216
their friends, or of old respectable persons, ganja
or charas, in fact the huka or albola, is not
touched openly and freely. It is attributable to
no other sentiment than that of reverence for the
seniors, associated, as it is, with the innate wish to
appear as a puritan in their eyes and those of
the public.
I am not aware that hemp plant is worshipped
anywhere.
34. Yes; very serious privation it would be.
The reason is apparent: the result would be the
same as that of the prohibition of beer or tobacco
in England.
35. Prohibition is not feasible nor expedient:
it would produce serious and universal discontent
and dissatisfaction—powerful factors in the pro-
duction of political danger. The majority of the
people who consume the narcotic drugs will cer-
tainly not have recourse to alcoholic stimulants;
they will shun it as a sin, and rather die than
drink spirits. If the prohibition be enforced,
illicit consumption is sure to extend very widely.
36. Alcohol is certainly not resorted to as a
substitute; but it is one of the pernicious evils
that western civilization has introduced into the
country, with the result that nearly the whole of
the aristocracy and mediocracy ranks have been
thinned. In Calcutta alone almost all the biggest
houses have fallen a prey to the ravages of alcohol.
Whatever be the motive of the so-called philan-
thropists who have originated this enquiry, the
impression has already got abroad that the ulte-
rior motive of Government is to increase the
revenue by supplanting the narcotics by the intro-
duction of liquor.
37. Yes; charas causes headache, while ganja
does not.
38. None that I am aware of.
39. Majum, that is prepared from bhang in the
form of confectionery, is less injurious than ganja
or charas.
40. Ganja is used by native doctors in the pre-
paration of medicinal oils. Bhang is administered
medicinally in cases of bowel complaints: it is also
used in the treatment of cattle disease. It is
occasionally given to horses when fagged up by
overwork.
41. Yes; in (a), (b), (c),—all classes; moder-
ate use, of course, I refer to.
Ganja and bhang possess valuable properties.
Both are aphrodisiac. Bhang is specially bene-
ficial in chronic diarrhœa; both afford refreshment
under severe exertion, exposure and fatigue; all
the three drugs have the staying-powers.
In
malarious diseases a native kabiraj of repute tells
me bhang has been prescribed in fever cases with
success.
42. It is beneficial. Moderate use is never
harmful.
43. They are inoffensive—certainly never so
offensive as a drunkard that is a pest to the neigh-
bours.
44. It is refreshing. The intoxication it pro-
duces is a sort of giddiness that lasts for a short
time. People who are habituated to the use of the
drugs feel no more than a pleasant sensation of
intoxication with more or less forgetfulness of
worldly cares. The effect, of course, varies accord-
ing to constitution and temperament. The bhang
beverage specially creates appetite; the effects
last for three to four hours. After-effects are
bad when used in excess. The want of subsequent
gratification to persons addicted to the use of the
drug produces a longing or some uneasiness, but
not to the same extent as in the opium consumers.
Moderate use, however, is beneficial—certainly far
from injurious.
45. Habitual moderate use of the drugs does
not produce any noxious effect on the constitution
or the chest or the digestive power. It does not
deaden the intellect or the moral sense. Dysentery
may be produced by excessive ganja-smoking,
but it does not appear so readily or surely as in
the case of drunkards. If the ganja-smoker is in
good circumstances and lives well nourished with
ghi and milk, he may be sure of avoiding this as
well as any other disease. Moral sense is not
impaired, nor does it promote debauchery. Lazi-
ness is induced, but it is not the indolence that
is habitual. Insanity is not produced unless
ganja is taken in too excessive a quantity or for a
length of time. If in rare cases of ganja-smok-
ing an aberration of intellect is produced, it is
only of a temporary nature.
The hypothesis
that ganja-smoking is the cause of insanity, or
that insanity is the effect of hard smoking, cannot
be accepted without a thorough impartial inquiry
and examination by a committee of high medical
men. I have never had occasion to see a confirm-
ed ganja-smoker turn mad or insane; on the
other hand, I know of two instances of habitual
excessive ganja-smoking which tend to prove the
contrary. A gentleman, late in the service, has
been and is still in the habit of smoking ganja
almost to an immoderate degree. He has passed
his eighty-fourth year, and yet he is as hale and
hearty as ever, without his constitution being at all
affected by any disease. In the other case the man
was a hard smoker from his youth when he saw bet-
ter days; but being reduced to poverty, he was ob-
liged to serve as a poddar at Alipur, where he
used to walk from his house at Calcutta and re-
turn home at evening, thus traversing a distance
of ten miles every day. He was given to smoking
20 to 30 chillums a day; sometimes his chillums
rose to 100 to 108 per diem. He died in his
eightieth year of dysentery; but such dysentery
deaths occurring from drunkenness or other causes
are, if not more, but equally common.
46. Already answered above.
47. Not that I am aware of. I have never
heard that the habit is hereditary.
49. Yes; by young libertines; their mistresses
use what their paramours do. It is injurious when
carried to excess, but even in such cases the
bodily injury or disease that they contract, if
carefully scrutinized by medical men, would be
found to have originated from other causes than
the use of the drugs. Impotency is produced
more by the excessive indulgence in alcohol than in
drugs.
51. Almost all bad characters are habitual con-
sumers of the drugs, specially of ganja. Moderate
use has no more connection with crime than moder-
ate drinking of wine or brandy. The criminal class
is distinct from the class of ganja or charas-smokers.
52 and 53. The above remarks apply to these
two questions. Not a single instance of tempor-
ary homicidal frenzy from ganja-smoking ever
came to my notice.
54. Yes, dacoits for instance.
55. These drugs are not sufficient to stupefy a
person. Dhatura is used in such cases.
56. Dhatura is smoked by itself or with ganja,
always with tobacco leaves or in a diluted form.