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55. Yes, but I have no personal experience of
such a case.
57. They are never eaten or drunk.
58. Efforts should be directed towards reducing
the number of consumers.
59. I can suggest no improvements.
60. It is sufficiently controlled.
62. The use of bhang should be encouraged.
63. I approve of the system of wholesale, as
it is a valuable check in consumption.
65. There is disproportion between the tax on
drugs and liquor. The production of liquor entails
far greater labour, and on the whole, however, I
think it is a good thing that drugs are heavily
taxed.
66. Flat and round ganja should be more
heavily taxed than chur.
69. This should be done more than it is.
70. Smuggling is carried on, but not
gene-rally.
58. Evidence of LALL UMED SINGH, Zamindar, Bilaspur District.
1. Ganja and bhang are the produce of one and
the same plant. Ganja is prepared from the leaves,
bhang from the buds. Local bhang, that is bhang
prepared in Khandwa, is considered inferior to
bhang imported from the North-Western Provin
-ces, especially from the Mattra district. Such
bhang is called "dudhia bhang." This is only
obtainable in these provinces through friends living
in other parts of India.
2. I know the term chur as applied to ganja.
It means broken ganja. I know flat ganja, but
never heard of round ganja. Charas is the juice
which exudes from the buds of the living plant.
What remains of the buds is ganja.
3. I know it grows spontaneously in the Sar
- g o o j a e s t a t e , w h i c h b o r d e r s o n m y z a m i n d a r i .
There is no prohibition against ganja growing
there. It grows freely in all foreign States. In
Sargooja every house has a plantation of ten or
twenty trees in the compound, and besides this
there are fields of it, but it is mostly grown in
s m a l l p a t c h e s r o u n d t h e h o u s e s .
4. I know two kinds of ganja, one puriya another
baloucha. Special care is taken in the preparation
of these forms of ganja, which are stronger than
the ordinary. Slits are made in the living plant,
and preparations, such as dhatura, put into it.
The plant is the same.
5. I have never seen any wild ganja nor heard
of it, though I have large tracts of forests in my
zamindari.
7. Ganja, charas and bhang are regularly grown
and prepared in foreign States of the Central Pro
-vinces. They are grown and prepared in Nagpur
and Khandwa. I never heard of rope being made
from its fibre. Its seeds are useless.
9. At the end of June the seeds are thickly
sown over a small space. When the plants are
about nine inches high, they are transplanted on
to ploughed and manured land at a distance of two
or three feet from each other. They are weeded
twice or thrice and manured. When the plants
are grown, the tops are cut and the branches are
twisted to prevent flowering. When the buds are
formed, the trees are cut down and well pressed.
The buds are then collected. The ordinary leaves
are used for bhang. Charas is collected before the
plants reach the stage at which they are ready to
produce ganja. It is collected by men who walk
through the fields clothed in leathern coats. The
charas exudes from the plants, and is collected in
the clothes.
10. They are ordinary cultivators, but belong
especially to the caste of Kachis.
13. It is restricted to Nagpur and Khandwa.
I know of no special conditions for its growth. It
is a hardy plant, and grows everywhere.
16. In this district there is only one licensed
vendor who has shops at Bilaspur and the two
tahsil head-quarters, Jahangir and Sheonarayan.
It is not much consumed, and only by high caste
and wealthy people. It is not palatable without
expensive admixtures, such as sugar, pepper, etc.
Bhang is always prepared privately, the raw
material alone being purchased from the contrac
-tor.
17. Every one prepares his own according to his
own tastes. Charas is hardly used at all in this
district.
18. I can speak of ganja and bhang. They
keep for about a year. After that it begins to
lose its strength. Cold causes it to deteriorate.
19. Only used for smoking.
20. No one uses charas in this district. There
are two classes of Chhattisgarhi Chamars—one who
do not smoke ganja, the other who do. Ganja is
freely smoked by all classes, but especially by
sadhus, bairagis, and labourers. It is supposed to
conduce to religious abstraction in the case of the
former. Cartmen are especially addicted to its
use. Bhang is only used by the wealthier classes,
and is supposed to have been introduced into. these
provinces from the North-Western Provinces.
22. No charas is used in this district.
23. Never.
24. Eating bhang in pills is cheaper than drink
- i n g i t , a s i t d o e s n o t r e q u i r e s o m a n y i n g r e d i e n t s .
Habitual consumers generally eat it. Muhamma
- d a n s n e v e r t o u c h i t . M u h a m m a d a n s u s e g a n j a
also to a small extent. Madak is what they mostly
use. It is taken in the early morning, at mid
-day, and in the evening, irrespectively of meals.
25. There is an increase in the consumption of
ganja. The use of bhang is on the decrease.
Bhang is only used in the hot weather.
In my opinion the taste for ganja, opium
and intoxicating liquor is perfectly distinct, and
when once the taste for one of them has been
acquired, its use cannot easily be abandoned in
favour of another form of intoxicant. I do not
believe that a rise in the price of liquor would
drive liquor consumers to the use of ganja, though
persons who had never taken to any form of in
-toxicant might choose, perhaps, the cheaper form.
The use of opium and madak are on the decrease.
Their cost is more than that of ganja.
15. Ganja is only smoked in chillums or leave
chungis. Two-thirds ganja are put with one-
third tobacco. It is never smoked alone. A few
drops of water are put with it. It is never drunk.
Bhang is never smoked—only eaten and drunk.
It is mixed generally with other things, but is
also eaten and drunk alone.