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villages, but always near villages or on abandoned
village sites.
4. Bhang and ganja. Yes, I think it is the
same plant.
5. It grows in the hills up to, say, 5,000 feet,
also in the plains; but I think the best ganja is
produced in the hills from one to three thousand
feet.
6. Dense.
7 to 10. The cultivation of the hemp plant is
strictly prohibited.
11. Illicit cultivation is from the seed of the
excise ganja; but where the seed has once been
sown, the plant reproduces itself.
12. It is cultivated surreptitiously in every
district and in the adjoining hills, and more
largely by the Nagas on the Sibsagar frontier and
Miris on the Lakhimpur frontier. I cannot say if
the male plant is extirpated:
13. Cultivation is prohibited altogether, but
would be quite practicable in every district.
14. No.
17. None made in the province.
18. Damp and white ants affect ganja if not
properly stored. I have known ganja in store-
houses fit for use after two years. Protection
against damp would prevent deterioration, I think.
19. Charas not used. Ganja is almost invari-
ably smoked, occasionally diluted and drunk as
a sherbet.
20. In the Assam Valley districts consump-
tion of ganja is confined almost entirely to
foreigners, garden coolies, carters, traders, sepoys,
etc. In the Surma Valley it is used by the
population more generally.
21. It is difficult to answer this question.
One year there is more demand for flat ganja,
another year for round or chur. Much depends
on the price at which the vendors can obtain it
from the goladars, and the duty. In this province
flat ganja is chiefly used. See figures at page
36 of the latest Provincial Excise Report.
22. Charas is not used.
23. Yes. But to a small extent only, and is
not confined to any classes or locality.
24. Bhang is rarely used. It is eaten, drunk,
and smoked by no special classes or in special
localities.
25. On the decrease, owing to higher prices due
to increase of duty and license fees and to reduc-
tions in the number of shops.
26. I cannot give any information, but am in-
formed that habitual moderate consumers form by
far the larger portion of consumers.
27. Coolies in gardens, carters, and foreigners
are the consumers.
28. Ganja—
(a) 1/8 to 1/4 tola per diem.
(b) More than that—up to 1/2 tola.
29. (a) Only tobacco.
(b) Occasionally sugar and water and
made into a drink. I have not heard of
the use of dhatura. I do not know
"bhang massala."
30. Invariably in company and only by the
male sex. Children do not use these drugs.
31. The habit, no doubt, is easily formed. I
do not think it is difficult to break off, but I have
no information. I do not think there is a general
tendency for the moderate habit to develop into
the excessive.
32. I do not think that amongst the ganja-
smokers in the Assam Valley, who are usually low
class people, any religious custom is involved,
but in the Surma Valley the use of ganja is con-
nected with religious ceremonies, but I am not
personally acquainted with details.
33. No doubt, the use of ganja is considered
disreputable—not amongst the consumers them-
selves, but by the more respectable people. The
habit is considered bad and immoral, hence the
disrepute with which it is viewed by non-consumers.
I do not personally know of any custom of wor-
shipping the plant.
34. Yes. I think it would be hard to stop the
use of the drug, and a distinctly serious privation
to habitual consumers, just as it would be to stop
the opium of opium-eaters or the beer of beer-
drinkers.
35. No. It would be useless to prohibit the use
of ganja in a province like Assam, surrounded as
it is by independent hill people, who would culti-
vate it in their hills and smuggle it down with
little risk of detection. Any prohibition will only
lead to the increase of illicit consumption and to
the secret use of the drug, which would be deci-
dedly bad. Of course to stop cultivation in Bengal
and the prohibition to the use of excise ganja
could be enforced, but there would be serious dis-
content, though in this province it might not
amount to a political danger, and the prohibition
would be followed by recourse to opium and in
some cases to alcohol.
36. No; I think not.
37 and 38. I have no information.
39. My experience, such as it is, is confined
to smoking, though I have seen drinking, but
to so small extent that I cannot make compari-
sons.
40. (a) I have no information.
(b) Yes, I believe ganja is used in treatment
of cattle.
41. (a) I have heard it is a digestive.
(b) Yes, decidedly so. It helps a man to travel
long distances without food. I had a syce who
went 60 miles in 18 consecutive hours merely
smoking ganja and was quite fit the next day.
(c) and (d) No information. Travellers and
others who have to undergo fatigue use it in
moderation habitually.
42. I consider it harmless. I know of no
cases where its moderate use has done harm.
43. Yes, as far as I know.
44. It is refreshing, allays hunger, and I don't
think produces any after-effects. I have no doubt
that the want of ganja to a habitual would make
him uneasy and make him long for his usual dose.
45. (a) Not that I am aware of.
(b) and (c) No.
(d) Not that I am aware of.
(e) No.
(f) I cannot answer this. My own opinion
is that the connection between the use of ganja and
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