261
that they have been discriminating between the
effects of the two, but because of the two the
alcoholic drink is fashionable, and has a kind of
eclât attached to it which the indigenous drug
has not. The tinkling of glass, the sparkling of
liquor, and the dish of fruits displayed on a table
with ice and sodawater has not only a European
look about it, but is quite so decent, so neat, and
so nice. Compare the above scene with a couple
of lotas, a thick stick and a sandstone bowl, the
paraphernalia of a bhang-drinker; or if the con-
sumer has a luxurious inclination, his luxury cul-
minates in the addition to the drug of a handful
of sugar and a cupful of milk, the total cost of all
which never exceeds the value of a bumper toast.
Of the ganja-smoker, his greatest luxury consists
in soaking the ganja for about an hour or so in a
little rose-water. The chillum, the little earthen
funnel-shaped utensil, remains all the same, a
millionaire draws his puff of blue smoke or a faqir
finishes his pull by a flash from the chillum.
The second cause of this alcoholic substitute is
the greater accessibility of the article. Retail
shops of alcoholic liquors have been opened almost
in every quarter, and the article has been brought
temptingly to the door of the buyer.
40. Yes. Bhang enters into the preparation of
several native medicines, and is frequently used in
veterinary treatment. Ganja-smoking is pre-
scribed in asthmatic complaints.
41. (a) Bhang is frequently used in small doses
as a food accessory and digestive, and it has been
seen to cure certain dyspeptic and diarrhœtic com-
plaints.
(b) Ganja is generally used for this purpose.
(c) Ganja has been seen to be used as a pro-
tection against exposure to rain and night dews.
Bhang has been seen to alleviate fatigue when
taken on the last day of the Durga Puja.
I refer to moderate occasional use when the
conveniences are occasional, and to moderate
habitual use when the exposure and fatigue are
constant.
43. Yes; they are.
47. No.
54. I have heard that criminals fortify them-
selves by smoking ganja before committing an act
of violence.
55. I have heard two or three such cases of
murder accompanied with stupefaction by bhang
and dhatura seeds, and I think these cases were
tried in the High Court within the last five years.
99. Evidence of RAI KAMALAPATI GHOSAL BAHADUR, Brahmin, Pensioner, Sub-
Registrar and Zamindar, 24-Parganas.
1. I was a police officer and served both in the
old and new police for more than thirty years in
the districts of Backergunge and 24-Parganas and
had to deal with the detection of excise cases
occasionally.
2. By the names of siddhi or bhang, charas and
ganja.
3. In both the districts of Backergunge and
24-Parganas of which I have knowledge, the
hemp plant grows spontaneously to a very small
extent. In neither of these districts it is abun-
dant.
4. Known by the names of siddhir gachh and
ganjar gachh. There is some difference between
the two plants and the one can easily be distin-
guished from the other.
5. The growth is dense or scattered according
to the quantity of seeds that happen to fall on the
ground by some chance or other.
7. There is no cultivation of the hemp plant in
either of the two districts of Backergunge and
24-Parganas of which I have knowledge.
14. Formerly bhang was prepared by collecting
the leaves of the spontaneous or wild hemp plants
at Tushkhali and other places in the district of
Backergunge but the practice, I think, has been
done away with since, for fear of detection.
16. Yes, bhang is prepared generally by the
people in their houses. It can be prepared from
the wild hemp plants wherever grown. Ganja can
seldom be prepared from the wild plant.
17. Bhang is prepared to a very small extent by
almost all the classes of people for the purpose
of drinking when needed, if available.
19. Ganja and charas are used for smoking pur-
poses only in this part of the country.
20. About one-fourth of the lower class of
labouring men consisting chiefly of Bagdis, Karas,
Chandals, coolies, &c., smoke ganja. Other castes
such as Pods, Musalmans, Kaibartas, as well as
Brahmans, Baidyas and Kayasths do not, as a rule,
smoke the ganja to a larger extent; but about
one-sixteenth, and in some places less than that,
the people smoke ganja in both the above districts.
Charas is seldom used in these parts and it is used
only by the upper classes chiefly.
21. When I was in the district of Backergunge,
more than eleven years ago, I saw there the flat
ganja in use. In the district of 24-Parganas, as far
as I know, round ganja and chur ganja are gen-
erally used, specially in this part of the country.
23. No, as far as I know.
24. In both the districts mentioned above only a
small portion of the people drink bhang occasion-
ally.
25. It is supposed that the use of ganja only in
these parts is increasing.
The reason assigned is that the labouring class
of men find it as a kind of relief after hard
work. Besides the habitual smokers have a desire
to increase their number and therefore induce
others to smoke.
26. Amongst those that smoke ganja—
(a) About ten-sixteenths are moderate con-
sumers.
(b) Two-sixteenths habitual excessive con-
sumers.
(c) Two-sixteenths occasional moderate con-
sumers.
(d) Two-sixteenths occasional excessive con-
sumers.
As has been ascertained by enquiry from the
licensed vendors of this part of the country.
27. As stated above, most of the ganja smokers
are of the lower labouring class of men. They