22
believe, and in very large quantities in the hills
and along the foot of the hills. I think it
would not be feasible to control cultivation.
63. I have no such objections.
64. No; the present regulations seem to me to
work well enough.
65. I would certainly not reduce the taxation
on hemp drugs, but I think that country
liquor in these provinces is too expensive under
the present distillery system, and that the late of
taxation on country liquor should be reduced so as
to check the strong tendency for liquor consumers
to turn to these hemp drugs owing to the enor-
mous difference between the cost of, say, half a
bottle of country liquor (say 4 annas) and a pipe
of ganja or charas (a pice say, at the outside).
66. I don't know enough about the extent to
which these three kinds are at present produced,
or the reasons why three sorts are produced, to be
able to answer this question.
67. No; beyond what I have said in my
answer to questions 58 and 59.
68. I am not aware that in the licenses issued
in these provinces for retail vend of hemp drugs
there is any condition that they are not to be con-
sumed on the premises. At the same time 1
know numbers of shops where none is consumed
on the premises. I see no harm in the absence
of any restriction to the effect that they are not
to be consumed on the premises.
69. I have never been in a district so far as I
remember when a new drug shop has been opened,
so have no personal experience. But I do not
expect that the people of the neighbourhood are con-
sulted very often as to whether they would like a
drug shop established in their midst. If they
formally petitioned against it, no doubt their
arguments would be duly considered. I think
that local public opinion should be considered
before a new shop is opened. If the people ob-
jected and their objections seemed reasonable,
they would he allowed: if their objections were
worthless, they could be overruled.
70. There are no facts regarding smuggling or
importation of hemp drugs from Native States to
which I wish to draw attention. I expect duty
is really paid. Doubtless a good deal of bhang is
used which has been made at homo and paid no
duty. This seems unavoidable. A little charas
is very likely used in this district which has paid
no duty, being consumed by the producers, over
whom no cheek is exercised as to how much they
produce or what they do with it.
21. Evidence of MR. R. W. GILLAN, Officiating
1. I have been Excise Officer in this district for
three years.
2. Ganja is practically unknown in this district.
The definition of charas is correct. The only
other name I know for it is sulfa.
Bhang is also called, chiefly by brahmans and
fakirs, buti and sabzi, and in medicine warq-ul-
kheyal. There is no cultivation of the hemp
plant here: of the wild form there are two very
distinct forms, which I believe to be male and
female. The tirst is a plant with slender and
lightish green leaves, with flowers, which, after
inspection, I have no doubt are male. The second
or female is a stronger growing plant with stouter
and darker leaves. The natives here call the first
or male plant, bhang: the second or female, they
call ganja. It is from the first only that bhang
is here prepared.
3. In Bijnor and the Terai abundantly, in
Saharanpur, parts of Rampur and here and there
in this district. Though it is not cultivated, there
are special plots of waste land which are always
reserved for its production.
4. The only names used in this district are
bhang and ganja, for the difference between which
see (2) above.
5. These must differ for the different pre-
parations of the plant. For charas apparently a
considerable altitude and cold atmosphere is re-
quired. For bhang a low damp situation is neces-
sary, e.g., alluvial tracts near rivers and the
Terai. Bhang growing on higher and dryer
groundis nearly useless, and though the plant
grows here and there about Moradabad city, it is
never cut. The bhang used here comes from the
damp tracts of Bijnor and Terai.
6. In suitable soil the growth is very dense.
7. For the production of bhang no cultivation
is required. The plant is cultivated for charas in
Garhwal and Kumaon, but only to an extent
sufficient to supply the local demand. The seeds
are eaten as a relish with pulse or vegetables, and
the bark is extensively used in making sacks, etc.
8. I believe there has been a considerable
Deputy Commissioner, Moradabad.
increase, and that this is due to the higher prices
now paid for the charas.
10. They are of no special class.
12. Nowhere in this neighbourhood.
14. Charas is prepared in Kumaon and Garhwal
sufficient for local purposes. Bhang in Saharan-
pur, Bijnor, and the Terai, sufficient tor the supply
of Rohilkhand.
15. (a) From the cultivated plant charas is
manufactured in Kumaon by rubbing the leaves
between the hands, or even, it is said, by running
through the fields in the early morning. The
exudations adhering to the skin are rubbed off and
made into little balls or rolls.
(b) From the wild plant bhang. The plants
are cut and allowed to dry, when the leaves are
simply stripped off. If dried in the open, the
colour is green: if in straw or some similar cover-
ing, yellow.
16. Bhang can be prepared from the hemp
plant wherever grown. It is, as a matter of fact,
generally prepared in the juugle where it grows,
not at any house.
17. The preparation is not confined to any class.
18. Bhaug, if left open, spoils in a year, being
affected by damp; if kept shut up, it lasts two years.
Bokhara charas keeps good for three or four years.
Yarkand charas loses half its intoxicating proper-
ties in a year, and after that rapidly becomes absolu-
tely worthless. In this climate, nothing can
preserve it; it keeps much better in a colder
atmosphere, e. g., in the hills.
19. So far as I know, they are only smoked. I
have heard that fakirs sometimes, though very
rarely, eat charas, but I have no confidence in
the truth of this statement.
20. Ganja is practically unknown here. Charas
is smoked (1) by fakirs, (2) by the lower hard-
working castes, kahars, mullahs, pasis, malis,
barwals, chauhans, jats; among other castes its
use is exceptional. With regard to locality, it
can only be said that in the city the castes named