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215. Evidence of BABU SASADHAR ROY, Brahmin, Pleader and Honorary Magistrate,
Rajshahi,
I. I have been asked by the Rajshahi Associa-
tion to answer these questions, and I proceed to
do so below.
I am not myself a ganja-consumer of any kind,
so I have no personal experience of the drug.
But I have come in contact with many ganja
and bhang-consumers, and so possess some infor-
mation regarding these drugs. As regards charas
I have no experience.
10. They are of the same classes as the other
agricultural cultivators.
11. Not so far as I know in the districts of
Rajshahi and Pabna.
13. There would be no part of the country, I
believe, except any marshy lands, where its culti-
vation would be impossible.
14. Ganja and bhang are prepared, but not
charas, so far as I know.
16. Yes; bhang is prepared generally by the
people in their houses to be drunk as an infusion,
or swallowed as a bolus, or eaten as cake. The
leaves from which it is prepared are gathered from
wild bhang plants, and used, both dried and green.
18. Yes; it does deteriorate by keeping, and lose
its effects, so far as intoxication is concerned. But
its medicinal use improves by keeping.
19. In this part of the country they are used
only for smoking. I speak of Rajshahi and Pabna,
so far as I know.
20. I omit charas from consideration. As regards
"classes," I think ganja is smoked, more or less,
by all classes of people. I should note that palki-
bearers, cooks, (up-country) and Uriya domestic
servants, some low class prostitutes who cannot pay
for wine, and sanyasis or religious mendicants,
many bhadralok of limited income, and very rarely
bhadralok also of wealth (these last as a substitute
for wine), artisans or handicraftsmen are consumers,
more or less, of ganja and bhang.
As regards proportion, I believe, about 5 per cent.
smoke ganja. The proportion for charas I cannot
say, but believe to be exceedingly small. The
smoking is principally done in residence houses, not
in any public shops, where only a very small number
of purchasers smoke.
21. I have heard that "flat" is preferred.
23. Bhang is not so used.
24. As regards classes, I refer to my answer 20.
As to proportion, bhang is not habitually eaten or
drunk in Rajshahi or Pabna, and, I believe, in
the other districts of Lower Bengal. So the
proportion cannot be given for such. But I can
only say that I believe occasional eaters or drink-
ers of bhang will be about 25 per cent. here. This
includes in many cases the ganja-smokers as well.
Bhang is also used in residence houses, for it is
seldom purchased for luxury.
25. I believe the use of ganja and bhang to be
stationary. It is, I should say, not on the increase.
But as to charas, I believe its use is decreasing.
The reason appears to me to be that they are not
considered to be fashionable intoxicants. A certain
amount of disrepute also attaches to ganja and
charas, in regard to which public opinion is grow-
ing stronger now than before.
26. As to ganja, of the 5 per cent. I have stated
in answer 20, the major portions are habitual
moderate consumers. As to bhang, I believe the
25 per cent. I have given in answer 24 are all
occasional moderate consumers.
I cannot give the proportion asked.
27. The principal circumstance is association
with consumers. Hard workers of the classes
mentioned in answer 20 take to ganja to relieve
fatigue; bhadralok for pleasure, including sexual
indulgence. Bhang is taken mostly on ceremonial
occasions, sometimes for pleasure and in some cases
for medicinal purposes.
28. I speak of ganja here. So far as I know,
half an anna to one anna per diem for class (a).
29. With bhang the ordinary "massala" is
mixed, also milk, curdled milk, etc. With ganja
tobacco is sometimes mixed. Dhatura is given to
add to its intoxicating power. I should say, in
this part of the country, no special preparation is
sold by the shop-keepers. It is the ordinary
garam massala of the country.
30. To a large extent, the practice begins in
company, but is afterwards indulged in solitude.
Ganja is mainly confined to the male sex. Bhang
is sometimes taken also by public women. I
certainly think that the practice is very rare in
women in this part of the country. Children
sometimes take bhang. In this answer I have
excluded charas from consideration; for it is
not practised to any appreciable extent.
31. Yes; the habit is easily formed, so far as
ganja and bhang are concerned. But as I have
already said habitual bhang-taking is unknown
here. Ganja habit, if once formed, is, I should
say, difficult to break off. There is not much
tendency (so far as ganja and bhang are concerned)
towards excessive use.
32. I must very strongly assure the Commis-
sion that in this part of the country there is no
custom, social or religious, regarding the consump-
tion of these drugs. The fact (for it is a fact)
that they are sometimes consumed at ceremonials
or Puja occasions, such as Bijaya Dashami, Kali-
puja, Siva Chaturdashi, or the fact that sanyasis
and the religious mendicants consume them, are
no grounds for saying that there is any custom
such as here suggested. Such use at ceremonials
or Puja occasions is decreasing beyond doubt.
Consumption on such occasions is never regarded
as essential, or even necessary. It is very gene-
rally temperate. It does not at all lead to the
formation of any habit, though it is certainly
theoretically "likely" to do so. It is not at all
injurious. Except the first sentence the rest
relates to ganja and bhang only.
33. It is regarded unfavourably. Yes, there is
public opinion, but entirely social, not at all
religious. The public opinion in regard to ganja is
that smokers of it are considered low and irritable
or inconsiderate. This disrepute is due among
other reasons to: (1) it is no longer a fashionable
intoxicant; (2) consumers mostly being not
middle or higher class people; (3) consumers
generally being very irritable. The word "ganja-
smoker" (ganja-khor) has come to mean inconsi-
derate and rough.
There is no custom here of worshipping the
hemp plant.
34. It surely will be a serious privation to con-
sumers to forego ganja-smoking, if the habit has