348
head, and it would be wrong to enquire now to be
enabled to answer this question.
29. I have been told that confirmed habitual
smokers of ganja and charas sometimes mix other
substances with them to enhance their effects, but
what these adjuncts are I have never made it a
point to enquire. I am not aware of any prepara-
tion as bhang massala being sold in the bazaar.
30. As far as is known to me, the habitual
smokers would like better if they get companions
to join them in the smoke. The male sex from
manhood upwards are generally addicted to the
habit, but females are not exceptions. It is not usual
for children to contract the habit.
31. The habit is easily contracted and difficult
to break off. Moderation may and does often
lead to excess.
32. There is a usual practice amongst Hindus of
drinking a watery solution of smashed siddhi on
the closing day of Durga Puja. The custom is
more social than religious, and having been in
vogue from time immemorial is regarded as essen-
tial. The upper classes, especially those who
have the puja in their house, make it a point to
smash some siddhi, dissolve the smashed mass
in water, sweeten it with sugar, and flavour it
with cardamom or other carminatives, and a
pot of the mixture is offered to all persons that
come to their house after the evening of the
closing day of the puja. As the practice of greet-
ing each on this day and on this auspicious occa-
sion is an established custom, all persons of what-
ever ages, with the exception of little children,
are made to partake of this harmless beverage.
The use of sweets enhances the effect of the drug;
but as it is taken in small quantity, it is per-
fectly innocuous. It is only indulged in on this
occasion, and never fosters a craving or habit
for its use.
36. I am not aware of alcohol being used as a
substitute for hemp; nor do I think it ever likely
of its being so used.
37. The effects of charas-smoking are in my
opinion pretty much the same as those resulting
from ganja-smoking. If there be any difference,
the difference is one of intensity, the latter being
more telling on the constitution than the former.
The effects of bhang are quite different from those
of smoking ganja and charas. They are, if taken in
small quantity, quite innocuous; and a novice may
indulge in a slight potation without the least un-
pleasant effects, while a few pulls of the other two
preparations always entail unpleasant effects in the
shape of headache, fits of coughing, and a derange-
ment of the mind.
39. I am not aware of ganja and charas being
taken in any other form than that of smoking, or
of siddhi being used in any other way than that
of a drink.
40. Bhang is much used among native doctors,
especially housewives, as a corrective of dyspepsia
and as a remedy to remove tendency to looseness
of the bowels, and doctors of the western system
of medicine do not discountenance its use on account
of their observation of its good effects in some
cases. Hemp is used in the treatment of gonorrhœa,
tetanus, and other allied affections. I am not
aware of hemp being used in the treatment of
cattle diseases. Consumers of hemp enjoy some
immunity from diseases in malarious and unhealthy
tracts.
41. Bhang may be used safely as a help for
weak digestion, and the natives of the up-country
provinces are generally in the habit of so using it
daily. Charas and ganja smoking has the effect of
renovating the system after great bodily exertion
and fatigue, and is in use by the labouring classes
before or after a day's laborious work. It also
diminishes for a time a desire for food, and enables
persons accustomed to its use to stand a longer
privation of it.
I am not aware, from my personal experience, of
hemp being used as a febrifuge or preventive of
diseases.
42. Moderate use of bhang is beneficial in cases
of weak digestion. Charas and ganja smoked in
moderation are not baneful. They give tone to the
wearied muscular system, and enable the poor
labouring classes to withstand privations with
greater alacrity than they otherwise would do.
44. The immediate effects of the moderate use
of the preparations of hemp, especially in the form
of bhang, is to create an exhilaration and buoyancy
of spirit. It refreshes the system, allays sense
of hunger, and creates good appetite. If kept in
moderation, the preparation of hemp never produces
intoxication, and the only after-effect that is likely
to occur is a sense of heaviness of the head. The
effects last for a few hours and are worn off
after sleep. Want of subsequent gratification
does produce a longing and uneasiness, and the
habitual consumers can hardly stand a long
deprivation of it.
45, 46 and 48. The habitual moderate use of
any of these drugs produces no unpleasant or
noxious influence, physical, moral or intellectual.
It does not impair the constitution, injure diges-
tion or cause loss of appetite. It has no direct
effect to produce dysentery, but persons suffering
from it would do well to abstain from its use. It
is injurious to those who are subject to bronchitis
and asthma. It does not impair the moral sense
or induce laziness or habits of immorality or
debauchery.
It is difficult to confine one's self to the moder-
ate use of charas and ganja. Many persons are
very apt to transgress the harmless limit, and then
it has a baneful effect on the general system. In
confirmed habitual smokers, especially of ganja,
the drug causes a deterioration of the general
health. The digestive system becomes deranged,
appetite is lost, emaciation of the body and tume-
faction of the abdomen follow in the sequel. The
intellect is deranged, sense of right and wrong is
impaired, and in confirmed habitual smokers of
long standing insanity may be the final result.
In my village I know of a case in which im-
moderate use of ganja has given rise to insanity.
In this case the drug acted as an exciting cause,
there having been no predisposing cause to account
for its occurrence. The insanity produced in this
case was at one phase of its existence of a violent
nature, with tendency to do injury to those
about him. The man was put under restraint,
and the use of the drug was interdicted. His
health, however, commenced to fail, and he was al-
lowed a moderate use of it. When the violent phase
of the disease abated, restraint was withdrawn;
and though the man again resorted to the free
use of the drug, the violent phase has not returned,
and I think this is due to his having refrained from
excessive indulgence of the drug. There still
remains in him a great eccentricity of habits and
manners, and a glance at him is sufficient to
show that his intellect has not regained its
former equilibrium.