348
51 and 52. Nearly all bad charracters consume
drugs more or less, but consumption of drugs
cannot be said to lead to crime ; it rather follows
the commission of crime than leads to it.
53. Excessive indulgence in drugs is calculated
to deaden the faculties, and to incite to violence.
54. No ; their tendency is to deaden the facul-
ties, not to strengthen them.
55. Ganja and charas are not so used, nor
would any victim partake of pure bhang. But
travellers are sometimes stupefied by the admix-
ture of bhang in sweetmeats, etc., and then rob-
bed.
56. I know of no cases in which dhatura is
mixed with hemp drugs.
Effects of hemp are not altered by admixture
with other substances, except in the same way as
the effects of spirit are altered by its admixture
with water.
57. 1 know of no cases of ganja and charas
being eaten or drunk.
53. I can think of no improvements.
62. Cultivation should be controlled. Wild
crops could be burnt and finally destroyed. It
would be difficult to control cultivation, as it is
to control cultivation of opium. Total extinction
of the plant, wild and cultivated, would not be so
hard.
63 and 64. I know of no objection.
65. Charas being an expensive article might be
subjected to an import duty. No duty should be
put on bhang. It would be too hard on poor
consumers, and it does not do much harm. I think
the taxation of bhang is fair as compared with the
taxation of opium and liquor.
66. Flat and round ganja should be equally
taxed ; chur ganja should be more lightly taxed,
being less valuable. So also the baluchar ganja,
which comes from Bengal, should, being more
valuable, be more highly taxed than the pathar
ganja, which comes from Gwalior and that part of
India. Present rates are fair.
67. For fair taxation a duty should be imposed
on charas—say four aunas a seer.
68. All drug shops are so licensed, and I see
no harm in the custom. As a matter of fact
very few people consume drugs at the drug shops.
69. No : nothing is done in this direction ; but
for his own sake, a drug contractor only applies
for permission to open shops in places where there
is a demand for them.
70. No ; I do not think untaxed drugs are used
except in the one or two places where hemp drugs
are produced.
Oral evidence.
Question 7.—The hemp plant is regularly culti-
vated in Tarida for bhang.
Question 30.—It is but few children who learn
to smoke at so early an age as ten years.
Question 35.—It would be possible to cut down
the wild plants and prevent them ripening seed
and so stop their reproduction. I am talking of
the district of Bahraich, where the plant grows in
great quantity. It would cost a great deal.
Ganja and charas cannot be made from the wild
plant. The sample shown to me is ganja, and
has been grown from ganja seed. It could not
have been got from the wild plant. I know
nothing of charas made in Kumaon and Garhwal
from the wild plant. The reason why I mention
a month as the period during which discontent
would last, is that, it takes that time more or less
to break the habit.
Question 36.—By the effects of the drugs, I
mean the effects of smoking the drugs.
Question 41.—The drugs are only taken for
nasha (exhilaration or intoxication), not for relief
of toil. They do not give strength, but perhaps
raise the spirits and enable a man to do more
work.
Question 42.—The habit of consuming all three
drugs must increase with those who wish for in-
toxication. The lower classes will go to excess
but the better classes will keep within bounds'.
The excessive habit will come upon many, but not
all.
Question 46.—I have seen people who have
become insane from smoking ganja and charas
but not from drinking bhang. I have seen one
or two cases, and the men when asked said they
had been made insane from ganja. That is all I
have seen in my life. I have heard of people
going insane from drink, but I was never engaged
in the liquor business and know no cases.
255. Evidence of MATHRA DASS , Agarwala, Banker, Gorakhpur.
1. No special knowledge but simply from facts
observed.
2. Definitions are correct. No other names are
known in this district.
3. Nepal.
7. None cultivated in this district.
12. Nepal, Bettiah, Gya and Muzaffarpur.
14. Only bhang is prepared in Gorakhpur.
Bhang also comes from Bahraich.
15. Generally made by people in their houses.
16. Generally made by people in their own
houses.
18. Ganja and charas remain good for six
months. Bhang is good for one year.
19. Only used in a pipe (chillum).
20. All classes and castes smoke ganja and
charas, and in all places.
21. The round (baluchar) is the best.
22. Best charas comes from Multan. The in-
ferior comes from Nepal.
23. Never smoked.
24. People from the west (Muttra, etc.) con-
sume most. It is eaten and drunk indiscrimi-
nately.
25. Consumption of ganja and bhang is increas-
ing ; that of charas is decreasing. No reason
known.
26. Out of 16 men, 12 take drugs. In respect
to ganja and bhang :—
(a) Moderate 25 per cent.
(b) Excessive 50 per cent.
(c) Occasional moderate, 15 per cent.
(d) Occasional excessive, 10 per cent.