364
I have said before, it costs ten times as much to
get drunk on alcohol as on ganja.
68. I believe not in this district.
69. No, I do not see the use of consulting local
public opinion on such a question. Though public
opinion is decidedly against the use of the hemp
drugs, it is doubtful if the majority of the
people would take the trouble to express any opi-
nion on the subject, while consumers of the drugs
would certainly try to show that opinion was in
favour of opening such shops. If the drugs are
bad and are doing distinct harm, it is a matter of
very small consequence whether the people of a
certain locality wish or do not wish to have them
prohibited.
70. There is a very general use of untaxed
ganja. It can be purchased in unlicensed shops
in many villages and in almost every garden
where it is grown and it is very largely grown
and produced for private use.
Oral evidence.
1. The whole of my residence in India has been
spent in the Cuddapah district. We have about
10,000 Christians in the Cuddapah district, all
Pariahs, except about 5, and the hemp drugs have
Often come up in discipline cases. Cases of insanity
and grave breach of discipline have occurred
among the Christians. I did not make the hemp
drugs a special study ; but I have had. to enquire
about them in connection with the cases referred to
above. I have made special enquiries since getting
the Commission's questions. I have had two
years' training in medicine, and have had to deal
with cases of disease brought on by indulgence in
the drugs.
7. The hemp plant is cultivated in three or four
places in fields, but I have not seen such cultiva-
tion. I have seen the plants mixed with other
cultivation, such as chillies. I have never seen
more than 200 plants together. I have seen it
growing in backyards and gardens in many places.
The plant cannot be mistaken when once recog-
nised. This kind of cultivation prevails in the
whole district ; but I have observed it to a less
extent in the sub-division in the south-west of the
district, where I have not travelled so much as in
other parts. The plant grows about 5 feet high.
15. I have not seen the crop prepared ; but
growers who were also consumers have described
the process to me. Two Muhammadans in Cudda-
pah and others were my informants. The process
I have described may not be quite accurate. The
word " used " might be substituted for " sold,"
and the meaning will then be clear.
24. In this answer I have spoken of bhang as
distinguished from ganja in the technical senses
used in the Commission's questions. The use of
ganja for eating and drinking is described under
question 19. Majum has not come under my
personal observation ; but I have heard that a
good many of the higher classes use it.
28. I speak of the Madras seer. I don't know
precisely how much it is in English weight.
35. There are eight licensed shops in the whole
district. Consumers have told me that it is sold in
g a r d e n s , a n d o n o n e o c c a s i o n I p o i n t e d o u t a n i l l i c i t
sop to a preventive officer who came to me begging
for information. I have frequently been told of
unlicensed shops where the drug can be purchased.
The preventive officer asked me, because the Col-
lector had blamed him for neglect of duty in conse-
quence of my having reported the existence of
unlicensed shops. This was the only case in which
I gave definite information, and then I only named
the bazar where the shop was to be found. I have
never had the name of such a shopkeeper reported
to me.
45. Philip was a Pariah Christian. I learnt
from himself and the villagers whom he taught
that he only used the drug moderately. He did
not drink to my knowledge. He was of good
character before he took to the hemp, but some-
what lazy. He was not of strong constitution. I
did not know any member of his family, except a
brother and an uncle, who were strong, and. the
former of whom was of good character. I
used to visit the village, 50 miles from Cud-
dapah, where the men worked, three times a
year. On one occasion he neglected to come up to
one of our centres for his pay ; and when I was
travelling near the village a short time afterwards,
the villagers brought him to me. There are three
or four habitual moderate consumers in the same
village. They are Pariahs and Christians, and I
know them personally. They taught him the use of
the drugs. One of them is at present in jail for
house-breaking, and I am not certain that another
is not also in prison. They are men of bad charac-
ter, and I have cut them off from the congregation.
They drink liquor at times, as almost all the low
classes do. It was from the testimony of the
neighbours that I came to the conclusion that
lie had indulged very moderately. I dismissed
him from the congregation. He was a fairly well
educated lad of 25. I have no doubt that I have
diagnosed the ease correctly as due to hemp drugs.
All my knowledge of his character was gathered
from the information of the villagers, the reports
of our evangelist, and the state of his school. I
could get no evidence of his having been addicted
to the habit before. He lived in a quarter of the
village which is inhabited by Pariah Christians.
The man was never reported to me before he was
brought to me by the villagers as having gone
mad. I enquired the cause and found it was ganja.
That is the first question I should ask in any case
of insanity. If answered. in the affirmative, I
should conclude that the insanity was in all proba-
bility due to ganja. Before arriving at this conclu-
sion, I should make other enquiries as to the man's
family, as to his other habits, and as to the time he
had been using the drug. If I got information of
heredity as well as the ganja habit, I should pro-
bably conclude there had been a predisposition,
which had been brought on by the ganja. The
man always looked poor, weak, and underfed, and
that is why I believed it possible that the habit
should have brought him to insanity in so short a
time. I knew his uncle and. brother alone of the
family. I probably enquired about his father, but I
can't be certain. I have not heard of him for
about a year ; but I believe he is now supported
by his brother. The man became useless four
years ago, and is still in a semi-idiotic state, unable
to do any work and inclined to wander about.
This is the only case in which I attribute insanity
to the moderate use.
So far as I have seen, ganja consumers are
inclined to do things by fits and starts. We have
n o d o o l y - b e a r e r s i n a n y d i s t r i c t , a n d I k n o w o f
no class who smoke ganja as a class and work like
other people. There are, however, individuals who,
consume the drugs in moderation and work steadily.
46. I have made careful enquiry regarding these
cases of insanity. I could name some 14 men, who,
as far as I could ascertain, have . become insane from
the excessive use of ganja. If I set myself down