225
Bhang massala is quite unknown in these parts.
30. These drugs are generally consumed in
company. Children and women are generally not
known to consume them.
31. The habit is easily formed ; but it is difficult
to break off the practice.
32. No customs that I know of.
33. The use of ganja is generally held in disre-
pute by the higher castes ; but there is no public
opinion, social or religious, among the class of
people who use the drug. There is no custom of
worshipping the hemp plant.
34. It will be a privation to the consumers if
they are made to forego the consumption, as it is
the cheapest way of indulging themselves in in-
toxication and forgetting their cares and anxieties.
35. It is quite possible to prohibit the use of the
drugs ; but it will require a large preventive party.
There will •no doubt be discontent ; but I cannot
say whether it would amount to a political danger.
The consumers will surely have recourse to alcoholic
stimulants.
36. No.
3 7 . C h a r a s i s n o t u s e d h e r e .
38. I do not know.
39. Smoking is said to be less injurious than
eating or drinking the same.
40. Bhang and ganja are taken with halwa or
lagiem as stimulants. They are also occasionally
given as medicine to cattle.
41. (a) Yes.
(b) Yes.
( c )
Y e s .
( d )
N o t k n o w n .
Musalmans and other classes of people. The
moderate occasional use of the drug will bring
about the above results.
43. Yes.
44. The immediate effect is that the consumer
feels intoxicated and is in a sort of dream. Occa-
sional moderate use creates appetite. Its effects
last for about three or four hours. After a meal
the effect of the drug generally ceases. Want of
subsequent gratification produces a longing for it,
and makes him uneasy.
45. (a) None.
(b) It does, if proper nourishment is not taken.
(c) No.
(d) No.
(e) No.
Moderate consumption does not produce any of
the above results. And it is only when taken in
excess that it is likely to produce evil results .
46. In very rare instances the habitual exces-
sive use of bhang and ganja are known occasion-
ally to have made people temporarily insane.
47. No.
49. No. No. No.
51. I . do not know. I am not aware of any
connection between it and crime of any special
character.
53. I do not know.
54. No. It is said that men using the drugs
get timid rather than bold.
55. I do not know.
57. I do not know.
60. The cultivation is very limited. No con-
trol seems to be necessary.
61. Charas not produced here.
6 2 .
N o .
63 to 65. None.
66. No such distinction appears to be desirable,
67. No.
68. There are three shops in the division. The
preparations are not consumed there, but only
sold.
69. Wishes of the people are consulted before
a shop is opened. The site is approved of by the
Police and Magistracy before it is sanctioned.
think public opinion ought to be consulted in the
matter.
40. Evidence of MR. J. H. GWYNNE , Deputy Collector, Wynaad, Malabar
District.
1. My answers are framed on the result of local
enquiries.
2. The dry leaves, when prepared for smoking
purposes, are called bhang. The definition for
ganja may be accepted for this taluk.
3. The hemp plant is said to grow spontaneously
in the hills and forests in the south-eastern parts of
the Wynaad taluk.
4. It is everywhere known as the ganja plant.
5. Hilly tracts are best suited to the growth of
the wild hemp.
6. The growth is scattered.
7. The hemp plant is cultivated in parts of
South Wynaad, especially in Sultan's Battery and
its neighbourhood, for the production of ganja only.
Roughly speaking, not more than 12 acres altoge-
ther are under this cultivation. Usually a few
plants, varying from two or three to a dozen at
most, may be found in the compounds attached to
dwelling houses.
VOL VI
8. There has been no appreciable increase or de-
crease in the area under cultivation recently.
9. Beds are prepared in nurseries, the earth is
properly turned up and made loose. A quantity
of manure composed of dry powdered cow dung and
ashes is then mixed up with the earth. The seeds
are then scattered over the beds, and a thin layer of
earth laid over. A month or six weeks after ger-
mination, the seedlings are fit to be transplanted.
10. Cultivators of the hemp plant do not belong
to any special class. They are of the same classes
as other agricultural cultivators.
11. No ; at least not in this taluk.
13. The cultivation is not restricted; but agri-
culturists here, as a rule, do not give their atten-
tion to it. A cold climate and black gummy soil
arc very favourable. Heavy dew is more suited than
rain. The elevation above sea level need not be
great.
14. Ganja and bhang are prepared here. Both are
2