215
Madankameswaram is a refined preparation of
majum made by native physicians for the use of
higher classes.
16. (a) Bhang is generally prepared by the
people in their houses.
(b)
Yes.
(c)
Wild plant and charas are unknown here.
17. By all if they are accustomed.
18. Not for a year if properly preserved. It
will lose its effect in time, 18 months at the
utmost, if the plant was not injured by rains,
which affect its efficacy. No special measures
can be taken to prevent deterioration. Old drugs
are preferable to new ones on medical grounds.
19. Ganja only is used for smoking.
20. Cannot be said approximately; probably 5
per cent. of the population use the drug in its
various forms. There is no special locality for its
use.
22. Unknown in this district.
23. No.
24. People for the most part drink bhang.
Very few eat it in balls before being mixed in
water or milk. Classes and localities are not
restricted. Proportion cannot be ascertained.
26. The majority are habitual moderate con-
sumers. Bairagis are chiefly habitual excessive
smokers of ganja.
28. Average cost for
—
(a) is ½ pice.
(b) i s 1 pi ce.
29. Dhatura is never used. Bhang massala is
mixed with these drugs as stated in dealing with
question 15.
30. Cannot be said, mainly consumed by male
sex , never used by females and children.
31. Yes. It is difficult. No such tendency.
32. Bairagis invariably smoke ganja. It is
regarded as essential with their religious custom.
Uriyas drink moderately bhang on Sankranti day
after offering, to goddess. It is not known that
this custom has ever led to the formation of the
habit or otherwise injurious.
33. There are different opinions in regard to how
the consumption of each of these drugs is gene
-rally regarded. Bairagis prefer smoking ganja to
other drugs. The hemp plant is not worshipped.
A few of bairagis and sanyasis offer bhang to
Hanuman and drink.
34. Yes, especially to bairagis.
35. No, not feasible. Yes, it is consumed illicitly.
Yes, the prohibition will cause serious dis-
content among consumers. Such discontent does
not amount to a political danger here. The pro-
hibition will not be followed by recourse to (a)
or (b).
36. No.
37. Not known in this district.
38. Intoxication by smoke lasts for an hour.
It begins immediately. Intoxication by bhang
begins after an hour and lasts for two or three
hours. There is no difference in the quality of
intoxication.
39. No.
40. Yes, it is prescribed for the cure of cough,
jaundice, etc. The drugs are also used in the
treatment of diseases of horses and elephants only.
Whether they are used for the treatment of cattle
or not, it is not known.
41. Yes, the moderate habitual use of ganja,
majum, or bhang is beneficial to
—
(a), (b), (c) and (d) in the prevention of cough
and other complaints due to change of water and
climate.
All classes of people use the drugs.
43. Yes, they are inoffensive.
44. See answers to questions 41 and 38. It
produces intoxication. It is refreshing. It does
allay hunger. A man who uses these drugs
cannot work without them after their effect has
abated. There is a difference of opinion as regards
the effect of moderate use. Consumers say in the
affirmative, while others negative it.
51. Any large proportion of bad characters are
not habitual moderate consumers of any of these
drugs. Those who drink liquor and maddat are
bad characters. The moderate use of these drugs
has no connection whatever with crime in general
or of any special character.
52. The excessive use of these drugs also has no
connection whatever with crime of general or
special character. The excessive consumers are
not bad characters.
53. The excessive indulgence in any of these
drugs does never incite to unpremeditated crime,
violent or otherwise. None of the persons whom
I have consulted know any case in which it has
led to temporary homicidal frenzy.
54. It is said that drugs are never used by
criminals to fortify themselves to commit a pre-
meditated act of violence or other crime.
55. It is said that criminals never, in order to
further their designs, induce their victims to
partake any of these drugs and so stupefy them-
selves. Complete stupefaction cannot be induced
by this drug without admixture.
35. Evidence of M. R. R. DEWAN BAHADUR S. VENKATA RAMADAS NAIDU, Deputy
Collector, Godavari.
1. I know nothing personally about ganja,
but after the receipt of proceedings of the Board
of Revenue No. 394, dated 2nd September 1893,
I have gathered some information about it which
I think it necessary to bring to the notice of the
Commission.
2. Of the several drugs referred to in this, charas
is unknown here except in name; it is understood
to mean the resinous exudation of the hemp plant
(Cannabis saliva). Here the leaves of the plant
are not called bhang. It is, in this country, the
name given to a beverage prepared with those
leaves. The definition of ganja holds good here.
The three varieties of ganja referred to in this are
known here, their local names are noted below :
—
Local name.
Flat ganja
.
.
.
. Madras ganja.
Round
” . . . . Daggupadu ganja.
Chur
”
.
.
.
. Silavati.
3. The hemp plant does not grow here spontane-
ously. It is not cultivated here for purposes of
trade, but a solitary plant or two may be found in
the back-yards of a few persons; but, as it is be-
lieved that the stuff grown here possesses narcotic
properties only in a small degree, consumers
generally prefer the stuff sold in the bazar, which
is imported from Daggupadu, a village in the
Kistna district, where it is grown extensively.