378
69. It all depends upon what that local opinion
is. Under the present form of government local
opinion is not consulted, and even if it were con-
sidered and were inimical, it is questionable if
there were a prospect of a large revenue but that
the shop would be opened. I question whether
the Government could devise any means, except
by the secret ballot of securing a general untram-
elled public expression, and amongst a people
so largely illiterate as these are, that method
would be impracticable.
70. The large percentage of drugs used are
untaxed, and they are used by the classes indi-
cated in previous paragraphs.
Further paper put in by the REV. MR.
LAFLAMME.
In looking over a little medical work entitled
" Bazaar Medicines and Common Medical Plants of
India" (1883),
by E. J. Waring, C.I.E., M.D., Surgeon-Major, retired, Editor of the Pharma-
copœia of India, etc., I noticed the following on
Indian hemp which you may not have seen else-
where :—
" The treatment of tetanus by smoking ganja
(Indian hemp) introduced by Assistant Surgeon
A. C. Khastagir (Indian Medical Gazette, August
1878) promises to supersede all others in India if
it were only from the fact that the remedy is pro-
curable at a trifling cost in every bazaar throughout
the country, and that its application is simple in
the extreme. A pipe, hookah, or Indian hubble-
bubble, charged with about 15 grains of dried ganja
leaves, alone or mixed with twice as much tobacco
leaves, is to be kept in readiness, and immediately
on the indication of a spasm coming on is to be
lighted and handed to the patient with directions
to smoke. By the time this is finished, or even before
the spasm relaxes, the eyes close, and the patient
falls into a kind of slumber. The pipe is again
charged and kept in readiness for the next spasm,
when the process is repeated with similar results.
In this way the drug is administered day and
night uninterruptedly, during which the irritation
of the nervous system slowly but steadily yields
to its influence. Mr. K. details five cases treated
in this way ; no auxiliary medicine beyond an
occasional purgative if required ; no solid food
allowed : milk and soup the only nutriments.
This treatment is further advocated by Dr. J. C.
Lucas of the Bombay Medical Service (Medical
Times and Gazette, Feb. 21, 1880) * * * * He
places the dose at from 8 to 30 grains, commenc-
ing with the smaller dose and gradually increasing
it as tolerance is established."
In the preface to this really valuable little work
the author writes that " in making this selection
(of bazaar medicines) I have been guided by the
following principles : (1) By the safety of the
drug ; hence arsenic, aconite root (Bish), nux
vomica, Indian hemp and some other powerful
medicines have been omitted, as it was felt to be
inadvisable in a work like the present to introduce
agents which, in the hands of unprofessional per-
sons, might do more harm than good if employed
in unsuitable cases."
It seems to me that the position here taken is
exactly the one assumed by all opponents of opium,
alcohol, hemp drugs, and other such injurious and
poisonous but commonly used substances. These
all should be so safeguarded as to prevent or mini-
mize any possible harm resulting from their abuse.
If any or all of them were made procurable in
only such form as would be best adapted to the
medical work they are suited to perform, through
the medium of a qualified chemist or the Govern-
ment dispensaries, a great national danger would
be removed, and such a patronage of the hospitals
by the masses of the people would be stimulated
as to soon place these admirable and eminently
useful institutions on a self-supporting basis.
Oral evidence .
Question 1.—There are two Canadian Baptist
Missions working in the country, extending from
the Kistna in the south to the border of the Uriya
country in Ganjam in the north and from the sea
to the Ghâts. Before making the enquiries for
the Commission, I had frequently met bairagis in
the course of my evening preaching at the
temples in the villages. These men would smoke
and fall asleep while I was preaching, and on en-
quiry I learnt that it was ganja which they had
been smoking. I used to see them wash and
squeeze the ganja for smoking and pass the pipe
round. There would be many disciples and poor
people smoking with the bairagis on these occa-
sions. These people were mostly Sudras. The
higher castes and outcastes would not be among
them. I remember that in my own village one of
the men was a school teacher, one a carpenter, and
several of them cultivators, and people of no settled
occupation. These visits to the temples are the
only occasions, with the exception of two cases I
have described, on which I have been brought into
contact with the hemp drugs. I have been six
years in the country, and engaged in village work
during four years. My enquiries cover the country
served by both branches of the mission, and have
extended over two months. Before entering
in these enquiries I did not know the hemp drugs
were in use among the people, and had only met
with them in the temples. When I first saw the
drug smoked at a temple, I did not know what it
was, and thought it had some connection with the
religious practices of the bairagis.
Question 19.—Since sending in my answers I
spoke to a bairagi, who told me that men addicted
to ganja would eat a handful of seed if they
could not get the drug He said that an intoxi-
cating effect was produced by all parts of the
plant, ganja leaves and seed as well, in whatever
form they might be taken. I understood that
the man had not eaten the seed himself, and of
course I know nothing personally of its alleged
properties.
Question 35.—My answer was written under
the impression that the cultivation and possession
of the drug was illegal, and my impression was
derived from information given me by an Assist-
ant Collector. But I have since learnt that there
is no prohibition against cultivation and posses-
sion, and that a cultivator is only forbidden to sell
the drug to any one but a licensed vendor. The
practice to which I refer is growing the plant in
back yards for personal consumption, and would not
be illicit. But I hear that the drug cultivated in
this way is sometimes sold illicitly, though not,
as far as I have been able to discover, to such an
extent as can be called trade.
As well as I could learn, it did not seem that
the craving peculiar to ganja could be satisfied by
any other drug. As a rule the various habits are
distinct, but occasionally a man will practise more
than one of them. My opinion that the prohibi-
tion of the drug would cause the practice to die