codified in the United States Code, title 21, sections 200 and 200a, provide additional punishment for second, third, and subsequent offenses for selling, importing, or exporting, or conspiring to sell, import, or export, opium, coca leaves, cocaine, isonipecaine, or any salt, derivative, or preparation thereof, in violation of the laws of the United States. Sections 3 and 8 of the bill would add any drug proclaimed to be an "opiate" to the drugs enumerated above.

SECTION 4

Section 2558 of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the confiscation and disposal of opium, coca leaves, isonipecaine, and all salts, derivatives and preparations of opium, coca leaves, and isonipecaine, seized by the Government from a person charged with any violation of the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to narcotics and of the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act, as amended (U. S. C., title 21, secs. 171-185). Section 4 of the bill would merely enlarge the scope of this section by adding any drug proclaimed to be an "opiate."

SECTION 5

Section 5 of the bill, which would amend section 2565 of the Internal Revenue Code, would add a necessary reference to section 3228.