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These two cases are samples of several that have
passed through the Dacca Asylum.
The second case is instructive as showing that
Cannabis indica may be the sole cause of mania
for—
(1) The patient was an excessive ganja smoker.
(2) He had at least four separate attacks of
mania in eight years.
(3) On each occasion he became quite sane soon
after he was placed out of the reach of
hemp, and remained so until he was
released.
(4) As soon as he gave up the use of ganja he
became saue and has remained so for six
years.
The following is an example of chronic mania
induced by the use of hemp:—
Example III.—Harkumar
Adhikari, 27 years
of age, was admitted into the Dacca Asylum on
the 27th June 1886, suffering from chronic mania.
His insanity was attributed to the excessive smok-
ing of ganja. In his descriptive roll it is stated
that he smoked ganja to great excess and then
became insane. On admission he suffered from
delusions, he talked incoherently, and was very
quarrelsome and violent. After admission he re-
mained very much in the same state for some time;
then he gradually became less violent, and his ex-
citement changed to a depressed state of mind, and
he became dull and melancholy. He is still in
this state, but occasionally has fits of violence.
There is no family history of insanity, and the
patient admits that he was a great ganja smoker.
In the Dacca Asylum there are at present 53
out of 240 lunatics, whose insanity has been
attributed to ganja. In many of these cases the
fact of their being ganja smokers is doubtful.
In others there is a history of spirit drinking as
well as ganja smoking. In a third class of cases,
in addition to ganja smoking, there is a strong
family history of insanity. On the other hand,
some insanes who have no recorded ganja history,
confess to the use of the drug. When all these
cases are taken into consideration, there remains a
residuum in which ganja appears to be the only
cause to which the insanity can be referred. How-
ever, this residuum is extremely small when
compared with the enormous number of persons
who are in the habit of using these drugs. I
have calculated that there are some 6,000 or
8,000 ganja or charas smokers in Dacca town
now. The insanes in the Dacca Asylum come
from the whole of Eastern Bengal, from Sylhet,
Cachar, and Cooch Behar. It is obvious, there-
fore, that the proportion of insanes whose insanity
can be attributed to hemp to the large number of
users of the drug is almost infinitesimally small.
Oral evidence.
Question 1. —I entered the service in March
1876. I have served in most stations in Lower
Bengal. I have had additional charge of troops
occasionally, but have been in continuous civil
employ. For the last two years I have been in
charge of the Dacca Asylum, but had no asylum
experience before that. I have for ten years made
a special study of nervous diseases in general, not
particularly of insanity. I have attended special
hospitals for nervous diseases in England during
furlough,
Question 34.—Ganja smokers have told me of
their craving for the drug. I have held charge
of jails for the greater part of my service. I have
never been asked for ganja by any prisoner, nor
have I had to allow it medicinally as I have had
to allow opium. The statement regarding the
"craving" is not based on any physiological facts
which I have observed.
Question 41.—Under my answer (d), I refer
to the medicinal use. I have allowed patients to
take the drug when they have been suffering from
dysentery. Medicinally I use the "extract" of
the pharmacopœia, and sometimes prescribe it as a
preventive to patients liable to dysentery, though
they may not have the disease upon them.
I
should think the smoking of ganja might have a
somewhat similar action on the nervous system.
The drug acts, I believe, through the nervous
system, producing a sedative effect.
Question 44.—I have experimented with the
drug on myself, and found that it produces the
effect described. In heavier doses it produces inco-
ordination, and I have felt that symptom in the
mildest form from a dose of the extract correspond-
ing to about 25 grains of ganja.
Question 46.—I have had no experience that
excessive use of the drug produces dysentery and
bowel complaints.
Question 57 (a).—The percentage of ganja
consumers ascertained among the coolies at Narain-
ganj is approximately true for the whole popula-
tion of Dacca, for there are women and children
among the coolies where the calculation was made.
No doubt, the habit is more prevalent among the
coolies than among the general population; but I
do not think the estimate of 6,000 is excessive for
Dacca.
The information given in my written answer
regarding the case of Dayal Dass Bairagi is derived
from sources apart from the asylum papers. It
was derived from the man himself by my personal
examination before his release. I am confident
about this case.
In the case of Rajkumar Roy, I think the
lunacy is properly attributed to ganja, in spite of
the references contained in the asylum records to
dhatura, opium, and spirits, because of the history
and Dr. Crombie's opinion. In respect of the
history, the statement made by the Civil Hospital
Assistant regarding the abandonment of the habit
of taking hemp I look upon as especially important.
In the case of Harkumar Adikari the references
to the lunatic's relations contained in the Bengali
descriptive roll do not appear in any other place
in the asylum record. Dr. Crombie has also made
an entry about the shape of the man's head.
These facts admit the possibility of there being
another cause for insanity but ganja.
The three cases described, whether truly attri-
butable to ganja or not, are typical of what I
should consider ganja cases as likely to be.
The diagnosis of hemp drug cases may be based
upon previous history, the character of the in-
sanity, the history of the case while in the asylum
including information given by the patient him-
self when he recovers or has lucid intervals, or
by friends, or othewise ascertained. There is
nothing very typical in the symptoms; but still
ganja insanity has points of distinction from
other kinds of insanity. It is very temporary.
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