393
21. Not used in this district.
22. Foreign. From Yarkand.
23. Occasionally only by 6ome Hindu fakir6.
24. By classes referred to in answer 20.
25. Charas and bhang Said to be slightly on
the increase.
26. No reliable information available, but ap-
parently the largest proportion are the habitual
moderate consumers.
28. Bhang—
(a) One tola per day, cost one pice.
(b) Two and a half tolas per day, cost 2 pice.
Charas—
(a) One-fourth of a tola, cost one to one and
a half pice per day.
(b) Up to to three tolas, cost four annas per
day.
29. Bhang—
(a) Pepper.
(b) Almond, melon seeds, milk, sugar, not
dhatura. Pepper to prevent flatulency,
others to re luce astringency. Tobacco
is used with charas in smoking. Bhang
massala not known here.
80. Charas and bhang—Usually in company.
Females also use bhang and charas, but a few as
compared with males; not children.
81. Charas and bhang—Yes, easily formed;
difficult for habituals to break off. The tendency
of the moderate is to develop into the excessive,
more in respect of charas than bhang.
32. No religious or social customs so far as I
can learn; ascetics believe that bhang prolongs the
state of mind during which it is taken. If medi-
tative, his mind will continue so whilst the influence
of the drug lasts, otherwise his thoughts would get
diverted. I am told that worshippers of Shiva
think they will please the deity by indulging in a
drug to which he was partial.
33. Unfavourably. Social public opinion is, if
any thing, against the practice. Use of charas is
in disrepute owing to its effects on consumers.
Hemp plant not worshipped in this district.
34. Yes, I think so.
35. No, unless indulgence were made penal.
It would give rise to an illicit trade. Serious
discontent would be caused among consumers. I
doubt whether such discontent would amount to a
political danger; the discontent on part of con-
sumers who are in the army should be taken into
consideration in dealing with the question of pro-
hibition. Prohibition would not, I think, as a
rule, cause recourse to alcoholic stimulants but
might to other drugs.
36. I think not. Use of alcohol is on the
increase, but not in substitution.
37. Ganja not used in this district.
39. Charas-smoking is worse in its effects than
bhang-drinking, and the charas smoker is more
likely to become an excessive consumer than the
bhang drinker.
40. Yes, to a limited extent. No, so far as I
have been able to ascertain.
41. From what I have been able to learn I
would answer (a), (b) and (c) in the negative.
Bhang is said to increase appetite and in this
way to benefit men who lead indolent lives if
taken in small quantities.
VOL. V.
42. The moderate use of bhang is said not to be
harmful.
43. Yes.
44. Charas not refreshing, produces intoxication
almost immediately.
Slightly allays hunger,
effects last about three hours, after-effects un-
pleasant, want of subsequent gratification, produces
longing and uneasiness.
Bhang not refreshing, produces intoxication,
creates appetite, effects last longer than charas,
want of subsequent gratification at the accustomed
time causes a feeling of uneasiness and unrest.
45. (b) Induces laziness.
(c) No. Bhang increases appetite.
(d) Charas (smoking) slightly allays hunger.
I have noticed that charas smokers keep coughing
whilst smoking.
(e) Laziness, not debauchery.
(f) Deadens the intellect. Charas-smoking by
persons not thoroughly accustomed to it occasion-
ally produces insanity, but so far as my experience
goes the insanity is not permanent.
47. I think not, though the children of such
men, when they grow up, may take to it from the
force of example.
51. A large proportion of bad characters are
addicted to the use of these drugs.
Hardly any connection I should say.
52. My belief is that the use of these drugs
does not induce to crime, but that the criminal
classes in towns and cities are more prone to seek
this gratification owing to want of regular occu-
pation.
53. I think it sometimes causes hallucinations,
and that under the influence of the hallucination,
violent unpremeditated crime is sometimes com-
mitted. A case came before me judicially, in
which a man under the influence of some drug
nearly killed a bania who was sleeping in his
shop; be had had dealings with the man. My
belief was that he acted under some hallucination;
at his trial he could not explain why he had acted
in the manner he did.
54. I think not as a rule, though I think there
are solitary cases in which this is done. Such
cases have not come within my personal observa-
tion.
55. I have never known or heard of any case in
which any preparation of the hemp plant has been
used to stupefy victims. Dhatura is generally
used.
58. Others more competent will doubtless make
valuable suggestions on these points; my idea is
that there should be an import duty on charas so
as to enhance its cost. There is no doubt that
charas-smoking is an unmixed evil. Bhang-drink-
ing is not so bad. I think that, if possible,
measures should be devised for bringing the pro-
duction of bhang under some control, and that in
districts where it grows spontaneously, but sparse-
ly, measures should be taken for a succession of
years to have the plants cut down and destroyed
before they run into seed.
60. Ganja not produced.
61. Charas is imported.
62. I have made some remarks under this head
in replying to Nos. 58 and 59. Without wider
experience I would not venture to offer any sug-
gestions.
3 H