第二次中日戰爭期間（1937-1945）日本利用直接與間接的方式販毒鴉片、嗎啡、海洛因等毒品於其中國占領區，曾在戰後戰勝國審判日本A級戰犯時，定讞為日本在華所犯的重大罪行之一；其販毒組織的縝密、深入與龐大，涉及人員之眾多與金額的龐大，在中國東北（偽滿洲國）如此，在華北、華中如此，在華南亦不例外。本文之研究範圍只限於日本在其華南佔領區的販毒活動，而以福建廈門與廣東廣州及其周邊地區為重點。本文的主要內容，計分四節：一、戰前日本在廈門、福州與廣東的販毒活動；二、戰爭前期日本在廈門的販毒活動；三、戰爭前期日本在廣州地區的販毒活動；四、戰爭後期日本在粵、閩的販毒活動。 在「結語」中，作者根據戰後發表的日本官方資料，證明日本在戰時是將毒品視為與糧食、棉花及金屬原料等一樣重要的戰略物資的；而日本在中國占領區（包括華南）的販毒收入與「戒煙」稅收，原則上應全歸日本國庫所有，而「戒煙」機構的種種支出，則由偽政府的正常預算中開支。此外，日本政府高層官員自日本在中國淪陷區的大規模販毒中，也大獲私利。 此項被貪贓的私款之一，可舉中國淪陷區內各地之官准大小煙館所交給日、偽政府當局的保證金為例。此項保證金係以專款名義，存之於上海的臺灣銀行，而由日本的大藏大臣保證。 此款中之一部份，即數達三萬萬日元，而此數最後竟轉入私人帳戶，戰時日本高官如外相重光癸、前外相東鄉茂德、前大藏相石渡莊太郎、前大東亞相青木一男等據說在日本投降而美軍尚未進占日本本土之前，均從此一「私人帳戶」內提取了他們所分到的「酬勞」。可見日在中國占領區的販毒活動實為一種公私合一、公私不分的「國家經營」與「官僚經營」的經營性質。

　　　　　Japan's involvement in trafficking opium, morphine, heroin and other drugs in wartime occupied China had been duly verified and convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in 1946-1948. Facts revealed that that businesses organized and managed by the Japanese authorities and semi-authorities in 1937-1945 were large-scale in character and extensive in geographical regions. This paper, however, is confined to a study of the Japanese-sponsored and indirectly controlled drug-trafficking in the Japanese-occupied regions in south China, centering at the Amoy (Fukien) and Canton (Kwangtung) areas. The essay is divided into four major parts: 1. The drugtrafficking operated by the Japanese in Fukien and Kwangtung prior to 1937; 2. The Japanese-sponsored drug-trafficking in the Amoy area in 1937-1941; 3. The Japanese-involved drug-trafficking in Canton and its adjacent regions in 1937-1941; 4. The Japanese-related drug businesses in Kwangtung and Fukien in 1941-1945. In his concluding remarks, the author through analyzing various multi-language and multi-archival sources, considers that the wartime Japanese authorities set the production, transportation and sale of various drugs such as opium, morphine, heroin, etc. as a strategically important business similar to their control and procurement of key raw materials such as foodstuff, cotton and various basic metals. Legally, according to regulations, all the revenues from drug-trafficking were to be submitted to the Japanese government coffers. But actually, the Japanese bureaucrats of different levels had personally obtained a large amount of money through their corrupt management. Facts show that several highest level Japanese officials such as Mamoru Shigimitsu (the foreign minister in August 1945), Shiginori Togo (former foreign minister) and others had collected a huge amount of their respective "commissions" in August 15-29, 1945 from a bank-deposited ¥300,000,000 fund which was originally part of a downpayment for guaranteed money from a large number of authorized Chinese drug-dealers in Japanese-occupied China.