245
63. A wholesale vendor has numerous shops for
retail sale either in his own name or benami, and
he also advances money to the cultivators for
growing ganja, and in some cases he is virtually
a partner of the cultivators. This combination of
three different interests in one person should be
prohibited or discouraged as far as possible to
prevent smuggling. At present a retail vendor
can sell 20 tolas or one powa of ganja to one man.
I think that this should be restricted to 5 tolas
or one chhattack, like opium, to prevent smuggling
as well as excessive use of ganja by the con-
sumers. Names of buyers should also be registered,
and consumption on the premises prohibited.
64 I do not think there is any objection to the
existing regulation governing the export and
import of ganja or its preparations.
65. The taxation of ganja is too low still.
66. Certainly there should be different rates of
taxation for different kinds of ganja. The chur
or broken ganja being without thick branches
should be taxed at a higher rate per maund or seer
than flat ganja, which is sold with the thick
branches. I cannot say much about round ganja,
except that it has also no very thick branches like
the flat. This round ganja is preferred only by
the people living in Calcutta and neighbouring
districts.
67. I do not think there is any objection to the
present method of taxation. I would not tax
bhang.
68. In many places I have seen retail shops of
ganja crowded with smokers all day. I have al-
ready given my opinion that no person should be
allowed to smoke on the shop premises.
69. I am not aware that the wishes of the
people are consulted or considered in any way
before a shop is opened in any locality.
I
would not consult the people; it is impossible to
get any but interested opinions. Excise officers,
often for their own credit, create a shop at their
option where it is not at all required. I would
place it in the hands of very high authority to
sanction the establishment of shops. Of course,
if the people themselves move in the matter,
their wishes might be duly considered.
70. I believe there is much smuggling of ganja
from the Native States about Chota Nagpur,
particularly Surguja.
Oral evidence.
Question 45.—I have personally found villagers
attributing their dysentery to ganja. I have
generally accused them of excess and they have
denied it, and I have made no further enquiries.
I am constantly on tour, and when I see an
insane man in a village, I ask people to what it is
due, and I have been told it is due to ganja
smoking in certain cases. I think liquor causes
insanity amongst natives. When a man is brought
before me insane from ganja, I have generally
found that he has used some other drug or liquor
as well, and sometimes all these, and I can't of
course say which of these things may have caused
the insanity. When I say that I have not seen one
drunkard to be insane, I mean one who uses liquor
alone. I sometimes enquire for such men's rela-
tives to see whether they will take charge of them.
I have asked relatives regarding the cause of
insanity, and have accepted their statements that
it was due to ganja generally without going into
details.
Question 52.—I have recollection of a case in
which a man set fire to a house under the influence
of the cravings for ganja, after the immediate effects
had passed off. One case of this kind occurred in
the Nadia district. The case was reported to me
as having happened some years before, and I was
not concerned in dealing with it myself. Another
similar case occurred in the Pabna district in
1892, and I think it appeared at the trial that the
case had arisen out of ganja smoking. In this
case the man was convicted. The case occurred
in 1892, and was tried by the senior Deputy
Magistrate of Pabna.
The only case of culpable homicide which has
come within my knowledge is that mentioned in
answer 53. It occurred in the Rajshahi district
in 1892. The case was tried in the Sessions Court,
and the offender was sentenced to five years' rigor-
ous imprisonment. I think the motive was men-
tioned in the judgment; it certainly was in the
Police papers.
I know a case in which a notorious ganja
smoker burnt his child and hacked it about.
This occurred recently. When under trial for
torture of his child, he went back to his house
and hacked his wife and her father with a knife,
and killed another man who came to their rescue.
He was then on bail. He was tried for the
murder, and convicted and transported for life.
I know he was a very violent man, and I attribute
a great deal of his violence to his habit of ganja
smoking. He was an habitual excessive smoker.
This case occurred in the Rajshahi district two
months ago. I have not seen the judgment in the
case. The man was daftri of the District En-
gineer, but I do not know his name. I have no
recollection of any other case.
My meaning in answer 52 is that when ganja
consumers do commit crime, I attribute it to the
craving after the effects of a dose have passed off,
if the man is crossed. Such crimes committed by
other persons may be attributed to a special
motive. If in the ganja smoker's case I found a
sufficient motive, I should not hold the ganja re-
sponsible.
The case I have described above is the only one
in which I have authentic information of a man
making a violent assault with a dangerous weapon
upon an adverse witness. I should not have been
more astonished to hear of the case if the man had
not been a ganja smoker than I was under the
circumstances.
Question 54.—I
have heard from confessing
prisoners that ganja is taken by lathials, dacoits,
and such persons to, fortify themselves. I do not
think a man would take liquor for the same pur-
pose. I have asked Doms and Dosadhs and other
up-country people whether they take liquor for
this purpose, and they have told me that they do
not. These classes are mostly chaudkidars.
These men take bhang as well as liquor. I do
not think they would take bhang before commit-
ting an act of premeditated violence. One of these
men, who was not a ganja smoker, would not
take ganja as an experiment, but he would take
it if he were a smoker for the exhilarating effect.
That is to say, ganja is considered a superior in-
toxicant than liquor. I look upon bhang as
almost harmless and a much less potent intoxicant
than ganja. An up-country man would not take
it, nor would a
Bengali ganja smoker. The
former does not take stimulant at all before com-
mitting a premeditated act of violence unless he is
a ganja smoker, and the latter would prefer his
ganja. It may be that the up-country man has
not the same necessity for Dutch courage.