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98. Evidence of SURGEON-MAJOR R. PEMBERTON, Civil Surgeon, Cochin.
14. I have made enquiries, and find that ganja
and bhang are the only products of the hemp plant
in the Cochin State, and is used to a very large
extent in British Cochin by the Konkanies. It is
principally used in the larger towns in the native
Cochin, especially in Muttancherry.
15. Smoking.—The cultivated plant is used; the
leaves are well washed, cut into small pieces, and
mixed with an equal quantity of tobacco, and
smoked either in a pipe or made into a cigarette.
Eating.—The flowering tops are washed, dried
in the shade, reduced to a powder, mixed with an
equal quantity of rice, flour, sugar, and spices,
added and made into chappaties and baked and
used as bread. A confection is also made with
sugar and spices.
Drinking.—The leaves and flowering tops are
ground and made into a decoction and flavoured
with sugar, milk, and spice and used as an ordin
-ary drink.
16. Bhang is generally prepared by the people
in their houses.
17. In this district by the Konkanies, banias,
fakirs, and especially amongst the lowest of these
classes.
18. Ganja and bhang deteriorate by keeping,
unless kept in well stoppered bottles.
19. Ganja is used both for smoking, eating, and
drinking. This applies to the Cochin State.
20. In British and Native Cochin, Konkanies,
fakirs, banias and the lowest classes of these differ
- e n t s e c t s u s e t h e d r u g .
21. The flat nor the round are used; but the
leaves and tops are pounded and used with an equal
quantity of tobacco.
22. None here.
23. Bhang is smoked by the classes enumerated
in paragraph 20. Ganja and bhang are used here
for smoking, eating, and drinking.
24. Already referred to in paragraph 20.
25. I do not know.
27. Principally from the poorer classes, and
those who are unwilling to do an honest day's work.
Mendicants use bhang a good deal.
29. Ordinarily tobacco is mixed with bhang and
ganja, and occasionally dhatura seeds. The object
in using the latter is to increase the intoxicating
effects of the drug.
30. The drug, as in the case of other intoxicat
- i n g d r u g s , i s u s e d b o t h i n c o m p a n y a n d s o l i t u d e .
It is principally confined to the male sex. It is
not usual for children to use it.
31. The habit of consuming the drug is easily
formed and difficult to leave off, and the tendency
in the majority of cases I have known is to
gradually increase the quantity.
34. It is, I think, impossible for consumers
to forego the consumption of the drug. If de
- p r i v e d o f i t , t h e y a r e s u r e t o t a k e o p i u m i n s o m e
form, and, if unable to get this latter drug,
to drink arrack, etc., mixed with the seeds of
dhatura and some other similar drug.
35. It would not be feasible to prohibit the
use of the drug, especially in the case of the re
- g u l a r c o n s u m e r . H e w o u l d f e e l t h e w a n t o f i t
as much as a man who is deprived of his tobacco
or his glass of beer.
40. Yes; native doctors use the drug in medi
- c i n a l d o s e s v e r y f r e q u e n t l y , a n d i t i s a l s o u s e d i n
the treatment of cattle diseases.
41. Yes; acts as a stimulant after exertion
and exposure and alleviates fatigue. Is used very
often in asthma and in painful rheumatic affection.
Native doctors prescribe the drug in these cases
in moderate doses and is used in painful affections
very often instead of opium.
43. No.
45. (b) and (c) Yes.
(d) No; relieves asthma.
•
( e ) Y e s ; c e r t a i n l y .
(f) Yes; in large doses, especially to those who
are not accustomed to take the drug regularly.
The insanity is generally of a temporary nature,
lasts a few hours, and the symptoms would be
re-induced in the case after liberation if the drug
was again taken in excessive quantity. The in
- s a n i t y i n t h e s e c a s e s i s a f i t o f d e l i r i u m , a n d w h i l e
it lasts, the man is not answerable for his actions.
49. Yes; it is sometimes used as an aphrodisiac.
I have known prostitutes using it. It must tend
to produce impotence.
53. Yes; I knew one case in which a sepoy in a
regiment in Burma, who was addicted to smoking
bhang, after an excessive dose run through the
lines cutting down every one he met with a knife.
This excitement lasted for about half an hour.
He was caught, and appeared to know nothing of
what occurred.
Oral evidence.
Question 1.—I am fifteen years and nine months
in service. I have been in civil employ continu
- o u s l y s i n c e 1 8 8 5 i n t h e M a d r a s p r e s i d e n c y . F o r
the first eighteen months of my service I was Civil
Surgeon in Burma. I have had no special experi
- e n c e o f i n s a n i t y . I w a s n e v e r i n c h a r g e o f a
lunatic asylum. More than one-third of the inform
- a t i o n I h a v e g i v e n i n m y a n s w e r h a s b e e n d e r i v e d
from enquiries made from Europeans and natives
in Cochin. The subject of hemp drugs had never
been specially brought to my notice till I was asked
to reply to the Commission's questions.
Question 34.—I can mention no other drug but
dhatura which is capable of being used as a substi
- t u t e f o r t h e h e m p d r u g .
Question 45 .—My answer is based on experience
gained on service with troops and during my civil
employment in Ganjam between 1887 to 1889,
where the drugs are consumed to a large extent.
This explanation relates to the whole of my answer,
none of which is based on Cochin experience. I
have observed the effects described in this answer
in the persons of sepoys. An habitual ganja
smoker was always known in the regiment; but I
could not tell that he had the habits from his ap
- p e a r a n c e . S u c h m e n w e r e m u c h m o r e f r e q u e n t l y
in hospital than other sepoys. The cases were
entered in the case books. The probable cause of
their illness was not entered; it was so well known.
I have never known of a man being punished for
using hemp drugs. A man is not liable to punish
-ment merely for the use of ganja. When the per
-sons I have been speaking of were admitted to
hospital, I was in the habit of examining them
particularly in order to ascertain if their illness was