257
32. Drug consumption has no connection with
religion. But Hindus only indulge : very few
Muhammadans take drugs.
33. Public opinion is against the use of bhang
and very strongly against the use of charas. The
practice of taking drugs is condemned, because it
is thought to be hurtful. There is no worship of
the hemp plant.
34. I do not think that it would be any
serious privation to drug consumers if drugs were
suddenly withdrawn from them. They would
suffer no serious discomfort, as opium consumers
would do if deprived of opium.
35. Quite. Some drug consumers might for a
time continue to obtain drugs illicitly, but drug
consumption would be stamped out in a short
time. The feeling of the people is strongly
against drugs,
36. No ; I do not think so. The effect of
alcohol and drugs is so different that consumers of
one are not likely to take to the other.
39. Bhang drinking is much less harmful than
charas smoking. The latter injures the brain and
the eyes. Bhang being mixed with water does
less mischief, but that too is hurtful.
40. Bhang is used as a drug for cattle to assist
digestion.
41. The use of drugs even in moderation is
never beneficial. Bhang at first may aid digestion
but it subsequently injures the stomach. Drugs
make a man lazy instead of energetic, and are of
avail in fever.
42. I consider the use of drugs always hurtful,
however moderate.
43. Men who consume drugs are generally bad
characters and troublesome to their neighbours,
but the use of drugs does not excite to violence.
188. Evidence of MAHA SINGH, Cultivator, District
Muzaffarnagar.
1. I smoke charas when I can get it—every day
if it is to be had. 1 also drink bhang.
15. Bhang is prepared from the hemp plant ;
the dried leaf of the plant is ground to a powder,
sometimes with the admixture of pepper, almond,
melon seeds, cucumber seeds, mixed with water
and then strained. The decoction is drunk with
milk and sugar. Sometimes but very rarely the
leaf is eaten and a draught of milk or water taken
after it.
16. Bhang decoction is prepared by the people
in their houses. If the dry leaf cannot be procured,
it is ground in its green state. The decoction
can be and is prepared from the hemp plant, which
grows wild all over the district. But the decoc-
tion made from hemp which is bought from shops
is of greater strength and therefore is in greater
request. Charas is not prepared from the wild
plant.
19. Ganja is not consumed in this district.
Charas is only used for smoking.
20. Musalmans, Brahmins, Gujars, Jats, smoke
charas. Fakirs are the greatest consumers.
22. Foreign charas is alone used.
23. Bhang is not used for smoking.
24. Brahmins, Baniyas, Jats, and various other
castes drink bhang.
28. Habitual moderate consumers take one pice
worth of charas (1½ mashas) a day, and one pice
(one chattak) of bhang a day. Excessive con-
sumers take six mashas of charas, and one anna
worth (4 chattaks) of bhang a day.
29. Almond and pepper are commonly ground
with the leaves of hemp to make a cooling drink.
30. Charas is smoked by three or four men in
company. Bhang is drunk in solitude or in com-
pany. Men, not women. take charas. The age at
which charas is taken is from 15 years upwards.
Bhang is drunk by women as well as men. The
age at which it is taken is from 15 years. Child-
ren rarely take either drug.
31. The witness learnt the habit of smoking
charas from a fakir whom he used to visit when a
boy of 12 or 13. The privation of charas for a
day or two causes actual physical pain. The wit-
ness used to take one pisa or two pisas worth of
charas every day, when he began to smoke it, but
now he can only afford one pisa in two days. The
witness took bhang regularly—1 chattak a day
for four months last year—as a remedy for ague.
Before and since he used to drink it intermittently.
The habit of taking bhang is easily broken off and
does not grow on the consumer.
32. On Dewali, Holi and other festivals the
consumption of bhang and charas is more general.
33. The consumption of bhang and charas is
held in disrepute. The reason is that sometimes
intoxication results which degrades consumers as
a class. Charas and bhang consumers pour out a
libation of bhang to Mahadeo, and invoke the
name of the deity when they smoke charas.
34. It would be a serious privation to forego
the use of charas, but not of bhang. It would
cause actual physical pain.
41. Witness considers that charas promotes
digestion, enables a person to stand exposure to
cold, and that bhang rids him of his ague.
44. The body is refreshed and invigorated by
use of either drug. They act as stimulants ;
intoxication is not produced. The effects last a
a day. Hunger is not allayed. The appetite is
stimulated. Privation from either drug produces
uneasiness.
45. No noxious effects are produced. The con-
stitution is invigorated, not impaired. Digestion
is stimulated; dysentery, bronchitis and asthma
are not caused. None of the ill-effects mentioned
in the question are produced.
(The witness is a strong man, about five feet
ten inches in height; looks robust.)
49. Witness has two sons and one daughter
who enjoy good health.
vol. v.
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