Ganja.
Bhang.
Consumers.
Habitual moder
ate.
Habi tual excessi ve
¼ tola, worth about
0-0-6.
3 tolas, worth 0-4-6
to 0-6-0.
½ tola, worth
0-0-6.
No consumption.
15
those who have. adopted a wandering or
isolated mode of life on religious or semi-
religious grounds.
28. I believe the allowances to be:
29. Ganja is nearly always mixed with tobacco
for smoking purposes, two parts of ganja to one of
tobacco being the usual proportions. Ganja is
always washed in water before smoking, and the
tobacco is added after the water has been squeez-
ed out as far as possible, in order to facilitate
"drawing." The mixture is said to have a pleas
-
anter taste and to be less powerfully intoxicant
than plain ganja.
Dhatura is mixed with ganja only by excessive
smokers, and they sometimes smoke the former
plain. From replies to inquiries made by this
office in 1882 I find that this use was in vogue
before ganja came to be taxed at all. This mixture
is far more intoxicating than plain ganja or than
g a n j a a n d t o b a c c o m i x e d .
It is not the practice in these provinces to sell
"bhang massala": those who drink bhang mix the
necessary ingredients at home themselves. For
tolas of bhang the quantities of the ingredients
in common use would be:-1 tola black pepper,
20 almonds, 10 cardamoms, ½ tola rose leaves,
pounded 50 seeds of cucumber, ½tola aniseed,
½
s e e r s u g a r , 2 s e e r s w a t e r , ½ s e e r m i l k .
.30. Of the main classes of consumers mention-
ed in the answer to question 26, mendicants and
devotees and well-to-do persons may prefer to
smoke in solitude, but there is no necessity for
being alone.
Labourers nearly always smoke in company, a
"chilam" being passed round to each of 3 or 4
persons who take their puff or two in turn; four
would find a chilam charged with half a tola of
ganja and quarter of a tola of tobacco sufficient
f o r a s m o k e i n t h i s w a y .
With the exception of some prostitutes, women
do not smoke ganja at all; nor do children. The
habit is contracted by males about the age of 19
y e a r s .
Bhang may be said to be, among the compara-
t- ively few who consume it, the social drink cor
-
responding to the Anglo-Indian "peg:" women
and children do not drink it.
31. This is a question I am hardly qualified to
answer. Labourers whom I have inquired of say
that they can manage to do their work well
enough, even if they cannot get their usual smoke.
In this respect there is a vast difference between
consumers of ganja and consumers of opium: the
latter are useless, unless they get their accustomed
dose; and that at the accustomed time.
32. It is usual to drink bhang on the festival
called Shivratri, which occurs early in February.
Some of the concoction is poured over the "ling"
in honour of the god. Even those who do not
ordinarily drink bhang take a little on this occa- -
sion, I cannot give any useful information as to
the effects of this custom but I have never heard
that it is harmful in any way.
33. Most people whose position is superior to
that of a labourer profess to look upon ganja
smoking as a disreputable practice, and the name
"ganjeri" is considered abusive. The use of
bhang is for the most part confined to the hot
weather, and its moderate consumption at that
time is in no way deprecated: even Marwaris
drink very little in the rains or cold weather.
The hemp plant is cultivated only in Nimar
,
and it is not worshipped there.
34, I certainly think that the labouring classes
would suffer greatly, if they were entirely depriv- -
ed of ganja; they can do more work when under
its influence, and at the end of the day a pipe
greatly alleviates their fatigue. Mendicants and
devotees are constantly on the move, and would
take care to supply themselves somehow, what- -
ever we might do in the way of prohibiting or
restricting consumption: if absolutely shut out
from ganja, they would generally find dhatura
easily obtainable.
Bhang is more or less a luxury, and there are
not many who would suffer for long if deprived of
it for good. The number of consumers must be
well below 100,000, judging from the fact that
half tola, is the ordinary daily dose, and that retail
sales for the past five years average only 11¾ maunds
per annum. But it must be remembered that
Marwaris travel a great deal between British and
Native territory, and no doubt carry about bhang
bought in the latter: as possession of any quantity
up to 20 tolas, no matter where purchased, is
legal, our statistics of sales cannot be regarded
as a satisfactory gauge of consumption.
35. If the consumption of ganja is prohibited
in the Central Provinces, the prohibition would
have to be enforced by a large preventive estab-
lishment with special inquisitorial powers. Smug--
gling goes on now when possession of 5 tolas is
legal and 1,000 retail shops are licensed yearly;
so there can be no doubt as to what would hap- -
pen if the drug was not procurable within the
provinces. Smokers are not, however, so influ- -
ential or numerous that their discontent could
give cause for alarm for the permanence of our
political supremacy; they would take to dhatura
or kuchla, if smuggled ganja was not to be had.
The present policy of the Local Administration
is to raise the price of country liquor, and even
now there is some reason to suspect that prices are
so high as to drive consumers to the use of drugs.
Opium is not likely to be appreciated as a substi- -
tute for ganja by consumers of the latter who are
labourers, for the reason that opium does not
produce an intoxication which brings inclination
for physical exertion, but is rather of an opposite
nature.
36. There is no tendency to drink liquor in pre--
ference to ganja smoking. On the other hand,
fears are entertained by the administration that
ganja is being substituted for liquor as an intoxi- -
cant (see answer to question 25.)
37. I can give no information about charas; it
is not sold in the Central Provinces.
38. As already stated; only one kind of ganja
is consumed here, and that corresponds most nearly
with the "flat" ganja of Bengal.
39. Bhang is doubtless the least intoxicating of
the preparations used in these provinces. Majum
eating and ganja smoking produce pretty similar
results in this respect, the intoxication caused by
the latter being probably shorter-lived than that
induced by the former. I am pot prepared to
(b)