387
161. Evidence of the VERY REV. A. CHELVUM, Roman Catholic Diocese, Vizagapatam.
Oral evidence .
Question 1 .—I am 54 years of age and have
been 34 years in Vizagapatam. I have travelled
through this district and the neighbouring tracts ;
but my experience for the last twenty years has
been confined to Vizagapatam itself, my congrega-
tion, and the St. Aloysius' High School, of which
I am Head Master, I was born in Kaladgi, and
brought up in the Bombay Presidency.
Question 20.—The consumption of the hemp
drugs in Vizagapatam town is limited to very few
people. Opium and country liquor are indulged
in to a much larger extent. The hemp drugs are
taken by Musalmans and bairagis and a few
people from Orissa. The Musalmans who con-
sume the hemp drugs are tailors, peons, chow-
kidars, pailwans, and men in service, as watch-
men at private houses and public buildings. Per-
haps two or three per cent. of the adult male
population take the drugs. The commonest and
easiest form of consumption is the smoking of
the dried leaves like tobacco in pipes. Some
make a cooling drink only of the leaves ; but
this requires a good deal of trouble to prepare,
and three or four people join to make it up.
Majum is also consumed, and women and children
sometimes have the drug given to them in this
form. I have also heard of charas being used,
but very rarely. Charas is, however, dearer than
the other forms of the drug.
Question 35 .—The use of the drugs is not so
prevalent as to render any further restrictive
measures necessary, and the excessive consumers
are very few. During the last twenty years I
have occasionally travelled about the neighbour-
ing country. The plant is very occasionally cul-
tivated in gardens in this district. There is no
regular cultivation. Such cultivation as there is
could be easily stopped. The people don't care
for the drug, and there would be no opposition if
the cultivation were prohibited. In the remoter
parts the poor people having no other stimulant
would be inclined to grumble. They cannot
afford to buy opium and. liquor. I have not
passed through any village in the interior since
1866, nor through the coast villages outside
Vizagapatam for five or six years.
Question 41 .—The hemp drugs are a beneficial
stimulant to the poor people and an alleviation
of their privations. They serve the same purpose
as opium. The hemp drugs in moderation are
sedative and anodyne, and are used for medicinal
purposes. This is the way in which they are
generally used. The excessive use is not common.
It is resorted to principally by worthless people
and ministers to their passions. It is stupefying,
and renders the consumer unfit for work, and
sometimes almost mad. There might be a dozen
people in this town who use the hemp drugs to
excess.
Question 45 .—I have come in contact with
ganja consumers enough to know their general
appearance. They have red eyes, are lazy and
listless, are constantly yawning, and are pale and
unhealthy-looking. These are excessive consum-
ers. The moderate consumers could hardly be
distinguished from other people. They can be
with difficulty distinguished. The moderate use
is beneficial. Their appearance has no marks of
superiority. The drugs are beneficial to them,
only if taken in the form of refreshing drink. In
other forms the drug is not beneficial apart from
its medicinal use. Alcohol in moderation contri-
butes to health by refreshing and relieving the
mind and body. I regard alcohol as better than
bhang. Excess in either bhang or alcohol is
equally bad, Excess in ganja smoking is worse
than both, because I am told, though I have no
experience of it, that it affects the brain. I
should receive either a spirit drinker or ganja
smoker into my congregation. If he were given
to excess, I should inculcate moderation.
Question 53 .—On rare occasions I have heard
of the excessive use producing great excitement, and
violence; but, according to my own observation,
the effect is to render a man senseless. I have
seen a man in such a state of excitement that he
was ready to commit an act of violence, but dis-
abled by being unable to control his limbs. I saw
a sepoy in the 7th Regiment at Jalna in this State.
That was when I was a boy of twelve years of
age. I have seen no such case during the last
twenty years. I remember having had to deal
With a case on the bench of Magistrates in Vizaga-
patam in which a " wastad " had committed a
violent assault, apparently under the influence of
hemp.
162. Evidence of S. P. NARASIMMALU NAYUDU, Editor of the " Crescent,"
Coimbatore
.
1. From one of my tenants, who is too much
addicted to the drug for a very long time, and his
comrades.
2. The definitions given may be accepted, with
the exception of charas, this description of the
drug not being in use in this province.
The names used here are thattai or javadi ganja
for flat ganja, mulki ganja for round ganja, and
thul or bhukni ganja for broken ganja.
7. There is no regular cultivation of the plant
in the district as far as I know; but it is grown
sparingly in some gardens for distribution to
bairagis, etc., as charity for use as bhang.
VOL. VI.
8. No.
9. Nothing particular.
10. No. Yes.
11.
Not known.
12. Not known.
13. The cultivation is restricted, Not known.
14. The use of ganja and bhang is very limited
in this district and sold in sweetmeat bazars and
by native quacks.
15. No distinction is made in this district
between cultivated and wild plant. (A) Smoking
—Two-thirds ganja and one-third tobacco mixed
3 F 2