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2. Doctor Prain's definition of the drugs and
the names given by him may be accepted as cor-
rect. The drugs are known in and about Calcutta
as siddhi or bhang, charas and ganja.
3. The hemp plant grows abundantly in Raj-
shahi, Bhagalpur, Mirzapur, Ghazipur and other
Districts. Although quite uncared for the plant.
grows wild in all places in Lower Bengal where-
ever the seeds have been thrown by those who do
not care to eat them with the leaves.
4. In and about Calcutta the plant is known
as siddhi and the leaves as shabji or bhang.
5. It easily strikes one that a damp soil is
favourable to the growth of the plant. In Lower
Bengal in places where the soil is laterite stray
plants are not. so common as in moist alluvial
soils.
6. The plant grows well both densely and scat-
tered.
7. In the District of Rajshahi hemp is cultivat-
ed for all the purposes mentioned in this question.
Nowhere else in Bengal is it so largely cultivat-
ed, but in Bogra and Dinajpur there is a consider-
able area devoted to the cultivation of hemp.
10. The information of the Commtitee is that
cultivators of hemp do not form a special class.
14. All the products of hemp are prepared
in the District of Rajshahi.
15. Sir William O'Shaughnessy's description of
the process for making the preparations for smok-
ing, eating and drinking, appears to the Com-
mittee to be fairly correct. The quantities used at
a time are however much smaller in Bengal than
what are mentioned by him.
16. Bhang is usually prepared by the people
in their own houses. The leaves of the plant
wherever grown can be used for the purpose.
Ganja and charas however cannot be prepared
from the wild plant wherever grown.
18. All the three drugs deteriorate by keeping
for more than about six months. They become
mildewed and lose not only their flavour but (as
it is said by those who use it) also their active
properties. Preservation in well-stoppered bottles
and exposing them to the sun for several hours
from time to time prevent deterioration.
19. Ganja and charas are used only for smok-
ing.
20. Palki-bearers, diggers of earth, night
watchmen, fishermen, ascetics and other people
following occupation involving hard manual
labour or exposure to inclemencies of the weather
are more given to smoking ganja than people in
other occupations of life. Some, even of the
better classes, sometimes contract the habit of
smoking ganja, but their number is less than one
in, a thousand of low class smokers. Among
well-to-do men the habit is less prevalent in Lower
Bengal than in Bihar. Charas is rarely smoked
by low-class men. It is too expensive for them.
Even among the better classes the use of charas,
though at one time was more extensive, is dimi-
nishing now.
21. The round variety of ganja is the one usual-
ly used.
23. The Committee are not aware of bhang
being ever used for
smoking.
24. Bhang is mostly eaten and drunk by up;
country people. In Lower Bengal the largest
proportion of consumers consists of ascetics, up-
country traders and merchants and other well-to-
do people and also men of the darwan class.
Among the people themselves in Lower Bengal
the proportion does not exceed one in thousands.
25. The use of charas is certainly on the
decrease. It is difficult to say whether the use of
ganja and bhang is decreasing. Those who
have suffered by the use of spirituous liquors, or
are unable to pay for it, find in ganja or bhang
a cheap and less harmful substitute.
28. The quantity of bhang used by moderate
consumers do not exceed two tolas per day, but
the average is usually only half a tola a day or
even less. An excessive consumer would eat so
much as four tolas a day. A moderate allowance
of ganja is a quarter tola a day. The outside
limit of hard smokers is, in exceptional cases,
two tolas a day.
30. In Lower Bengal ganja and charas are
rarely smoked by women or children. Women
suffering from chronic bowel complaints have re-
course to the use of bhang or opium when other
remedies prove ineffectual.
31. The habit of consuming either ganja or charas
is not easily formed. The use of either is always
repulsive in the beginning, but after the habit
has been formed it is difficult to break off, not how-
ever so much as to break off a habit of drinking
liquors. The habit of eating bhang is compara-
tively more easily formed, but it is one which can
be given up much more easily than either ganja
or charas. There is no tendency in the case of
any of these drugs for a moderate habit run-
ning into excess.
32. The only custom which affects the use of
these drugs is the one for the use of bhang on
the Bijaya day after the Durga Thakur has been
immersed in water. The custom, which prevails
more especially in Lower Bengal, is quite harm-
less. It is generally believed to be essential, as
it is considered to have the sanction of religion
and the drug forms a part of the offering made to
the Thakur on the last day of the Puja, but
bhang is never used in excess on the occasion and
it never leads to the formation of a habit.
33. The habitual use of any of the drugs has
been always looked upon with disfavor as is the
use of any other narcotic. The consumers are
generally regarded as men liable to be easily irri-
tated, and they are therefore not easily offended.
34. It would be a serious privation to several
classes of consumers if they were forced to forego
the use of the drugs. Persons suffering from
chronic bowel complaints or want of appetite, for
instance, would be deprived of a valuable remedy
if they were prevented from taking their daily
allowance of bhang; persons who have to work in
the sun, keep up nights, or undergo hard manual
labour, would be deprived not only of a valuable
aid to their work but what must be regarded a ne-
cessity of a life to men of their occupation if they
were prevented from smoking their usual dose of
ganja.
35. A compulsory prohibition of the use of the
drugs would cause great misery to the consumers
and make them seriously discontented. The num-
ber of consumers is not large enough to justify
any apprehension of political danger, but it would
be wrong to create such discontents and to deprive
a large number of peaceful men and usefu
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