Act No. 2381




ACT No. 2381 AN ACT RESTRICTING THE USE OF OPIUM AND REPEALING ACT NUMBERED SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Legislature, that: Section 1. "Prohibited drug" and "opium," as herein used, shall be understood in the sense defined in section one hundred and thirty-five of the Internal Revenue Law of Nineteen hundred and fourteen.¹ Section 2-6 (inclusive).² Section 7. When unlawfully used, or found on, about, or in the possession of any person not authorized to have control and disposition of the same, or when found secreted or abandoned, all prohibited drugs and all instruments, apparatus, and articles especially assigned for their use, shall be forfeited to the Government and shall be at once seized. Articles so seized shall be turned over to the Chief of Constabulary, to be dealt with by him according to law.³ Section 8 & 9 (inclusive).⁴ Section 10. Fines and other moneys collected by virtue of the provisions of this Act shall be covered into the Insular⁵ Treasury to the credit of the general fund of the Insular⁶ Government. There is hereby constituted a permanent annual appropriation of such amount as may be necessary to pay rewards to informers under the following conditions: Fifteen per centum of all fines imposed by reason of violations of this Act shall be paid to the person who furnished the original evidence properly substantiated, which led to the detection of the offense and the imposition of the fine. The name of the informer shall be specified in the judgment of the court when a conviction is had in a court: Provided, That in all cases in which no fine is imposed but where the sentence is one for imprisonment or deportation, there shall be paid to the informer an amount approved by the Secretary of Finance, not exceeding one thousand pesos in any one case.⁷ Section 11. The Chief of the Constabulary shall exercise supervision over the enforcement of this Act, without prejudice to the full exercise of the powers and duties in reference thereto incumbent upon other branches of the Government service and may, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior,⁸ compromise any cases arising under the provisions of this Act, when the accused is suffering from illness that would be aggravated by imprisonment as certified by three reputable physicians, or, when in the interest of justice, the court so orders, such compromises to be made either before or after the commencement of legal proceedings therein but not after judgment is pronounced.⁹ Section 12. Act Numbered Seventeen hundred and sixty-one and Acts amendatory thereof, and all other laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith, including subdivision (v) of section thirty-nine of Act Numbered Eighty-two and subdivision (ff) of section seventeen of Act Numbered One hundred and eighty-three, are hereby repealed. The repeal herein effected shall not operate to destroy any existing liability resulting from the violation of any provision hereby abrogated nor in any wise to affect any criminal prosecution already instituted or to be instituted thereon. Section 13. This Act shall take effect on the first of July, nineteen hundred and fourteen. Enacted, February 28, 1914. NOTES Lawful possession and uses of prohibited drugs is provided in the National Internal Revenue Code (PD 1158). Unlawful possession of prohibited drugs is defined and penalized in Title V of Act 3815 otherwise known as the Revised Penal Code. Registration of, and imposition of fixed and special taxes on producers, importers, manufacturers and distributors of opium and other prohibited drugs is provided in RA 953. Footnote ^{* As amended by Act 3006 and 3898. ^{1 Act 2339 otherwise known as the Internal Revenue Law of Nineteen hundred and fourteen, section 135 provides: Sec. 135. Words and phrases defined. – Prohibited drug, as herein used, includes opium, cocaine, alpha, and beta eucaine, their derivatives, and all preparations made from them. "Opium" embraces every kind, class, and character of opium, whether crude, prepared, ash, or refuse, and all narcotic preparations thereof or therefrom, and all morphine or alkaloids of opium and all preparations in which opium, morphine, or any alkaloid of opium enters as an ingredient, together with all opium leaves and wrappings of opium leaves, whether such leaves or wrappings are prepared for use or not. The above provision was incorporated first in Act 2711 otherwise known as the Administrative Code as Section 1574 thereof and later in CA 466 otherwise known as the National Internal Revenue Code a section 339 thereof. 2 Repealed by Act 3815, article 367, approved December 8, 1930. ^{3 Words in bold in the text above are amendments introduced by Act 3006, section 1, approved March 8, 1922. Statutory History of section 7: Original text – Sec. 7. When unlawfully used, or found on, about, or in the possession of any person not authorized to have control and disposition of the same, or when found secreted or abandoned, all prohibited drugs and all instruments, apparatus, and articles especially [designed] for their use, shall be forfeited to the Government and shall be at once seized. Articles so seized shall be turned over to the [Collector of Internal Revenue] to be dealt with by him according to law. (Ed. Note: Words in brackets were deleted in Act 3006, supra.) 4 Repealed by Act 3815, Article 367, approved December 8, 1930: ^{5 Now National. ^{6 Id. ^{7 Deletion of the words in the original text, infra, are amendments introduced by Act 3898, section 11, approved November 16, 1931. Statutory History of section 10: Original text – Sec. 10. Fines and other moneys collected by virtue of the provisions of this Act shall be covered into the Insular Treasury to the credit of the general fund of the Insular Government. There is hereby constituted a permanent annual appropriation of such amount as may be necessary to pay rewards to informers under the following conditions: Fifteen per centum of all fines imposed by reason of violations of this Act shall be paid to the person who furnished the original evidence properly substantiated, which led to the detection of the offense and the imposition of the fine. The name of the informer shall be specified in the judgment of the court when a conviction is had in a court: Provided, That in all cases in which no fine is imposed but where the sentence is one for imprisonment or deportation, [or when compromise is effected,] there shall be paid to the informer an amount approved by the Secretary of [Commerce and Police,] not exceeding one thousand pesos in any one case. (Ed. Note: Words in brackets were deleted in Act 3898, supra.) 8 Now Secretary of National Defense. ^{9 Words in bold in the text above are amendments introduced by Act 3006, section 1, approved March 8, 1922. Statutory History of section 11: Original text – Sec. 11. The Chief of Constabulary shall exercise supervision over the enforcement of this Act, without prejudice to the full exercise of the powers and duties in reference thereto incumbent upon other branches of the Government service; and with the approval of the Secretary of [Commerce and Police,] [said Chief may] compromise any case arising under the provisions of this Act, [and this] either before or after the commencement of legal proceedings therein but not after judgment pronounced. (Words in brackets were deleted in Act 3006, supra.) The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation}}}}}}}