253
12. No.
13. It is not restricted to any particular district.
It is commonly cultivated in the districts known to
me. It requires no special conditions of climate,
but requires rich soil, such as black-cotton or per--
manently improved land. 1 do not know if it
requires any particular elevation above the sea.
But it requires a good and seasonable rainfall, and
in its absence irrigation. I do not think it will be
successfully grown with less than 25 or 30 inches
of rain properly distributed over the whole culti--
vated season. In no part of this district its culti--
vation is considered to be impossible.
14. A mixed article of ganja and bhang is
prepared, but no chains. The locality and extent
are given in my answer to Question 7.
1 5 . N o .
16. Bhang is prepared generally in their houses,
and it can be prepared from the hemp plant where-
ever grown. There is no wild plant in this dis-
- t r i c t .
17. No particular class. Preparation of hemp
drug is made by Musalmans and Sudras among
the Hindus.
18. Ganja or bhang does not deteriorate unless
kept for a very long period. Its properties re-
main unaffected for a year or two. I believe it
slowly deteriorates if kept after two years. I am
not aware of any measures to be adopted.
19. Charas is not used here. Ganja is used for
smoking as well as eating. It is also used for
making majum. Majum is a paste made by mix--
ing jaggery with ganja well powdered. Ganja is
well ground and mixed with jaggery and taken in
as a beverage. To this ginger and spices are
sometimes added.
20. All Gossains, fakirs, wandering tribes of pro-
fessional beggars among the Hindus, all idle men
of whatever caste or creed who pretend to be
religious devotees and their disciples. The con--
sumers are very small, and the proportion may be
5 per mille of population. Even this may be con-
sidered as a liberal estimate.
2 1 . F l a t g a n j a i s u s e d i n t h i s d i s t r i c t .
2 2 . N o n e .
23. In this district the preparation being a
mixed one, it is used for smoking also.
24. Among the consumers of this article, two-
thirds are smokers and one-third are eaters.
2 5 . N e i t h e r i n c r e a s e n o r d e c r e a s e .
26. Habitual consumers only are found in this
district. They are, as specified above, 5 per mille.
Habitual, excessive consumers are very few—per--
haps a couple of hundreds for the whole district.
Occasional consumers are not to be found here.
27. Answer to Question 20 answers this.
Wandering tribes take it with the hope that it
checks malarious poison. Others, viz , mendi-
cants, etc., practise it with the expectation that it
concentrates tile mind.
28. Not more than ¼o f a n a n n a f o r m o d e r a t e
consumers. Perhaps double that for intemperate
habits.
29. Ordinarily no ingredients are mixed. Many
smoke it unmixed with other things. But some
mix tobacco to make it milder. For taking inter--
nally, it is ordinarily mixed with jaggery or sugar,
milk and spices to give relish to the preparation.
No dhatura is mixed. No bhang massala is
prepared in this country.
30. Generally the consumption of these drugs
is practised in solitude, except by Bairagis and
fakirs who do it in company. It is mainly confined
to males, Females very seldom use it. Some pee-
vish and puny children are given the preparation
called majum to sharpen appetite and make them
more buoyant.
31. The habit is easily formed, but is very hard
to break it off. There is a tendency for the mo-
- d e r a t e h a b i t t o d e v e l o p i n t o t h e e x c e s s i v e .
32. No custom, social or religious, prevails here.
33. The consumption of this drug is generally
regarded as degrading in ordinary society. It
may be said that there is some public opinion in
regard to its practice when religiously considered.
Those that pretend to practise concentration of
mind have a general idea that the use of the drug
is essential. The narcotic is generally in bad
repute, because the use of this, however moderate
it may be in the beginning, leads to intemperate
habits, and incapacitates the victim to attend to
the ordinary requirements of life, and makes him
go mad to some extent. There is no custom of
worshipping the hemp plant.
34. I don't think it will be a serious privation
to any class of consumers, seeing that the consu-
mers do not confine to any particular class or
creed. The probable number of consumers will be
half per cent., as stated in my answer to Question
20.
35. It would be feasible to prohibit the use of
this drug to a great extent. If this is done, there
will be illicit consuption to some extent. Prohi-
bition can be enforced by legal enactment, making
the cultivation or possession of the hemp plant an
offence. Certainly the prohibition would occasion
serious discontent among some of the consumers.
The discontent would not amount to a political
danger under any circumstances whatever. Pro-
hibition would be followed by recourse to (a)
alcoholic stimulants, and (b) other drugs.
36. No.
37. Charas is not known here, nor is it used
here.
38. Not known here. There is only one kind
of ganja, flat ganja, and therefore there are no
different preparations.
39. Smoking or eating within proper bounds-
is not at all injurious. Among the consumers of
this drug great many are smokers, those that eat
being very few. Smoking is therefore consider
-ed more injurious than eating, because more
smokers of lazy or indolent habits are seen in this
country. Smoking is carried on all the day, while
the eating is done after the night meal, the effects
of which are lost in the pools of slumber.
40. No ; there are very few natives who know
anything of cattle disease, and I have never
met any physician that used ganja in the treat-
ment of cattle disease. But some physicians use
the drug in preparing medicines for human con-
sumption in the case of bowel complaints, etc.
41. Moderate use of bhang or ganja gives (a)
digestive powers ; (b) alleviates fatigue ; (c) acts
as a preventive of disease in unhealthy tracts.
The classes of people that use the drug have
been answered in Question 20. It is to the mo-
derate habitual and occasional use I refer.
42. I consider that the use of this drug in
very small doses is harmless. But habitual use,
though beneficial in one way, is injurious either to
reputation or to intellect.
43. Moderate consumers are inoffensive in this
country.
44. Immediate effect is forgetting all worldly