354
which grows wild in many parts of the district;
somewhere it grows in abundance.
19. Charas is to my knowledge never used for
any other purpose than smoking, but ganja (or
what is better known pharmaceutically as Can-
nabis indica or Indian hemp) is also used, besides
for smoking, in many diseases. For example, in
case of dismenorrhœa, gonorrhœa in the form of
tincture, and in cases of cholera in the form of
extract in combination with calomel when there
are severe spasms; also by some in cases of tetanus
and also as an anodyne. I have seen people to
pass ganja fumes into the ear in cases of ear-ache.
23. I am not aware of bhang being ever used
for smoking; it is generally used in the form of
sherbet or bolus.
28. (a) From one pice to one anna, or one
anna and a half by each. (b) No less than four
or six annas by each.
29. Charas is generally mixed with ganja for
smoking, Ganja is exceptionally mixed with
bhang for the purpose of drinking. Dhatura,
opium, nux vomica, cantharides, or betel-nut are
not so used to my knowledge. The object of
above-mentioned admixtures is to induce greater
degree of intoxication.
30. Bhang is very extensively used by the peo-
ple of Behar and North-Western Provinces.
This district has for its residents a very large
number of big zamindars. Lots of up-country
men are retained by them as their personal at-
tendants, porters, and for other manifold services.
They are perhaps, without a single exception,
found to consume bhang daily. This drug is
generally used in solitude and exceptionally used
in company, but ganja is exceptionally used in
solitude and generally in company. Use of each
of these drugs is of course mainly confined to
the male sex, but there are some village women
among the low-class people who contract these
evil habits from the male members of the family.
Among the higher class of people I know of no
member of the fair sex using any of these drugs.
It is not usual for children to consume any of
these drugs, but I know of one or two instances in
which among the lower class of people, children con-
sume ganja. Ganja is very extensively con-
sumed by the low class of prostitutes.
31. The experience I have of the matter leads
me to conclude that the habit of consuming any
of these drugs as also other narcotic drugs, such
as opium and alcohol, is easily formed, and it is
not easy to break off the habit. Yes; people
generally acquire a tendency to go to excess after
beginning it moderately, especially in the case of
ganja, but not so with bhang.
32. As far as I am acquainted with the injunc-
tion of the Shastras, there is nothing in them to
bind the Hindus to consume any of these drugs
on any occasion. But there is a custom prevalent
among the Hindus to consume bhang on Navami
or Dashami day of Durga Puja. On such occa-
sions this is generally used temperately, and I
should say that nowadays such custom is not
regarded as essential, and such custom is not likely
to lead to the formation of the habit or otherwise
prove injurious.
36. I find no reason for thinking that alcohol
is now being to some extent substituted for any
of these drugs. The use of the drugs is most
generally prevalent among the lower class of
people, who cannot afford to pay for the luxury
of drinking alcohol in any form.
37. Smoking of charas is apt to induce greater
degree of intoxication than that of ganja, as
charas is stronger than ganja, this being the al-
kaloid derived from the Indian hemp plant, as
quinine is stronger than the bark of cinchona
itself; and it is therefore more injurious than
ganja itself. Yes; drinking of bhang differs in
its effects from smoking either charas or ganja.
A tola of bhang is not apt to induce same degree
of intoxication as a tola of ganja or charas, neither
are they similar in producing physiological action
on human economy. A man consuming a tola
of bhang is not apt to induce a man to talk
incoherently or irrationally, but the same quantity
of ganja or charas will throw a man to an extreme
stage of delirium and hallucinations.
39. I believe that smoking is more injurious
than drinking or eating. As a student of medi-
cine, we generally find that inhaling a medicine
is more rapid in its effects than eating or drinking.
As regards treating the subject both in reference
to the general effect of the drug (I mean ganja)
on the constitution and also with respect to any
supposed tendency towards producing insanity,
I would refer you to pages 1026 and 1027 of A
Text Book of Pharmacology, Therapeutics and
Materia Medica, by T. Lauder Brunton, M.D.,
D.S.C., F.R.S., &c., edited in 1887.
40. If the native doctors are meant for kabirajes,
I know that they use bhang for medicinal purposes
in cases of chronic diarrhœa and as an aphrodisiac
in the form of kameshar batika, but I am not
aware that they ever use charas or ganja medici-
nally. As I am not a veterinary doctor, I am not
aware of any of these drugs being ever used in the
treatment of cattle diseases.
41. I don't think so.
(a) Not necessary for a man in good state of
health.
(b) Yes.
(c) I don't believe.
(d) No.
42. I don't believe that continuous moderate
use of any of these drugs is quite harmless. Every
drug or medicine, whether narcotic or non-narcotic,
has some action, whether used moderately or ex-
cessively, on some particular organ or organs of a
human being, whether it be alcohol, bhang, ganja,
or charas, or any other drug, and I am inclined to
believe that continuous use of any of them is apt
to induce some organic or functional mischief upon
those who take them, as digitalis and strychnia
are apt to induce cumulative action upon the heart
and brain or the spinal cord respectively if even
continued medicinally for a long time.
44. The immediate effect of the moderate use of
any of these drugs is the production of exhilaration
of spirits and of hallucinations of a pleasing kind
on the habitual consumer; it is refreshing also.
Yes, it produces intoxication to some extent.
I
can't say whether it allays hunger or not. Bhang
creates appetite for the time being, but ganja and
charas are not apt to do so. The pleasing effect
lasts for a short time, to be followed by stupor
and sleep. When a person is habituated to its
use, subsequent want of gratification is most apt
to produce longing or uneasiness.
45. (b) Yes.
(c) Yes.
(d) It causes dysentery and bronchitis: a ganja-
smoker generally (of course habitual consumer)
dies of dysentery.
(e) To a considerable extent.
(f) and (g) Moderate use of the drug, par-