390
discontent, which would be confined to the habitual
consumers, would be of little importance. Prohi-
bition would certainly diminish the consumption
greatly. A certain number of consumers would
take to alcohol or other drugs; but the actual
total consumption of intoxicating liquor and drugs
would be diminished.
36. No reason here to think that alcohol is
being substituted for these drugs, bhang being
much cheaper than alcohol.
37. No ganja smoked here.
38. Nil.
39. Smoking charas is said to be much more
rapid and deleterious in its effects than drinking
bhang. A man who smokes charas can hardly
avoid taking it to excess, while bhang may be
taken in moderation.
40. Charas is not prescribed. Bhang is some-
times prescribed for diarrhoea or piles.
41. Charas has no beneficial effects. Bhang is
said sometimes to assist digestion, but never to
give staying-power or act as a febrifuge. Its
moderate habitual use is sometimes said to assist
digestion, give an appetite, and cool the body.
Its effects are described as "drying and cooling."
42. A number of consumers, especially Hindu
shopkeepers, consume bhang moderately without
injurious results; but there is danger of the habit
growing on them.
43. Inoffensive,
41. It is cooling and refreshing, produces slight
intoxication, creates appetite, does not allay
hunger, If taken in moderation, the effects last
only for an hour or so, and there are no after-effects
or longing.
45. Charas is seldom taken in moderation. The
habitual moderate use of bhang appears to have
none of the noxious effects mentioned in the
question.
46. The excessive use of charas or bhang
impairs the constitution. It is said to dry up the
blood. It causes constitutional paleness, causes
indigestion, greatly impairs the moral sense, and
makes its victim incapable of ordinary thought or
exertion, deadening the intellect, and in some cases
producing insanity.
I have seen a considerable number of excessive
bhang and charas consumers. They have all an
unhealthy, bloated look, yellow vacant eyes, and
a listless appearance. Nothing interests them,
except the prospect of getting some of their favour-
ite drug. Cases of insanity seem few; but one
man, Panditta Bera of Bhera, age 35, son of a
sweetmeat seller, has become insane, apparently
owing to the effects of charas, which he smokes to
excess. His habits are filthy, and he ill-treats his
mother. Another man, Sit a Ram Brahman of
Bhera, age 28, smokes charas to excess, and has
been more or less insane. He has squandered his
property, beats his parents, and has lost all moral
sense.
47. No.
48. No. Apparently there is no hereditary ten-
dency.
49. Not used as an aphrodisiac. These drugs
are said to tend to produce impotence.
50. As above.
51. If by bad character is meant persons given
to crime, there seems no evidence connecting the
use of these drugs with had characters. The
consumers in moderation are just like their neigh-
bours; neither more nor less given to crime.
52. Similarly, although persons addicted to
these drugs in excess lose all sense of shame, and
beg for means to allay their craving with blessings
and curses, they are not specially addicted to crime.
53. Certainly not in this district. The univer-
sal remark is that the use of bhang or charas
makes a man ridiculously timid, so that even the
flight of bird or the fall of a leaf startles him.
54. Never in this district.
55. No 6uch case known here.
56. Dhatura is not mixed with bhang or charas.
The admixture of black pepper with bhang is said
to prevent flatulence. Sugar is mixed to make
it more intoxicating; milk to make it less dry.
Other articles are added to give it a more pleasant
taste.
57. No such custom here.
58. Capable of improvement.
59 As charas is universally admitted to be
injurious and not beneficial, I would prohibit its
importation and consumption, or at all events
impose a high tax on it. Bhang also is much
more injurious than beneficial, and I would make
an attempt to prohibit it, beginning with selected
districts and beginning with taxation.
60. Not produced here.
61. Not produced here.
62. The cultivation of the hemp plant could be
entirely prohibited without much difficulty by
simply making it punishable with fine and impri-
sonment. A tax per acre should certainly be im-
posed, as is done with opium in the Punjab.
63. I should like to see the experiment made in
selected districts of prohibiting trade in charas and
bhang altogether. In any case, I think fewer
retail licenses should be given, that an import tax
should be put on charas, and a transport tax on
bhang, the cultivation of which should be taxed.
64. Only that the import of charas and the
transport of bhang should be taxed to make them
dearer and thus discourage consumption.
65. Certainly charas and bhang should pay
some taxation, as alcohol and opium do. At
present in this province they pay very much less
in proportion than those intoxicants do.
66. No ganja used here.
67. Only that it should he increased.
6S. It is not usual here to consume these drugs
on the premises, and such consumption should he
forbidden.
69. Local public opinion should certainly be
considered. I have declined to open any new shops
and closed some old shops, where the amount bid
for the license was very small, showing that
I there was little demand.
70. Nil. I should think very little charas is sold
except in licensed shops. No doubt a good deal of
bhang escapes taxation altogether.
Oral evidence.
Question 1.— I have been eighteen years in the
service.
Question 3.—I believe the plait is not collect-
ed by the contractors in the salt range. The
supply of bhang sold in the district comes, I be-
lieve, from the Himalayan tracts; but I am not
aware that there is any distinction drawn between
the drug from different localities.
Question 9.—The seed is sown broadcast as far
as I know, but I have only seen the crop growing