399
45. Bairagis being unmarried as a class, their
constitutions are not undermined. Others, unless
their nourishment is good, gradually suffer. Lung
diseases occur after a long use. It does impair or
blunt moral sense and induce laziness, but not
immorality of the kind of debauchery. It does
deaden the intellect and produce insanity, but
such instances are rare. Insanity is observed
when it is excessively used, without corresponding
nourishment. I beard of one or two insane men
in the Gooty sub-jail. Kamsala Ramama, of
Putloor, became insane, they say, by smoking
ganja excessively.
47. No.
49. No; it is not used by prostitutes. The use
of hemp tends to produce impotence.
51. No; unlike toddy and liquor or arrack,
moderate use of ganja has no connection with
crime.
53. No instances are known.
54. No ; it unfits a man by making him dull
and stupid.
55. Not in these parts.
57. Ganja is drunk. They say it is refreshing
in the summer.
58. The consumers are generally beggars and
poor people. I don't think that it will do any
good by raising the taxation a little higher. After
all it is not so bad as toddy and liquor which is
simply ruining the people, and that in increasing
numbers.
60. Cultivation is very limited. The cultiva-
tors may be made to take a license for the pur-
pose. It will check its increase.
63. The licensed shops ought to be limited to a
few centres in a district. Indiscriminate licenses
to sell everywhere tend to increase the consump-
tion. It is too tempting to lazy people to resist
the fancy to try it, and then acquire the habit.
If it is to be obtained with some trouble from a
distant place, many a consumer, who has taken to
it for the mere pleasure of it, will give it up.
Those that grow the plant will be few, and will
not daily part with it even for the sake of com-
pany.
67. Vide my remarks against 58.
68. They are sold in licensed shops. No smok-
ing on the premises. Nothing bad is heard since
the sellers are not themselves consumers.
69. No; people of a place are of no account in
selecting places or granting licenses. It is neces-
sary that people should be given an option in the
matter. If local option is given, it will prevent
many an evil arising from opening shops selling
intoxicating drugs or liquids.
Oral evidence.
Question 1 .—1 have lived at Gooty, and prac-
tised there as pleader since 1882. I have been
Secretary of the Gooty People's Association since
1884. I have consulted the members of the asso-
ciation in framing my answers, but I present them
on my own responsibility, not as representing the
association.
Question 32 .—None, but the lower classes and
of those only who are used to it take the drug in
the Holi or Kama festival. The use by the Sat-
tanis is not a religious custom.
The use of alcohol and opium is also in disre-
pute. The liquor drinker injures others as well as
himself. The ganja consumer in j ures himself
alone; opium costs more and injures the consumer
pecuniarily as well as physically. These are the
general views. I consider that alcohol and opium
are more in disrepute among the people than the
hemp drug, because of the greater injury they do
to society. There is another point about opium
that it becomes a necessity, whereas the hemp
drug can be given up.
Question 35.—Prohibition would, in my opi-
nion, stop the desultory cultivation in backyards.
There would be no strong feeling aroused by pro-
hibition of cultivation, for the people generally
are against the drug, provided consumers had
reasonable facilities for getting the drug.
Question 45.—The moderate use does not, in
my opinion, cause insanity. I only know of one
case of alleged insanity from the hemp drags.
He was in the Gooty Jail under observation, and
was sent to the Madras Asylum. The jail autho-
rities told me about him, and I did not see the
man myself.
Question 63.—I have no particular locality in
my mind, in which there are too many shops. In
my own district, I think the number of shops is
reasonable. My written answer on the subject is
general.
Question 69 .—I think Local Boards and Unions
might be given an option with regard to the open-
ing and shutting of shops. To some extent, the
Local Boards represent the rural interests. In
towns the 'Municipal Councils might be consulted,
both as regards the opening and shutting of shops,
as the Local Boards might in rural tracts. The
Collector may have the interests of the people at
heart, but for his information he is at the mercy
of Tahsildars, who are not as well qualified to
judge by the needs of the locality as the Local
Boards and Municipal Councils. Before restric-
tions are placed on the hemp drug, I should like
to see more restriction placed on the facilities for
procuring alcohol. I think there would be mem-
bers of the Local Boards and Municipal Councils
who would give consideration to the interests and
convenience of ganja consumers. Questions of
opening and closing of shops should, at all events,
be referred to the Municipal Councils and Local
Boards and Unions before the Collector passes his
decision upon them.
174. Evidence of the TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION, Trichinopoly.
1. Local enquiry amongst dealers and consu-
mers of bhang.
12. Yes. It is cultivated largely by the hill
tribes in the Javaji hills in the North Arcot dis-
trict which extend from Vellore to Jallarpet.
14. ( b ) Charas is unknown here.
16 . ( a ) Yes.
(b) Yes, but narcotic effects of the wild plant
are not so strong as those of the cultivated ; and
therefore in this town it is by preference prepared
from hemp imported from North Arcot district.
(c) The same remark applies to ganja.