502
By smoking charas people very often become
insane, and this is the result of bad company.
All people agree on this point. If charas
smokers, do not get charas at the time they usually
smoke it, they experience great discomfort. They
feel quite uneasy in the hands and feet, get yawn-
ings, and don't feel inclined to do any kind of
work; and if they come to know that such and
such a person has charas with him, or such and such
a shop sells it, no matter though they may have
to go from house to house and be subjected to all
sorts of indignities, but get the drug somehow
they must. If, after enquiries from all quarters,
they understand that the drag could not be pro-
cured, they try to content themselves, and the
time passes anyhow without it.
All agree on this point. Under the influence of
charas, the commission of crime is possible, and
necessarily a charsi is selfish ; consequently there
is a common saying—"Who could a charsi be
friend of? He would have a smoke and run
away."
Illustration.—A charsi himself spoke to the
correspondent yesterday, saying that while he
lived here he smoked charas regularly; but when
he had occasion to go home, he could not get
charas even if he went thirty miles searching for
it. Months, however, passed away without smok-
ing charas and health improved ; but as agreeable
friends were not to be seen in the country, he was
sad and ran back here.
All have been found pleased to say that if
Government were to stop the use of charas to-
morrow, they might stop it to-day : " We shall
have no complaint; and when we shall not get
charas, the bad habit will go by itself." The
correspondent has seen several cases. On account
of charas, many people have been destroyed and
ruined, and did not remain capable of moving in
the society of good men, and the public lost their
confidence in them.
Yesterday evening an old gentleman, a caste-
fellow, mentioned to the correspondent an account
of a charsi as follows :—
" At the ghat of a river (ferry) I had a clerk,
who, having got into bad company of charas-
smokers, himself began to smoke charas. The
result was that he became insane, and I was obliged
to send him to the Government hospital; but
after a short period he ran away from the hospital
and came back to me. I appointed a servant to
look after him specially, and I ordered him not to
give the man even a huka-smoking or chillum.
That year (season), raddish and carrot grew in
abundance, and all day long the man kept eating
them ; so he became all-right in a few days. Now
he is a clerk drawing Rs. 40 a month, and is also
a family man, having both wife and children."
Yesterday noon the correspondent held a conver-
sation with a jailor of a very big jail, and there
was a talk about charas, and he is pleased to say
thus:—
" It is my personal experience that the charsi
prisoners who were sent to the jail increased in
the weight of their bodies by about one-third, as
compared with the weight of their bodies they had
when they entered the jail. The reason told by
the jailor is that during the time of imprisonment
no charas was allowed to them; that simple and
sufficient food was given ; that care of their health
was taken; that they were made to work well; and
that the blood created in the body remained in it,
not having had to be burnt and dried by charas."
The reports of mad-houses, lunatic asylums or
sanitary asylums are the existing proofs as to how
many people become mad owing to the smoking of
charas.
Charas not being a product of this country, the
correspondent thinks it possible to stop the use of
the drug at once, and there are existing proofs
that by giving up the use of charas a man is not
destroyed. If care be taken to keep a guard of
police on the roads by which charas is brought into
India, the stoppage of the drug can be easily
managed, and the correspondent thinks that
Government will do their subjects a very great
obligation by saving them from early death and
whirlpool of destruction and ruin.
Poppy-head and poppy-seeds.—In the Punjab the
use of poppy-head and poppy-seed has been seen.
The correspondent had a mind to write about
the poppy-head, but it is doubtful whether or not
it could be included into hemp drugs, because it is
connected with opium. Therefore he stops his
pen from writing the point. He can write if he
is asked to do so.
Oral evidence.
My grandfather came to the Punjab, at the time
of the annexation, from our home in Etah in the
North-Western Provinces. We are Kayasths.
My age is nearly 25. I was born and educated at
Jullundur and lived there till four years ago.
I have given the sources of my information
about the hemp drugs, and I would also refer to
the Urdu pamphlet called " Dil Bhalao " of which I
sent a copy to the Commission to illustrate my evi-
dence. The pamphlet was originally written—I
don't know when—in Hindi, and it was translated
into Urdu more than thirty years ago. It gives the
opinion of the masses, and especially women whose
husbands are addicted to the drugs. Besides this
there is a great deal of literature on the object of
the drugs which I have read, and there are numer-
ous songs and sayings also which represent the
feeling of the masses.
I have observed consumers chiefly at Jullundur,
Lahore, Meerut and Badaon, and the result of my
observation is recorded in my paper to the Commis-
sion. The " abstract of conversation " furnished in
my paper confirms my own observation.
I have seen insanity which I believed to be
caused by the hemp drugs in an asylum. A
doctor friend of mine took me there. Outside the
asylum I have not known any insanes, but I have
had people pointed out to me who were said to have
become weak-minded and had their brain affected
from the use of charas.
I have seen many charas stages. They are
called " adda ". They are places where fakirs live
and others assemble to smoke charas. I must have
seen 20 such places. I have never seen a man die
whom I believe to have died of charas smoking.
People have told me of charsis as having died of
the habit, but I cannot give any case. I have
named the classes who indulge in charas : jogis,
ganjams, etc., and kahars, syces; a few women of
low character who profess to belong to some religi-
ous sect, also smoke. It is in the interest of these
people and those who are induced to join them in
their evil habit that I pray the Government most
fervently to save them by stopping the import and
sale of charas at once.
My personal belief is that there is no such thing
as moderation in the use of charas, because when a
charsi visits another, he offers him the chillum, and
they smoke in company. The smoke is thus
repeated frequently.