314
to any effect on the eyes. The Chaubes of Muttra
use bhang. This may be seen any day; and there
are bas-reliefs showing this use at particular
festivals from earliest times. I have never heard
there or anywhere else of bhang leading to ex-
cesses, acts of violence and the like. I do not say
that the excessive use of bhang may not lead to
injury to health. Tea itself does in excess. But
I have no experience of the ordinary infusion of the
leaf, known among us as bhang, injuring the
health.
I think that charas is the most potent form of
hemp. Even as used (in smaller quantity) it is
more potent than ganja. I never heard of the
moderate use of either ganja or charas doing any
harm to the health. I think I have heard of
"Kaf" or phlegm being ascribed to smoking these
drugs. I have not heard asthma or bronchitis
attributed to them. I should say that the
moderate use would relief such diseases. I do not
believe that the moderate use would have any effect
on the brain. I should say certainly not in a
healthy man. I believe that the moderate use
would cheer a man, and give him a fillip, if he
were down. I do not know of any difference in
effects from the different kinds of ganja. The
baluchar is better and dearer than the ganja of the
south. But I see no difference in effects any more
than in different brands of tobacco. The moderate
dose to one man is not always moderate to another.
I think that the proportion of excessive con-
sumers is small as compared with the moderate
consumers—very small indeed except in such
classes as wandering fakirs, dissolute men, and the
riff-raff of the bazar. The excessive use of any
thing is bad. The excessive use of ganja and
(even more) charas is more injurious to the health
than for example the excessive use of tea or
perhaps even tobacco. Nothing in my opinion can
be worse than the excessive use of alcohol; but
that is a thing you seldom hear of in this country.
You seldom hear of delirium tremens. There is no |
such tiling as excess in alcohol in this country as
we see it in the east of London. In thirty-five
years in this country I have scarely seen thirty-five
drunk men. As to excess in charas or ganja, the
excessive consumers do not ordinarily obtrude
themselves. They ordinarily lie quiet and give no
trouble. It is very hard to say anything about
the effects of the excessive use of these drugs.
One hears of terrible results; but that is a common
thing to say about intoxicants. But I have never
come across cases. Of course there may be bad
effects unseen by me; for (as I have said) this form
of excess does not obtrude itself. I have heard it
said that insanity is due to this excess; and I
have heard that view scouted. I am unable to
form an opinion. It is a matter for medical men
to decide. I do not think that it is a common
opinion among the people themselves that excessive
indulgence in hemp leads to insanity. But I think
it was and is a common opinion about chandu.
Question 53.—I do not think that there is any
connection between hemp and crime, except that
I have heard of one or two cases of running amuck
ascribed to ganja. I heard of a Gurkha soldier in
1879 or 1880 running amuck. It was ascribed by
rumour to ganja-smoking. I did not see the case;
but I was in Naini Tal at the time; and that was,
so far as I remember, the common idea. There
was also the case of Lieutenant Coode shot at
Benares about 1884. I cannot say whether it was
a hemp case. I cannot at this moment recall any
other case. But there are other cases on record I
believe. Generally, however, there is in my opinion
no real connection between the use of hemp drugs
and crime; that is my experience. I can recollect
no case in my experience as a magistrate of any
case in which such a connection appeared to exist.
It is possible that the effect of the drug might lead
to a man going further in crime than he would
otherwise have done, as is the case so frequently
seen with liquor in England. But the cases are
few in which this is alleged, and I believe they are
fewer still in which there is any real ground for
the allegation.
Question 59.—I think it is high time to make a
great change in the drug administration of this
country. As we change from the loose farming
system to the combined system of still-head duty
and license fees for vend in regard to liquor, so I
think the time has come for imposing a maundage
duty on ganja and charas. I would impose no
duty on bhang for the present. I doubt if it would
be feasible, for bhang grows almost as widely as
grass in certain parts; and it would not be worth
while. The maundage duty on ganja and charas
would not be practically affected by this fact;
charas is not produced on the plains as far as I
know. It is unnecessary to consider that as a
difficulty. It can be seen in the memorandum by
the Gwalior Assistant Director of Land Records
(appended to Mr. Stoker's) that page 23 contradicts
the last paragraph on page 24. He is right in the
former passage in saying that charas is not pro-
duced in the plains. Otherwise how could the
Bengal Government tax it as they do? In the
same way the fact of bhang growing wild would
not affect the taxation of ganja. You cannot get
ganja from the wild plant that is anything but
ganja in name. It is so inferior in quality that it
may be quite left out of account.
I think that each province should make its own
arrangement for taxation. In case of frontier duty
the share should be given to each province calculated
on its own consumption. Then when we have
maundage duty on charas and ganja, I would have
bonded warehouses at fixed centres, say, at each
divisional head-quarters, at which the tax could be
levied. This would be the most convenient way of
levying the tax. There might be duty on the
frontier; but the great bulk of the duty should be
taken at the warehouse. To put on Rs. 6 a seer on
charas at the frontier, for example, would merely
keep the stuff out. The importers could not pay
it. The stuff should be pushed into the store-houses
and taxed there. I would refer to my letter No.
C.E.—80, dated 29th August 1881, in the compila-
tion "Correspondence on hemp drugs" and Mr.
Ney Elias' letter appended.
I approve generally of the proposals made by
Mr. Stoker in paragraph 48 of his memorandum.
The only point on which I differ is of little or no
importance. I would not prohibit import of bhang,
which is merely done in the interest of trade con-
nection.
The important thing is to have a direct duty
that will enable us to know and control the con-
sumption. At present the statistics are quite
untrustworthy. They are based on returns made
by the contractors. The statistics are trade secrets.
It would also make the revenue steadier.
I think that Government should as far as possible
insist that the best forms of ganja or charas should
pay the highest rates of duty. That is, there must
be differential taxation. More than this Govern-
ment cannot do: Government cannot guarantee or
be responsible for the quality, i.e., the purity of the
drug. I cannot recommend that any action should
be taken by Government with a view to reassuring
the public as to the quality of the drug supplied.