205
separated from the mass, and about 1/6 tola weight
of them mixed with tobacco and smoked in a pipe.
Charas is not known as an article of commerce.
Every smoker prepares as much of this resinous
exudation as he requires, squeezing the green leaves
of the plant in his hand and so collecting it
in his palm. He then takes some tobacco,
and thoroughly mixes it with the resinous
matter in his hand and smokes the mixture.
What is here known as bhang is a liquor
prepared by grinding the green leaf of the plant
with pepper, cardomoms, dried ginger, and a flower
called madanakam, adding sugar to the mixture
and boiling the whole in milk. This is supposed
to be beneficial for affections of the heart and sto--
mach.
16. Not generally. I believe bhang can be pre-
pared from the hemp plant wherever grown.
17. By no particular classes. Every consumer
as a rule, makes his own preparation.
18. The drugs are not kept, but are consumed
at once.
19. Yes.
20. I can give no definite information on this
point.
21. Flat ganja alone is smoked.
22. Native charas, prepared as described in an-
answer to question 15, alone is used.
23. Not to my knowledge.
24.
Particulars not known.
25.
to 28. No information available.
29. Tobacco is the only ingredient mixed with
ganja and charas, and sugar, milk, and spices with
bhang. There is no preparation named bhang
massala used here.
30. The consumption of these drugs is confined
to adult males. Children never consume them.
31. The habit is easily formed in the case of
persons whose fathers are addicted to it. I know
of no case in which the habit, once contracted, has
been broken off. I believe that the majority of
consumers in my division are moderate consumers.
32. There are no customs here connected with
the consumption of any of the drugs.
33. A moderate ganja or charas smoker is not
considered as a disreputable person. But a habi--
tual excessive smoker is considered in the same
light as a habitual drunkard, and looked down
upon accordingly. No stigma whatever attaches
to the consumption of bhang, which is either
taken as medicine or drunk or eaten (as the sweet--
meat majum) at marriages and feasts. There is
no custom of worshipping the hemp plant known
to me.
34. Any attempt to prohibit or interfere with
the consumption of the drugs in this division
would be misplaced. The consumption of the
drugs is very small; so small, indeed, that Gov--
ernment has determined to ignore it and not to
introduce shops with attendant rules and regula--
tions that might foster it. Almost all the ganja
smokers in the division are moderate in their use
of the drug, and prohibiting its consumption
would be an injudicious step, and cause much dis--
content without being productive of any good.
36. No.
37.
Ganja is the more powerful of the two
drugs, and produces more prolonged intoxication.
38.
Only flat ganja is consumed here.
39. In this division ganja and charas are only
smoked and bhang only drunk or eaten in the form
of sweetmeat . The question is, therefore, not
applicable.
40. I do not know.
41. I am not in a position to give information
on these points.
42. I certainly think that the moderate use
of the drugs does very little harm. All the
smokers whom I have seen did not appear in any
way debilitated. All that I noticed was a slight
dulling of their senses.
43. Yes.
44.
The immediate effect is to produce intoxica-
tion, which lasts for two or three hours. It is said
b y t h e s mo k e r s t o c r e a t e a p p e t i t e a n d p r e s u ma b l y
hunger is allayed for the period that the smoker
is in a stupor from the action
o f t h e d r u g
Habitual excessive smokers suffer, I am informed
from poverty of blood and debility. In the case
of habitual smokers, abstention from the drug
creates longing for it.
45 to 48. My knowledge of the effects of the
drugs is not so extensive as to permit me to offer
an opinion on these points.
49. No information is available on this point,
as smokers are naturally averse to speak about
it. The execessive use of hemp certainly tends to
produce impotence.
51 and 52. No ; there is no connection between
crime and the use of these drugs.
53 to 55. No cases known here.
56. Hemp is not mixed with any other drugs.
57. They are not in this division.
58. The system has not been introduced into
the division, and I have no experience of its
working.
60. The cultivation of the plant is not control-
led, and as it is very limited, being confined to
the backyards of houses in a few villages, I do
not think there is any need for it to be.
61. Charas is not produced as an article of
commerce.
63. There is no vend of any of the drugs in the
division.
64. There are no regulations, and none are
needed.
65. There is no taxation.
66. Having had no experience of the present
rates of taxation, I cannot say.
68. No.
70. No.