429
35. Evidence of SURGEON-MAJOR J. A
1. I have been for six months in charge of the
lunatic Asylum at Delhi, eighteen months in charge
of that atLahore, and have been for over twelve years
in the service in India.
2. Yes ; charas is locally called also soolfa and
arkandi. Bhang is also called booti, sooka and
sowi. It is also, by cooking and admixture with
other things, converted into majun and ' bhang ka
pakouri'. Ganja is very little used or known in
this province.
14. Charas and bhang are; ganja not at all or
rarely.
19. Charas is used only for smoking in the
Punjab. Ganja when used is used also for smok-
ing. Occasionally charas is said to be used as a
local application in toothache. An oil prepared
from ganja is said to be used in the treatment of
scabies in Bengal.
22. Charas is largely imported from Yarkand.
23. Bhang is said to be only very seldom used
for smoking by sadhus and others when they run
short of charas.
21. Fakirs as a class are addicted to the use of
bhang chiefly by (b) drinking in an infusion or
mixture.
28. (a) Habitual moderate consumers take
about—
Bhang ½ chitak, costing 3 pies.
Charas ½ tola, costing 9 pies.
Ganja ½ tola, costing 1 anna.
(b) Habitual excessive consumers—
Bhang 2 chittaks, 1 anna.
Charas 2 tolas, 3 annas.
Ganja 2. tolas, 4 annas.
29. Bhang is ordinarily mixed with water or
milk and sugar, pepper, almonds, pumpkin or
cucumber seeds, which are all triturated up; excep-
tionally dhatura and copper foil are said to be
added to increase the intoxication.
Tobacco is mixed with charas for smoking.
In some parts of the province a mixture of poppy
seeds, black pepper, fennel, and seeds of cucumber
and pumpkins is kept ready for sale to be mixed
with bhang for drinking, and is sometimes con-
sumed alone ; its name is sordoi.
30. Charas is chiefly smoked in company'
Bhang usually drunk in solitude or in the family
circle. Both are chiefly confined to the male sex;
females occasionally use bhang Children never.
31. The habit of consuming these drugs is said
to be easily acquired. The habit of drinking is
said to be easily left off, that of smoking dharas
and ganja only with difficulty. There is said to
be no great tendency for the moderate habit to
develop into the excessive.
32. Fakirs defend their use of this drug on
religious grounds, for the reason that Shiva sanc-
tioned it. It is customary to take hemp as a
social function on the occasion of the Dusera festi-
val and the Holi. Its use on these latter occasions
is not likely to lead to the habit. Fakirs usually
contract the habit of using it excessively.
33. The excessive use of the hemp drug by
fakirs is tolerated. Its excessive use by others
would be considered disgraceful. Socially, drink-
CUNNINGHAM , Civil Surgeon, Simla.
ing bhang is considered less disreputable than
smoking the other preparations.
34. Consumers of the drug have told me that to
withhold it from them would cause them great
discomfort, but I have never observed any great
distress in lunatic asylums amongst insanes after
admission, when the drug was entirely withheld
even when madness was said to have been brought
on by hemp.
35. I consider that it would be difficult or im-
possible to prohibit the use of these drugs; they
would continue to be smuggled and used illicitly,
I do not consider that the prohibition would
occasion serious discontent, as the habitual con-
sumers are chiefly people of little influence. It
would not amount to a political danger.
The.
prohibition would probably be followed by recourse
to opium, which would be less harmful, not much
to alcoholic stimulants, as these are too expensive
for the means of the people who usually take hemp.
36. The use of alcohol, I believe, is on the in-
crease amongst low caste people, such as syces,
dhobis, etc., on ceremonial occasions; these people
previously probably got drunk on bhang. The
habit of drinking alcohol is increasing; also among
the richer classes, but whether this habit has been
substituted for the use of hemp I do not know.
37. Charas smoking is said to be less injurious
than ganja smoking, being a milder preparation of
the drug, less intoxicating and slower in action.
39. The smoking of charas and ganja are more
injurious than drinking, mixtures of bhang. The
people, addicted to smoking are more likely to
partake to excess, and it is actually observed that
they lose flesh more rapidly than bhang drinkers.
Smokers also contract chest affections, bronchitis,
emphysema, etc.
40. An oil prepared from ganja is used for skin
diseases. Charas is sometimes used as a local
application in toothache, also to soothe inflamed
parts like boils, abscesses, piles, etc. Bhang is
sometimes given internally in bowel complaints.
Bhang is occasionally given to horses to increase
appetite.
41. (a) Bhang moderately used is said to aid
digestion and increase appetite.
(b) All the three would alleviate fatigue tempo-
rarily, but would lessen staying-power taken in
excess.
(c) No benefit as a febrifuge is derived from
their use.
(d) Used for diarrhœa with success, and the
tincture of Cannahis indica is very useful in the
treatment of dysentery, acute and chronic.
I refer to the moderate occasional, not habitual,
use of the drug.
42. I consider the moderate habitual use of
hemp drugs to be harmful. I consider the tend-
ency to be towards excess; and excessive use is
certainly productive of insanity in persons probably
predisposed. The habitual use of hemp drugs leads
to wasting of the tissues either by its direct action
or from insufficient food being taken. It also pre-
disposes to, or causes, chest affections.
43. Yes; unless the moderate use of the drug
excites insanity, which it might do in persons
already predisposed to insanity from heredity or
other cause.
44. It excites stimulation of a pleasurable kind,