193
The drug is taken all over the district.
No
particular locality can be mentioned.
I agree as far as this
district is concerned.
In Jessore, where I was
last year, I found the
sale of ganja on the in-
crease owing to the price
of
spirituous
liquor
(country) having
in-
creased.
Apparently
ganja was cheaper than
the liquor, and as those
who required stimulants
resorted to the cheaper
article.
A. E.
25. The use of ganja is on the decrease, as will
appear from the statistics
of the trade in this drug in
Chapter IV. The reasons
for the decrease are (1) the
increase in the retail price
of ganja consequent on the
increase in duty and license
fees, (2) the gradual in-
crease in the price of food-
grains, which has the effect
of leaving very little in the hands of the poorer
classes of people for luxuries. The quantity of
bhang consumed is also on the decrease. The
reasons are—
(1) The restrictive measures now being en-
forced to prevent the consumption of
the wild drug.
(2) A growing sense of aversion among the
Bhadralok classes* to the consump-
tion of the drug.
It may be noted that there is practically no
consumption of duty-paid bhang in this district.
Although there are a few bhang shops in this
district, there is hardly any sale in them.
26.
For ganja— For bhang—
Per cent.
Per cent.
(a)
70
10
(b)
12
Nil.
(c)
13
40
(d)
5
50
For charas—No experience.
27. For ganja—
(a) Malis, mehtars, chandals, boatmen, fisher-
men, carpenters, bagdis, banias, dhobies.
(b) Ramants, sanyasis (religious devotees),
bairagies,
rowanis
(or
palanquin-
bearers).
(c) Zamindars and talukdars who have not
the benefit of education and good socie-
ty, and also young men who are just
beginning to consume the drug.
(d) Persons suffering from leprosy or acute
rheumatism.
For bhang—
(a) Up-country men of the higher classes.
(b) Nil.
(c) Bhadralok classes.
(d) Lower classes of Hindus, such as chan-
dals, boatmen, malis, fishermen, banias,
bagdis, etc.
The habits of life peculiar to the several classes
of ganja consumers are—
(a) All the classes enumerated under this
head live by manual labour; moderate
consumption of ganja enables them to
sustain labour without fatigue.
(b) The classes enumerated under this head
are always exposed to the heat of the
sun and the other inclemencies of the
weather. An excessive consumption of
the drug hardens them against these
exposures. The religious devotees also
use the drug for helping them in
concentrating their minds.
(c) The classes enumerated under this head
try to beguile the tediousness of their
* Middle classes.
time by occasional moderate indulgence
in the drug.
(d) The sufferers enumerated under this class
try to drown their pains in the intoxi-
cation produced by occasional excessive
indulgence in the drug.
Bhang—
(a) The up-country men use bhang as a
substitute for alcoholic
stimulants,
which they abhor.
(b) Nil.
(c) and (d) The occasional consumers men-
tioned under these two heads generally
indulge in the drug, and on occasions of
certain religious festivals, such as Sri-
panchami, Dashahara, Navami, etc.
They also use the drug as medicine for
all sorts of bowel complaints.
28. Ganja—
(a) 1/2 ani or 1/32 of a tola, worth 2 pies.
(b) 6 anis, worth about 2 annas.
Bhang—
(a) 1/4 of a tola, worth about 1/2 a pice.
(b) One tola, worth about 21/2 pice.
The consumers, however, rarely purchase the
drug, as bhang grows wild in this district.
29. Ganja is taken with a dry leaf of tobacco,
and when that is not available, with a small
quantity of prepared tobacco. Dhatura is never
mixed with ganja. Pepper and salt are ordinarily
mixed with bhang and dissolved in water. It is
also sometimes made into a paste with sugar and
milk. The former preparation is generally used
for medicinal purposes and the latter for intoxi-
cating purposes. No such thing as bhang massala
is known to me.
30. Ganja is generally consumed in company.
It is consumed by the females to a very small
extent. The consumption of the drug is almost
confined to adults. Ganja is seldom, if ever, con-
sumed by children.
The prostitutes begin to
indulge in the drug when they are advanced in
years. Bhang is generally consumed in company.
Its consumption is almost confined to adult males.
Bhang is very rarely administered to children as
medicine.
31. The habit of consuming ganja is easily
formed, and it is difficult to break off the habit
when once formed. The moderate habit generally
tends to develop into the excessive. The same
answers for bhang. No experience about charas.
32. Ganja is indispensably necessary
for
"Trailakhya Nath's Mela." This religious festi-
val is observed by the lower classes of ganja
consumers. The consumption on these occasions
is rather excessive, but it is only the habitual
consumers who indulge in the drug on these
occasions, so no habit is newly formed. Bhang is
consumed on Sivaratri, Maha Bishuva Sankranti,
Narainpuja, Bijoya Dashmi, Sripanchmi, and
Lakhipuja days. The use of the drug on these
occasions is not essential. Bhang is also consumed
when Gorakh Nath and Biswa Karma are worship-
ped. The use of the drug on these two occasions
is essential. The consumption is generally tem-
perate and does not lead to the formation of any
habit.
33. The consumption of ganja is generally held
in contempt. Public opinion (social) is unfavour-
able to the consumption of the drug. But when
the consumption is solely for religious
purpose,
2 E