154
43. Yes.
44. The effect of smoking ganja on the habitual
consumers is instantaneous. It is refreshing, pro¬
duces slight intoxication, does not allay hunger,
creates appetite, and the effect lasts from two to
three hours; after-effects not noticeable. Those
habitual consumers who have stated periods for
gratification, feel longing and uneasiness, if they
do not satisfy it at those periods. When taken
in excess, ganja-smoking seems to allay hunger,
as is seen in fakirs.
As regards patti, the effects on the habitual
consumers are the same as those of ganja-smok¬
ing, excepting that intoxication begins not in¬
stantaneously, but after the lapse of about an hour
or so. The intoxication is milder in nature, but
lasts longer than that produced by ganja.
45. Ganja.—The habitual moderate use impairs
health of those that are ill-fed.
It improves digestion and causes appetite when
first begun, but it gradually injures digestion
when the habit is persevered in for some years. It
causes dysentery in men who have grown old and
have all along smoked ganja. Old ganja-smokers
that I have known to die, have died of dysentery.
But in these cases their span of life was not
short. Ganja-smokers are seen to cough several
times after they have taken the usual whiffs, and
are thus likely to get the respiratory organs
irritated to a certain extent.
It impairs the moral sense and induces habits
of immorality in beginners. It produces insanity
in persons of weak brains, and those that have
a hereditary predisposition to it. This disease
may be temporary or permanent according to
circumstances. I believe the causes of insanity
generally traced to ganja are aggravated by the
excessive use of it with the admixture of more
powerful narcotics like dhatura and kuchila.
Cases of temporary insanity, due exclusively to
the use of gauja, are not known to me. I know
a man who was formerly a moharrir in the civil
court having become insane (I am told) by taking
to the use of ganja. I talked with him for some
hours, and found out that he had had a mental
grief, due to some private domestic causes, before he
began to indulge in ganja. He began to smoke
excessively in order to drown his feelings, and has
now become a harmless lunatic, probably for life.
In this connection I beg to add that I visited the
Cuttack Lunatic Asylum and found 18 lunatics.
They have been classed in the register according
to the causes as follows:—
Cause of insanity, alleged to be ganja
3
Cause, hereditary tendency
1
Epilepsy
2
Grief
1
Cause unknown
11
TOTAL
18
I examined the three cases which were said to
have been due to ganja-smoking. One of them
was unapproachable, as he was in the habit of
throwing fæcal matter at the enquirers. The
remaining two denied in toto their previous use
of ganja. They were asked whether they liked to
smoke ganja, but they declined the offer and want¬
ed sweetmeats. I examined their physiognomy
carefully, and could not find out any difference
between theirs and those of the other lunatics.
It appears, however, from the records of their
past history that they led the life of ascetics,
more or less. Their ascetic tendency has perhaps
led to the belief of their ganja-smoking. At all
events, I was not satisfied as to the causes of
lunacy of these men having been primarily ganja.
Note.—From what I have seen of the effects of
ganja-smoking on different persons, I am of
opinion that all the effects described above vary
according to particular constitutions. Generally
speaking, persons of nervous temperament are
more liable to the ill-effects of this drug than
others. Of course those that are ill-fed and ill-
nourished suffer greatly from every sort of self-
indulgence. Therefore all my above replies must
not be taken as applicable to all cases.
Patti.—I have already described patti as com¬
paratively harmless, and none of the effects de¬
scribed above, are traceable to its use in moderate
quantities.
46. The effects of habitual excessive use of the
hemp drugs have not come under my particular
observation. I have, however, seen many Hindu
sanyasis and Muhammadan fakirs who indulge in
both ganja and patti in rather large doses. They
seemed to be no way worse off by the use; rather
I am told these drugs produce forgetfulness of
worldly affairs and lead to concentration of
thought, which is the first object of their asce¬
ticism. Their constitution, as a rule, is hardy.
How far, however, the latter effect is produced
by their practice of the various Yoga systems, I
cannot say.
47. The habitual moderate use of the hemp
drugs does not appear to be a hereditary habit.
But the example of the ganja-smoker often leads
the children to adopt the habit of the father.
As regards patti, it does not appear to affect the
children so much.
48. Vide reply to 47.
49. Ganja-smoking is said to increase sexual
appetite in the beginners of the habit, and is some¬
times indulged in as an aphrodisiac. It is, how¬
ever, not so used by prostitutes who generally do
not smoke ganja, except to please their customers.
Its use as an aphrodisiac is more injurious than
its use as an ordinary narcotic, inasmuch as it
leads to excessive sexual indulgence, and thus in-
directly affects the system. The excessive use of
ganja tends to produce impotence.
The above replies do not apply to the use of
patti. In exceptional cases patti may be used as
an aphrodisiac, with the consequent results.
50. Vide reply to 49.
51. The proportion of bad characters who in¬
dulge in ganja or siddhi is not large. There is
no marked connection between their moderate use
and any crime, either general or special.
52. As the excessive use of all intoxicants dead¬
ens the moral sense and produces for the time
being a loss of consciousness of dangers appre¬
hended, ganja and siddhi, when taken in excess,
probably act in the same way like the other in¬
toxicants.
53. I do not know.
54. I have no positive knowledge.
55. Now and then cases are reported in news
papers about the criminals inducing their victims
to partake of siddhi to stupefy them. I do not
know whether complete stupefaction can be thus
induced by siddhi alone. It is suspected that
more potent narcotic drugs are mixed with siddhi
when so used. Siddhi, however, produces a state
of helplessness, and this state may at times be
taken advantage of by evil-minded persons.