180
122. Evidence of AVINAS CHANDRA BANERJI, Brahmin, Medical Practitioner,
City Allahabad.
1. In the course of my practice extending over
a period of fifteen years, I have come across pa-
tients who are in the habit of using these drugs.
19. Ganja and charas are used for smoking
purposes only, as far as I am aware.
23. Bhang is never used for smoking, as far as
I am aware.
31. Habit of smoking ganja and charas is easi-
ly formed, as also bhang-drinking. It is difficult
to break off these habits. There is a tendency to
excessive use.
32. On the tenth day of Durga Puja, the
Bengali Hindus after throwing the goddess Dur-
ga in water, drink a small quantity of bhang in
commemoration of the victory of Rama over
Ravana, the King of Lanka or Ceylon. Its use
is considered a portion of the ceremony. It is tem-
perate use. It is unlikely to develop into a habit
39. Bhang drinking is less injurious than ganja
or charas smoking. I have seen persons using
bhang in small quantities keep good health, But
charas and ganja smokers have always appeared to
me poor in health.
40. Bhang is prescribed by Hindu system of
medicine as an aphrodisiac and digestive and as-
tringent along with other medicines. It is given
to bullocks and horses for looseness of bowels,
]0ss of apperite, and over-work, exhaustion.
41. (a) Medicinal use of bhang is beneficial for
digestive troubles, such as looseness of bowels and
loss of apetite.
42. Bhang-drinking in very small doses is quite
harmless. I have seen many up-country gentle-
men using it for years without any injury to their
constitution.
45. (b) Small doses of bhang, say, five grains,
do not impair the constitution,
(c) to (f) No.
46. Excessive use of bhang makes the intellect
dull and constitution lazy.
47. No, it does not affect children.
48. Children born of parents given to excessive
use are dull in intellect,
49. (a) Yes (of bhang).
(c) Yes, by prolonging the coitions it weakens
in the long run.
(d) Yes (of bhang).
All my answers refer to bhang, and not to charas
or ganja.
123. Evidence of ASSISTANT SURGEON MUNNA LALL, Tamoli (Brahmin), Rai
Bareli.
1. As a medical man I have observed personally
what I have stated; also made enquiries from per-
sons using the drugs and verified their statements.
2. Yes, practically; but only two varieties of
ganja are sold and used in this district—one an
expensive kind known as baluchar, its retail price
being four rattis for a pice; the other, called
pathar, is a coarse kind, and is about twelve times
cheaper.
14. No.
19. Mostly for smoking only; but I have ascer-
tained that in the Lucknow and Fyzabad districts
of Oudh charas, the best procurable, is made into a
confection called falak sair, which means soaring
in the skies.
An oil is also distilled from charas, and a drop
or two of this are made into a bolus with milk-
cream, balai.
In the same way a few grains of raw charas are
also said to be eaten by a few persons. The eat-
ing preparations and methods are only resorted to
by a few abandoned libertines for their supposed
aphrodisiac properties.
20. The smoker of ganja enjoys charas equally,
and vice versa. The poorer classes smoke the
cheap stuff of necessity; those that can afford
go in for the superior kind of ganja and charas.
It being mere matter of taste and habit, some
prefer one over the other; habit and preference
being mostly dependent on the stuff consumed by
the person who first initiated the novice, and the
number of occasions they had of associating with
one another. The fakirs, poor labourers, journey-
men, traders, and hawkers smoke the cheap ganja;
others having means smoke charas and the supe-
rior kind of ganja,
21. Only two kinds of ganja, as stated above,
are used in this district. Baluchar variety of
ganja is the one best preferred; then comes charas;
and then the cheap kind of ganja called pathar.
22 Foreign. It is imported from the Punjab.
23. Not that I know of.
24. All over the Punjab, North-Western Pro-
vinces and Oudh, of which I have cognizance, the
great majority of people of all classes prefer
drinking bhang as a beverage, prepared in various
ways, the chief ingredients being bhang, black
pepper, and water. Sometimes, however, sugar,
milk, raisins, pistachio nuts, etc., are added to make
the drink more palatable.
Some indolent few, either owing to lack of
means or opportunity, eat the dry bhang with
little gur, or merely wash it down their throats
with some water. A small number of consumers
crush the bhang with or without black pepper,
make it into a bolus and eat it. The only elaborate
kind of preparation of bhang used for eating
purposes is a confection known as majun, and is
known all over India, and requires no description.
26. Out of a hundred consumers my observations
would lead me to think as follows:—
(a)
(b)
(c)
50
25
25
100
per cent.
ditto.
ditto.
In my opinion there can be no occasional ex-
cessive consumers, as habit is only acquired by
degrees, and the quantity can only be increased
after constant use.
27. The habitual moderate consumers, as a
rule, belong to all grades of society, being as a
class, sober, industrious, and devoted to their
calling in life, having to make their living. The
habitual excessive consumers are a set of idle, good-
for-nothing sort of men, having little or no cares
and less inclination for work, their chief aim in
life being to eat and live without doing anything
useful. To this class belong the masses living
upon charity, e.g., the proprietors and managers
of all the sacred places and temples among the
Hindus; the takiadars and other majzub fakirs