493
and improving digestion at times. Ganja and
charas are supposed to give staying-power under
severe exertion, and to enable the smoker to bear
up against exposure to heat and cold. I am not
aware of any other beneficial effects from the use
of these drugs. My remarks about bhang apply
equally to habitual consumers, and to those who
use it occasionally for medicinal purposes. I do
not know if ganja or charas is ever smoked in
order to give staying-power or to ward off the
effects of exposure. I should think not. In
speaking of their effects, I refer to habitual con-
sumers only.
42. I have already described the benefits to the
best of my knowledge. The moderate use of
bhang may possibly be harmless, but ganja and
charas smoking is on the whole always injurious.
43. I think so.
44. I cannot say.
45. (b) Ganja and charas are apt to produce
leanness and weakness of body.
(c) I am not sure. Probably not.
(d) Ganja and charas smoking dors. Not
bhang, so far as I know.
(e) Yes, to a certain extent.
(f) I believe they do. Ganja and charas, if
excessively used, is apt to lead to insanity.
47. I cannot say, except as to the effect of ex-
ample. A father who habitually indulges in these
drugs is likely to have his practice imitated by his
sons.
49. I have heard bhang is sometimes drunk for
this purpose, but the effect of all these drugs is
believed to be injurious in this respect in the end.
51. I think so; but the use of these drugs has
no necessary connection with crime. These forms
of intoxication are resorted to, as they are com-
paratively cheap, by habitual criminals and bad
characters, who are generally poor. They are
more properly the effects rather than the cause's of
habits of crime. But in so far as they deaden the
sensibilities of the mind and enable the criminal
to bear up against exposure and fatigue, they may
be said to help crime.
53. Occasionally ganja and to a lesser extent
charas-smoking is said to induce a surly habit of
mind.
54. Sometimes, to deaden their sensibilities and
to produce a reckless frame of mind.
55. Bhang is sometimes used for this purpose.
Not ganja or charas. I have come across cases of
this kind in the course of my practice. Bhang
may produce complete stupefaction.
56. Milk and sugar are said to increase the in-
toxicafmg power of bhang; pepper gives flavour;
while salt, cucumber and pumpkin seeds, almonds,
etc., are supposed to have a cooling effect.
57. 1 have never come across a person who in-
dulges in this habit.
62. Hemp is little cultivated in this province,
but in my opinion its cultivation should be regu-
lated and controlled in the same manner as that
of poppy.
69. I believe they are not consulted, but think
they should always be.
77. Evidence* of LALA GANESH DASS , Pleader, and President , Sarin Sabha ,
Hoshiarpur.
Charas, ganja and majun are prepaid from
bhang (hemp plant). Charas is imported from
Yarkand, and is not manufactured in Hoshiar-
pur, nor is ganja manufactured in this province.
Majun is prepared in the Punjab by boiling
bhang in water and ghi, and the juice extracted
from it is then mixed with sugar and made into
majun. It is prepared to a small extent, and
some people use it in winter or on the occasion
of the Holi or other festival, but they are not
habitual consumers.
Bhang is not cultivated in this province, but
grows spontaneously to a small extent in the
plains and in abundance in the hills. There is
hardly any village in this district, round the fields
of which there are no wild hemp plants. Bhang
is exported from Hoshiarpur to Ludhiana, Feroze-
pore, Maler Kotla, and other districts. Bhang is
not cultivated here.
A large trade in charas is carried on in the
Hoshiarpur city; that is, charas worth about two
lakhs of rupees is yearly imported here from Yar-
kand, and the excise contractors of the Punjab
and North-Western Provinces carry it to those
provinces for sale. The local traders of this place
also export it to other districts on their own ac-
count. The dealers of this district carry merchan-
dise of sorts to Ladakh and Yarkand and bring
charas in exchange for it.
The use of these drugs is physically and mor-
ally injurious, particularly the use of charas, the
effects of which are extremely bad. The consum-
ers of the latter drug become weak, emaciated,
melancholy, insane, impotent, lazy, etc., and also
suffer from phthisis, bronchitis, asthma and affec-
tion of the brain, etc. Most of the consumers of
charas become incapacitated for work and lead a
miserable life. There is a Punjabi proverb that.
" charas says that—I create cough and bronchitis,
and if still the consumer does not die, I can't help
it."
The intoxication of bhang is less injurious than
that of charas, but it, of course, causes laziness,
and is beneficial for certain diseases, such as piles.
The Sikhs generally use bhang in Gurdawaras,
and the Akali (Sikhs) publicly. Shoemakers,
musicians, jogis, sanyasis and suthra fakirs, and
some Khatris and Brahmans also use it. Charas
is consumed by the classes named above except
the Sikhs.
In this city there may be about 500 people who
smoke charas, but the number of consumers of
bhang is smaller. The population of this city is
about 13,377. There are several instances of
charas-smokers who are lunatics, and of those who
died after becoming insane by its use.
On being asked, some habitual excessive consum-
ers stated that they would willingly consent to
the (proposed) prohibition; and that if they do
not get charas at all, it would do them no harm,
but when it is available they can not refrain from
smoking it.
By the prohibition of charas it cannot be
apprehended that the habitual consumers will
* Translation.