4
of occasional moderate consumers. The number
of occasional excessive consumers must, however,
be very small.
27. The habitual moderate consumers of ganja
are, I believe, mostly men who have hard bodily
labour, such as palki-bearers, hamals, etc. The
ordinary cultivating classes are also often habi
-tual consumers, but among all these classes there
are often men who only smoke ganja occasionally,
i.e., when they have had a hard day's work. The
habitual excessive consumers are chiefly religious
mendicants, who use it, I believe, because they
have nothing else to do.
29. Ordinarily, ganja is, I am informed,
smoked with an admixture of tobacco only, but
gosains and other religious mendicants, who are
almost invariably excessive ganja consumers, are
said frequently to add dhatura in order to increase
the intoxicating effects.
30. Both bhang and ganja are generally con
- s u m e d b y t h e p e o p l e i n t h e i r o w n h o u s e s , a n d I
am not aware that company is sought for in the
consumption of either. Bhang as " thandai" is,
I believe, used by females also, but I have never
heard that females smoke ganja. It is not usual
for children to consume either bhang or ganja.
33. Public opinion is certainly not against the
drinking of bhang, and no disrepute whatever
attaches to it. I can remember some of my
Marwari friends in Nagpur recommending it to
me as an excellent cooling drink in the hot
weather and offering to bring me some. Similar--
ly, I think that there is no public opinion against
the moderate use of ganja, though there is with
regard to the excessive use of it. Except in the
case of religious mendicants, an ordinary person
who uses ganja to excess is generally lazy and
useless, and falls into disrepute in consequence.
34. I believe that to persons accustomed to
drink bhang in the hot weather, it would be
a serious privation to forego the consumption, and
any illness they might subsequently contract
would most certainly be ascribed to this cause.
Similarly, I think that to men who have to
undergo severe bodily labour, it would be a very
serious privation indeed if they could not get
their accustomed pipe of ganja.
35. I do not think it would be feasible to
prohibit the use of either bhang or ganja. The
drugs would most certainly be consumed illicitly,
and the prohibition would cause most serious
discontent among the consumers ; such discontent
would, I have no doubt, be a political danger.
The chief consumers are religious mendicants, and
the question would be sure to be made a religious
one, and no one can say to what this would lead.
The prohibition, if it could be enforced, would be
followed by recourse to other drugs in the first
instance, and then probably to alcoholic stimu--
lants.
36. I do not think that there is any reason to
suppose that alcohol is being substituted for
bhang or ganja in these provinces.
40. I have been told by the people that former
-ly they used to use bhang pretty freely in the
t r e a t m e n t o f c a t t l e a n d h o r s e s ; b u t t h a t n o w t h a t t h e p r i c e i s s om
u c h i n c r e a s e d t h e y v e r y s e l d o m
do so.
41. Those who use bhang certainly believe that
it is beneficial in its effects, being cooling and
acting also as a digestive. Similarly, those who
use ganja say that it gives staying power under
severe exertion and alleviates fatigue. The belief
is also very prevalent that it is of use to ward off
malaria. The people tell me that they use it
when they have to go to jungle tracts where the
water is bad. I refer here to the moderate occa
- s i o n a l u s e o f t h e d r u g s .
43. Absolutely as far as I can learn.
44. The immediate effect of bhang is said to be
cooling and refreshing, and it also gives appetite.
Ganja smoking is also said to create appetite, to
remove the feeling of fatigue, and to allay hunger.
45. I have no reason to suppose that the habi
- t u a l u s e i n m o d e r a t i o n o f e i t h e r b h a n g o r g a n j a
produces any injurious effects whatever. No in--
stances of this have come under my own observa--
tion. I have of course frequently heard District
Superintendents of Police describe men as being
idle and useless because they were addicted to the
use of drugs ; but I do not remember that District
Superintendents have ever told me that this was
the result of ganja smoking alone ; and I am in
- c l i n e d t o t h i n k t h a t t h e y s e l d o m , i f e v e r , t a k e t h e
trouble to distinguish the effects of different
forms of drugs. Besides this, the men thus re--
ported to me as being idle and useless were all
excessive consumers, and it is also open to doubt
whether in many cases at least they were not idle
and useless before they took to drugs. Since the
question has been before me, I have seen and
spoken to a good many moderate consumers among
the general population ; and there was nothing
whatever in their appearance or talk to distinguish
them from non-consumers.
I can call to mind many instances in which Police
officers have been dismissed for neglect of duty
owing to indulgence in alcohol ; but not a single
case in which this was owing to ganja smoking.
As regards insanity, I would say that the
popular belief certainly is that the excessive use of
ganja does produce insanity, and in some cases in
which the insanity was purely temporary, and
which came under my observation in our lunatic
asylums, ganja smoking certainly appeared to be
the exciting cause of the insanity ; but I have
always myself been inclined to doubt whether
ganja smoking will of itself produce insanity, and
whether in most cases at least there may not be
some previously existing brain disease which has
led to the excessive indulgence in ganja. It is
always very difficult, and often absolutely impos
- s i b l e , t o o b t a i n a n y r e a l l y r e l i a b l e i n f o r m a t i o n a s
to the previous history of the insanes brought to
the asylums ; and I cannot myself remember a
case in which it was clearly shown that it was
ganja smoking alone which led to insanity. I am
clearly of opinion that the question of the use of
the drug by persons suffering from mental anxiety
and brain disease has not been sufficiently consi-
- d e r e d w h e n g a n j a s m o k i n g h a s b e e n a l l e g e d a s t h e
cause of insanity.
51. I do not believe that any large proportion
of bad characters are habitual consumers of either
bhang or ganja, and I do not consider that the
moderate use of these drugs has any connection
whatever with crime of any kind.
52. I hold the same opinions in regard to the
excessive use of these drugs.
53. I cannot call to mind any instance of the
excessive indulgence in either bhang or ganja
having incited to the commission of crime of any
kind having come under my own observation ;
nor have I been able to learn of any case of the
kind from the officials in the Hoshungabad district
whom. I have been able to question on the point,
except one case which Inspector Mahummud Taki