93
noticed among persons both intoxicated and insane
from ganja. The same symptom exists in both.
The intoxication of liquor is much greater than
that of ganja.
Question 51.—By criminals I mean thieves and
such persons, not those charged with assault. I
should expect 60 per cent. of thieves, robbers, etc.,
in jail to be ganja smokers; one-fourth of the
whole jail population probably.
Question 56.—I have no case that I can narrate.
I can quote no definite case.
Question 69.—I know of no case of refusal of
any representation made by the public to have a
shop closed.
47. Evidence* of MIR IMDAD ALI, Honorary Magistrate, Damoh .
1. Is a native of Agra, but has lived in Damoh
for the past thirty years. Holds two villages in
the Halta tahsil; was in Government service in
the Settlement Department thirty years ago.
Has compiled a history, antiquarian and otherwise,
of Damoh and the district. An Honorary Magis-
trate.
2. Bhang is very little used and can only be
obtained with difficulty : ganja leaves are used in
its place. Charas is unknown. Flat ganja only
used : round and chur are unknown.
19. Ganja is only used for smoking except that
the leaves are used as a substitute for bhang.
Ganja is used for the manufacture of majum (and
so eaten) when bhang cannot be obtained.
20. Bairagis, more than any other class, use
ganja and those who associate with them even to
excess. It is used more moderately by labourers
and low castes to ward off fatigue and cold.
Twenty per cent. of the populace use ganja.
21. Flat kind only : no other known.
23. No, bhang is never smoked.
24. Bhang is drunk as a sherbet in the hot
weather only, by respectable classes. The only
persons who eat it (so far as he knows) are the
Chaubes of the Agra and Muttra country, who
practise as pahlwans. Bhang is also eaten in the
form of majum.
25. Thinks the consumption of ganja decreasing
owing to the enhancement of the price of late
years.
26. For ganja the proportion of consumers who
are
—
(a) habitual moderate consumers is 5 per
cent. ;
(b) habitual excessive consumers is 5 per
cent. ;
(c) occasional moderate consumers is 22 1/2 per
cent. ;
(d) occasional excessive consumers is 67 1/2 per
cent. ;
27. Habituals (ganja) mainly from the bairagi
class. Occasionals from the poor labouring classes
and cultivators.
28. Habitual moderates 1 rati 1/96 of a tola of
ganja in a pipe mixed with tobacco : perhaps
25 pipes in a day.
Habitual excessives 2 ratis in a pipe ; perhaps
50 pipes a day.
(N.B. —This allows for the flower only which
alone is smoked ; the leaves and stalks being
discarded.)
29. Tobacco ordinarily : dhatura very rarely.
Sometimes aconite and even copper are mixed
with ganja in making majum : object to increase
strength. Sometimes jowar root, which is said to
possess medicinal properties, is mixed with majum.
30. Ganja smoking chiefly in company but by
habituals at all times. Women use it very little.
Children (boys) not till they are fifteen or more.
No one wishes his children to learn the practice ;
even a confirmed ganja smoker will beat his child
if he discovers him doing it. Bhang is drunk by
women and also by children. Is not thought
disgraceful. Does produce little intoxication.
Relieves fatigue, cools the blood and induces
sleep.
31. Use of ganja is easier to discard than the
use of opium. Consumers can give it up, but it
is rare to find a case. It is only with habitual
consumers that there is a tendency for the moderate
habit to develop into the excessive.
32. The bairagi class consider it essential,
although it is not prescribed in the Shastras. By
its use they are enabled to assume an air of medi-
tation and abstraction from the world, due really
to ganja intoxication. This imposes on the
ignorant, but is condemned by the better educated
Hindus. The use of ganja, often in enormous
quantities, is universal among bairagis.
33. Ganja smoking is thought disgraceful. A
respectable man who smoked ganja would do it in
secret at any rate at first (see No. 30).
Bhang is not looked down on by any means.
35. Does not consider it possible to stop bairagis
smoking it. They wander about and often visit
Native States. A general prohibition would lead
to endless prosecutions, and many false ones.
Does not think a ganja smoker deprived of his
ganja would take to liquor. Ganja is the poor
man's intoxicant : can do it for a pice on ganja,
but in liquor it takes two annas' worth at least.
Thinks ganja, liquor, and madak smokers three
quite distinct classes.
39. Smoking of ganja is more injurious than
eating its leaves or drinking bhang.
40. None of these drugs used internally as a
medicine. Bhang is sometimes used as a foment-
ation in bowel or liver disorders over the seat of
pain. Ganja leaves are given to cattle as a
medicine.
41. (a) No.
(b) Yes, both bhang and ganja.
(c) Bhang is sometimes taken in fever before
the expected return to prevent it returning.
Refers to moderate occasional use.
44. Bhang is refreshing and induces sleep : it
excites appetite. Ganja does not induce sleep :
it causes intoxication.
45. Ganja smoking (habitual) induces cough
and asthma. It does not lead to immorality or
reduce the frame to a skeleton as madak does. It
makes the white of the eyes red and dims the
sight. It does not produce madness, but does
cause insanity (not permanent).
* Translation.