111
28. Of bhang—
(a)
(l) Probably half an ounce (or less), at a
cost of 1½ pies.
(2) Of ganja, from 20 to SO grains, cost up
to 3 pies.
(3) Of charas, from 5 to 6 grains, cost
about 3 pies.
(b)(1) Of bhang, 2 ounces, costing 3 pies.
(2) Of ganja, from 30 to 40 grains, cost-
ing 6 pies.
(3) Of charas, from 10 grains upwards,
costing 6 pies about.
29. Ordinarily I believe that spices, such as
aniseed and black pepper, ginger, etc., are mixed to
give agreeable flavour and assist medicinal action.
Exceptionally dhatura or opium may be mixed with
the apparent object of increasing the intoxicating
effects or with criminal intent.
" Bhang massala" is sold in the bazars, and
contains spices, as aniseed, pepper, ginger, etc. In
the hot weather cucumber and kukri seeds are also
mixed.
30. Bhang is generally used in solitude, whilst
ganja and charas are used in company. As a rule
these drugs are used by males only, seldom by
females, and very rarely by children.
81. The habit is easily formed and, if indulged
in moderately, difficult to break.
I don't think the tendency for the moderate
habit to pass into the excessive is greater in the case
of these drugs than with any other intoxicant, such
as opium or alcohol.
82. Religious mendicants seem almost invariably
to use the drugs, and generally to excess. The
public generally, especially the lower orders, appear
to indulge more freely in them during festivals, as
the Holi, but the custom is not regarded as essen-
tial, is generally temperate, and not especially likely
to lead to the habit of excessive use. About 90 per
cent. of the Hindu population use bhang habitually.
Perhaps 25 per cent. use ganja or charas.
Perhaps 5 per cent. of the Musalman population
use the hemp drugs. They prefer opium.
36. I believe the Bengalis of the well-to-do class
are substituting alcohol for the drugs. There is a
rapid increase in the consumption of alcohol in pro-
gress amongst Hindus, and particularly amongst
Bengalis.
37. Depends on the quantity taken of either;
but charas is generally regarded as stronger and
producing deeper intoxication than ganja or bhang.
Ganja is probably preferred by most as producing
more exhilaration and being cheaper. The effects
of bhang are more transient, and it is used just as
Europeans take their ordinary amount of alcohol.
89. Smoking ganja and charas appears to be
more likely to be decidedly injurious than drinking
bhang, because the habit of smoking is more likely
to be indulged in to excess. Most of the cases of
toxic insanity admitted into the asylums result from
smoking ganja to excess, and in many instances
these pass on into a condition of confirmed mania or
dementia, especially if there are predisposing causes
for insanity.
40. I believe that both hakims and baids pre-
scribe the use of ganja and charas for relief of
spasmodic and rheumatic pain, and with much
benefit. Bhang is extensively used as poultice and
fomentation for these, and especially in the treat-
ment of cattle.
41. The moderate and occasional use of any one
of the forms of hemp may be beneficial—
(a) as a digestive.
(b) to give staying-power or alleviate fatigue.
(c) possibly as a preventive of disease of
malarial character.
(d) certainly as an anodyne and antispasmodic
in painful disease, particularly in colic,
dyspepsia, rheumatism, uterine and ova-
rine diseases.
42. The moderate use of these drugs is as harm-
less as the moderate use of alcohol or tobacco. The
best reason for this opinion is that large numbers
unquestionably do use them moderately without
injury.
44. The moderate use of these drugs on the
habitual consumer is said to be refreshing, to pro-
duce a sensation of exhilaration without actual
intoxication, to create appetite and promote diges-
tion, and the effect to last an hour or so. The
after-effects are slight or none after moderate use.
The want of subsequent gratification produces
longing and discomfort for some time after depriv-
ation.
45. I don't think that the moderate use of the
drugs can be considered to produce, in a healthy
subject, any of the noxious effects mentioned; but,
on the contrary, I think that in some cases of
asthma and chronic bronchitis smoking ganja or
charas may be beneficial.
Doubtless smoking ganja or charas and bhang
drinking are in many cases merely the exciting
cause of insanity, and these are generally the cases
which are recorded in our asylums as " toxic insan-
ity, " but pass on into confirmed mania and
dementia. If the use of the drugs produces insan-
ity where there is no inherited tendency it is
usually temporary, and in these cases is often
reinduced by subsequent use after the subject is
released from restraint.
The symptoms of toxic insanity are those of acute
mania in a modified form, chiefly characterized by
excitement, with confusion of ideas, sometimes with
delusion, and always with sleeplessness. I have
known many insanes with no recorded ganja his-
tory confess to the use of the drug; but their
statements must be accepted with caution.
I have kept no record of such cases; but I
certainly think that the drugs are sometimes
resorted to by persons suffering with mental
anxiety or brain disease to obtain relief (just as
Europeans often resort to alcohol with that object).
Also I believe that insanity often tends to indul-
gence in hemp drugs by those deficient in self-
control just as it tends to indulgence in other forms
of vice.
46. The habitual excessive use of any of these
drugs must produce effects just as a similar use of
other intoxicants will, the physical and mental
break-down being gradual but certain in proportion
to the rate and amount of indulgence and the con-
stitution of the individual.
47. No.
48. Probably the excessive use of the drugs
affects the children in the same manner as the
excessive use of alcohol does.
49. The moderate use of these drugs is prac-
tised as an aphrodisiac, and I am told is so used by
prostitutes, causing an unnatural stimulus and
liable to be frequently resorted to for this reason.
It is more injurious when used for this purpose
than as an ordinary narcotic and stimulant, and