21
82. I understand that at convivial meetings
among lower castes in the plains bhang is occa-
sionally provided or a pipe of ganja. But I am not
in a position to describe in detail any custom. On
such occasions the use of the drug is probably
generally temperate, but I should fay it was likely
to lead to the formation of the habit where not
already acquired.
33. (a) Without any disapproval by a man's
equals, so far as I know.
(b) I know of nothing of the sort.
(c) Never heard of it.
34. 1 think it would be too many, and I don't
see why we should inflict the privation on them.
Bhang is very harmless, I believe.
35. (a) I think not.
(b) Yes; I think so.
(c) Only by an army of informers and spies.
(d) I should think so.
(e) Very possibly.
(f)
Yes; this would be probably the result
in very many cases.
36. No; on the contrary, I believe the re-
verse to be the case in these provinces—vide an-
swer to question 25.
37. 1 have understood that charas smoking
is more likely to lead to bad results than ganja
smoking; but I am not prepared to state on my
own knowledge that this is a fact.
38. I cannot say.
39. The preparations which are smoked are not
drunk"or eaten, so far as I know of.
4 0. (o) I never enquired into this question.
(b) Yes; in this district charas is occasion-
ally administered to buffaloes, and possibly to
other animals. When charas is not available, the
juice squeezed out of leaves of the hemp plant is
given.
41. (a) Bhang acts in this way, I believe.
(b) Ganja certainly acts in this way.
(c) Very possibly, but I have no knowledge
on the point.
Bhang is used, I believe, by all classes of the
population, but I cannot say exactly what propor-
tion of the consumers take it as a food accessory
or digestive: probably a large proportion take it
in that way. Kahars certainly often take ganja
for (b). I refer to the moderate occasional use of
ganja and bhang, though I daresay bhang is
habitually used in moderate quantities for (a).
42. I consider the moderate use of bhang to be
beneficial, of ganja to be often beneficial and,
where not positively beneficial, harmless in very
many cases.
As far as I know, the moderate occasional use
of charas is often harmless; but I hesitate to go
beyond this—see answer to Question 37 above. I
have sten men of middle age who have said that
they have taken bhang and ganja in moderate
quantities since they were 20 or 25, and feit all
the better for it. They certainly seemed in
thoroughly good health.
43. I never heard anything to the contrary.
44. Habitual consumers can best answer this
question. I am not prepared to give more
details than I gave in my answer to question 37.
45. This is a question for medical experts. I
should very much doubt whether the habitual
moderate use of bhang produced any noxious
effects. With the habitual moderate consumer of
ganja or charas I should say that the chief risk
was that he might soon indulge habitually to
excess.
46. I should say that the habitual excessive use
of any of these drugs is no doubt harmful.
47. I never heard so.
48. No doubt the offspring of a man whose
constitution has been broken down or is fast
breaking down through excessive indulgence in a
hemp drug suffer from the failing of their father,
but I am not in a position to examine the
question minutely.
49. (a) Yes; I believe that all three are often
used as aphrodisiacs.
(b) Don't know; extremely probable.
(c) I should certainly think that it's use as an
aphrodisiac was more harmful than its use simply
to produce a little nasha.
(d) If used continually as an aphrodisiac, I
understand that the user becomes, before very
long, impotent.
50. I can add nothing to answer 49.
51. (a) I expect that a large number of bad
characters take hemp drugs, but I should doubt
their moderation.
(b) None, I should say, provided the use was
strictly "moderate."
52. See last answer. To the excessive use of
ganja and charas many crimes of violence are
probably ascribable.
53. Yes; I should think it certainly tended to
have that effect. Yes; in Srinagar (Garhwal)
some 8 or 10 years ago, a fakir who consumed
charas in considerable quantities took a boy and
deliberately chopped off his head. When kept out
of the way of any hemp drug, this man seems to
behave fairly like a rational being; but whenever
he gets charas, he gets violent and dangerous.
51. I don't know. Very possibly, I should say,
on occasion.
55. Cannot say; very possible however that
it so happens occasionally.
56. Never heard of the admixture of other
substances.
57. I never heard of this.
5S and 59. I consider that it works well; but
I agree with the remarks of the Commissioner of
Excise, North-Western Provinces and Oudh, in
paragraph 50 of his report for the year ending 30th
September 1892, that it "leaves too much of the
revenue at the mercy of competition," and that it
would be well if a larger porsion of the revenue
could be collected as fixed duty.
60. I don't know to what extent it is produced
in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. If it
is produced to any appreciable extent, then I think
that the cultivation of hemp for the purpose and
the process of its preparation should be more con-
trolled than they are, for I don't think that at
present any steps are taken to see that the ganja
produced is sold only to a licensed vendor, i. c.,
person duly authorised to purchase the same.
61. Charas is produced, as stated in my answer
to question 7, in the district (Garhwal) in which
I am writing. But the extent to which it is pro-
duced is not accurately known. Unless it is very
much more than I believe to he the case, I do not
think that the people need be bothered about
accounting for all that they have produced.
Enquiries at Ramnagar (Naini Tal district) might
show the quantity approximately exported there
from Garhwal every year,
62. No; because, though it is not done in
this district, bhang can apparently be produced
from the leaves and small stalks of the wild plant,
which grows more or less all over the provinces I