376
opium, there would be no recourse to them for that
reason ; and as no other drugs are so used, it is
quite probable the practice would die out.
36. The uniform conviction is that the use of
alcohol is growing to an alarming extent, and
though not taking the place of hemp drugs, it is
doing incalculably more mischief in these districts.
The informants all agree that the use of any of
these drugs in any quantity is dangerous and bad.
They are not concerned with differences in degree
of injuriousness.
(c)
(c) It is said to injure the digestion.
(d)
It is said by consumers to be good for
asthma ; but this is not generally believed.
(e)
It induces laziness, and to such an extent
that "a lazy man " and "a ganja smoker "
are synonymous terms, though the lazy man may
not use the drug at all.
(f)
It deadens the intellect, and makes users
dull and stupid, even though they have been
bright and healthy before.
39. However, ganja-smoking is regarded as
more injurious than bhang-drinking, as the ad-
mixture of milk with the latter is said to counteract
its ill effects. Whereas some say that the drinking
of the preparation of any one of the different parts
of the drug is more injurious than the smoking.
40. Most native doctors are familiar with its
use medicinally, and prescribe it in a mixture
called madanakaveshvaramu to convalescent patients
as a tonic. What the compound is I have been
unable to discover, but am told that it is very ex-
pensive, very seldom used, but seems to be effec-
tive.
41. All regard ganja as useless in any of the
ways mentioned in this paragraph, and rega rd the
statements of the consumers as mere excuses to
continue the use of a habit generally regarded as
degrading. A few seem to be under the impres-
sion that bhang taken after a meal will enable a
student to continue mental exertion hours toge-
ther—three or four—without fatigue. In one
village some students do this, but the practice is
not general. Bhang has the reputation of being
a good appetiser ; but a very well educated
Brahmin of high position declares that the men
who use it do get slightly intoxicated and eat re-
gardless of consequences. Even those who use
ganja to prevent effects of bad water do not seem
to be benefited by it. And the digestion is said
to be injured.
42. The answer is " no." It is bad. Tends to
excess. Being a poison, it must and does injure,
so that even consumers of the moderate class are
recognisable by their appearance. The strong
become weak and the healthy sick.
43. The neighbours do not love them, care for
their company, or regard their word. They are
thus mildly inoffensive.
44. (a) to (f ) Ganja smokers see double, are
slightly and pleasantly stimulated, but do not
stagger. The effect lasts a few hours, I suppose
according to the amount taken. They seem like
men who have fasted half a day after recovering.
They may or may not be hungry, but are always
weak. They are unsteady. Bhang intoxication
lasts a few hours. Those not accustomed to its use
will become intoxicated in half an hour. But the
effect is said to be counteracted by butter-milk
or lime juice.
(g) Habitual users are dull.
(h) If deprived of either, the longing does not
seem to be great.
(g) I know personally one case in which a
man under the influence of insanity produced by
ganja attempted murder. He was a Telugu, who
professed conversion to Christianity—a man who
had borne a good character, quiet and inoffen-
sive, was baptized by me, and returned to his
village. He was driven out, his wife locked
away from him, and his child torn from his
arms. In an attempt to secure a standing crop
some days after, he was violently beaten, being
stunned by a blow on the head. A few weeks
subsequently he became violently insane, and
finally attacked a gang of coolies with an Ame-
rican shovel and a lime-pounder, struck some, and
so seriously injured one man that we took his
dying deposition. He was confined in jail and
became daily more violent, then was sent off
in three or four days to the district jail at
Vizagapatam, and finally was admitted by
Lieutenant-Colonel-Surgeon Leapingwell into the
asylum. Being determined on prosecuting the
man who had struck him if the blow had caused
the resulting insanity, I visited the District Sur-
geon and learned from him that he was of opi-
nion that the insanity had resulted from the
use of ganja. As I knew the man had been using
it at the time I let the matter drop. He spent
from December 1892 to October 1893 in the
district jail at Vizagapatam and the asylum at
Waltair. He seems to be quite better now. He
is not an habitual ganja user. In this case
my impression is that the man sought relief in
ganja from his excessive mental trouble, and his
mind, not ordinarily very strong or courageous,
gave way under the added stimulating excitement,
and he became crazy.
Colonel Mark Wilks in his history of Mysore
relates the following instances :—
Bhang .—Vol 3, pages 118-119. The account
of the siege of Bangalore, March 5th, 1891.
" During the ineffective cannonade which has been
mentioned, and while Lord Cornwallis, accom-
panied by General Medows and their respective
staff, were viewing from a gentle eminence the
movements of the Sultan (Tippu Sultan), three
horsemen were seen to approach rather closer than
usual; but as these troops are remarkable for their
skill and boldness of examining an enemy's move-
ments, and are usually scattered over the country
in all directions, they excited no attention till they
were seen to dash at speed for the person of Lord
Cornwallis. Two were killed, and the third also
secured and spared. He appeared stupefied, and
could give no intelligible account of the enterprise.
Conjecture was divided between assigning to them
the character of ferocious drunkards or hired as-
sassins. The fact, as related in the Mysorian
Army, appears to be that the preceding evening
one of them had upbraided the other two with
cowardice in the business of the day. After some
discussion they retorted that on the next day they
would go where he durst not follow. It was agreed
45. ( a) Yes.
(b ) Ganja is said to produce a cough, the
disagreeableness of which is prevented by the
smoker using an excess of ghee. If well-to-do,
he takes a good deal of rich sweetmeats in which
ghee is freely used.