210
18. Bhang leaves lose a great deal of their
strength if kept long ; also charas.
19. It is sometimes used for eating, but seldom,
and as medicine, vide below.
23. Bhang is used for smoking only where
charas is difficult to obtain. I can't auswer the
second
part.
24. Kahars and other low castes, Lodha, etc.,
smoke charas. Brahmans and Chaubis among
Hindus, and Mirasis among Musalmans, are the
chief consumers of bhang.
25. I should say on the increase, but cannot
say for certain,
26. I cannot say with exactness, but the occa-
sional consumers are in a very small minority.
27. See 24.
28. The allowance varies from 6 pies worth to
5 annas worth, according to the habits of the
smoker.
29. In charas "karwa" tobacco (strong) is
mixed. In bhang black pepper, cardamoms, al-
monds, fennel (sonf), kasni. Sugar, milk and
dhatura are mixed according to taste. Massala
of any special kind is not known here,
30. Charas in company ; bhang both in company
and solitude. Men and women both smoke : wo-
men seldom, and children very rarely.
31. (a) and (b) Yes.
(c) Yes, in the case of bhang and charas.
82. There are no social nor religious customs'
but some Hindus through force of habit have
begun to connect the consumption of drugs with
religion. They offer the preparation of bhang
known as "dudhia" to their gods ; and in the
Dasehra, bhang is thrown in the face of Mahadeo
during the marriage procession of Ram Chander.
83. The consumption of drugs is not approved
of generally. I know of no worship of the hemp
plant.
34. No, because the habit can be left off with-
out serious harm.
36. Alcohol is looked on as the most pleasant
form of intoxication, but those addicted to in-
toxication only take to alcohol where it is cheap.
As a rule, the expense of intoxication by liquor
makes drugs used more commonly.
37. I don't know about the effects of ganja-
smoking.
39. Eating is more injurious than smoking ;
it acts more strongly. Charas causes constipation
and heats the body. Bhang causes the stomach
to swell (nagakh karta), and obscures the senses.
40. Bhang is used to improve the appetite, and
imsak and bah ke liye mixed with other medicines.
For earache bhang leaves burnt in tilli oil is a
good remedy ; bhang leaves pounded with water
are used to relieve pains in the "fotah." For
"bawa sir" the stem from bhang leaves boiled
in milk are a cure. Bhang is used in cattle disease
41. (a) The moderate use of drugs is beneficial
at first, harmful if continued.
(b). Yes ; I have seen labourers, who take drugs,
walk 20 kos without food. They alleviate fatigue.
(c) Yes, slightly ; but they are not used now-a-
days. Kahars and other low castes chiefly use
the drug, Brahmans and Chaubes are the chief
habitual consumers among Hindus. Chaubes eat
it frequently.
42. Drugs do harm--vide section 45 below.
44. The immediate effect is refreshing (mufar-
rah) and intoxicating. Habitual consumers find
their fatigue alleviated and themselves freshened
by the intoxication produced. Bhang quiets the
pangs of hunger,which reassert themselves sooner
or later according to the strength of the consum-
ers. The after-effects are slackness, laziness, weak-
ness in limbs and restlessness. There is subse-
quent longing and uneasiness. Charas does not
allay hunger or improve the appetite.
45 and 46. The habitual moderate use is greatly
injurious spiritually, bodily and socially. This
poisonous weed is according to the science of
medicine wet and dry to the third and fourth
degree. According to chemistry, poison, narco-
tics and particles of lime are found in this. If
smoked in the chillum after being lighted by fire,
it has a tendency of drying the liver, and the liver
loses its original colour and takes a yellow colour ;
and from exceesive dryness the liver loses its pro-
perties. The air passages dry up and contract,
resembling people with asthma, as habituals
generally appear. The dryness of the liver affects
the heart, the heart the brain, and this generally
is injurious to the constitution internally and ex-
ternally. The dryness of the heart affects the
blood veins, which spread all over the body ; these
veins, through the dryness of the heart, refuse to
perform their function ; and the blood cannot cir-
culate freely ; and often the circulation is stopped
and the skin becomes yellow or black, and the
body wastes. Experiment and experience prove
this that no opium-eater or charas and ganja smok-
er has many children, for this reason that on ac-
count of drugs the habitué becomes impotent, and
through its use man becomes lazy, and from not
being able to get good and nutritive food death
soon occurs,
I treated two people for gout who were affected
by reason of excessive bhang-drinking, and three
people with dropsy.
From charas-smoking a man is reduced to a
skeleton. It impairs the digestion and causes loss
of appetite. They often suffer from dysentery.
It has been said about charas that none is free
from asthma and cough—"I give coughs, and
even then if people do not die, what can I do."
It impairs the morals, and produces laziness and
immorality. The drug is also taken to produce
voluptuousness. The reason for the great con-
sumption is that the drug is widely sold and in
public streets, and there is no prohibition to the
sale of this poisonous article. It deadens the
intellect. It produces insanity, at times perma-
nently, at others temporarily ; from excessive
drinking death also occurs. The eyes of charas-
smokers are red and always widely opened.
Hindu fakirs to appear saintly smoke charas and
make their eyes quite red. Insanity brought on
by charas-smoking is curable ; but if the senses,
brain and liver are much injured, then they do not
quite recover. After treatment I do not know
if insanity was reinduced. Those suffering from
weakness, mental anxiety, or brain disease, would
in my opinion soon become insane if they indulged
in charas, etc.
47 and 48, No.
49. Yes, at first ; but afterwards the effect is
the contrary and produces impotence. Prostitutes
do not use drugs.
50. Excessive use of the drugs does considerable
harm, more so than moderate use.
53. The use of drugs incites to crime. It
incites to unpremeditated crime less than liquor.
54. Yes, e.g., by thugs and dacoits.