395
(b) Ganja is smoked to give staying power, etc.,
etc., etc.
(c) Supposed to safeguard against the influence
of climate. Moderate habitual use is supposed to
attain these objects.
43. They are so.
45. Ganja and charas impair the constitution
ultimately.
In the cases of excessive consumers ganja causes
sometimes dysentery.
It does seldom impair the moral sense, and is
not calculated to create immorality or debauchery,
but to some extent it induces laziness.
Ganja in some cases produces insanity, and the
symptoms are likely to be reinduced by the use of
the drug after abstinence. The consumers perhaps
do not admit it.
This is a difficult question to answer, for I have
known persons who are excessive consumers of
ganja to be of jovial temper. I have knowledge
of a Sub-Judge, who had a good reputation of his
judicial capacities, a more than a moderate con-
sumer of ganja, and who retired from service on
full pension, and lived to a good old age.
I have also known persons who have turned
insane by ganja smoking, and it is quite possible
that persons predisposed to insanity on account of
weak intellect and weak health, incapable of keep-
ing the use of the drug within moderate bounds,
have developed into insanity.
47. My answer is in the negative.
49. I have no knowledge of the drug being used
as an aphrodisiac. I think it has a tendency to
produce impotency in some cases.
51. I think not. So far as my experience goes,
I don't think the use of this drug tends to pro-
duce a passion for crimes in general or special.
52. Excessive use of ganja has the effect of
fortifying one in the commission of bold and rash
premeditated acts of crime. The same might be
said with regard to alcoholic drinks.
53. My answer is in the negative. I do not
know of any case in which it has led to such a
frenzy.
54. Criminals who are accustomed to the use of
ganja do use it for such a purpose.
55. Complete stupefaction does not result in
ganja without admixture of dhatura, etc.
57. I know of no case wherein ganja or charas
is eaten or drunk pure or simple. But small
pastry cakes are made of siddhi and small square
bits prepared of the same drug mixed with sugar
and other spices, which are eaten, and which
produce a more severe effect upon the consumer
than when used in a liquid form. In some in-
stances ganja in small does is mixed with bhang
and drunk. But such instances are rare. It may
be found amongst veteran bhang consumers in
the North-West, and Marwaris upon whom
bhang fails to produce the desired effect.
65. In my opinion alcoholic drinks are more
injurious in their effects than the use of these
drugs, and the former ought to be more heavily
taxed.
68. There are no such places that I know of.
175. Evidence of BABU RUGHU NANDAN PRASADHA, Zamindar, Patna.
1. So much of my information as is not per-
sonal has been derived from consultation with the
consumers as well as my zamindari thikadars,
shop-keepers, and other members of the middle
classes.
2. The definitions as given by Dr. Prain may
be accepted for the province of Behar as correct.
Besides those mentioned, another name for bhang,
not mentioned by Dr. Prain is "boonti," and is
current in this Province. Ganja and charas are
known only as ganja and charas. The varieties
of ganja are three, as mentioned by Dr. Prain:
flat ganja is known in this Province as "pamure,"
round ganja as "gol" or "chur," and broken
ganja as "rorha" or "chur."
3. The hemp plant grows wild in the districts
of Shahabad and Champaran and also Monghyr
and Bhagalpur, and rather abundantly in Malda.
6. The plant in its wild state generally grows
in dense patches.
8. The plant is cultivated to some extent in
the districts of Patna and Muzaffarpur, and to the
best of my information there has been no marked
increase or decrease in the area under cultivation.
9. Sometimes in March, April, and occasionally
even earlier, the land is ploughed from four to ten
times for the purpose of freeing it from all weeds,
it being a belief that land for hemp cannot too
often undergo the process. In May, after the
first shower of rain, a nursery for the rearing of
seedlings is formed on high land of a light sandy
loam. The plot is repeatedly ploughed, and, if
need be, harrowed, until by August the soil has
been completely pulverised. On a sunny day the
seed, some four or five seers to the bigha, is sown
broadcast; and by the latter end of September
the seedlings are from 6 to 12 inches high, when
they are simply pulled up by the roots, and put
down 6 to 8 inches apart on the ridges the same
day. Towards the end of October the ridges are
opened out, manured with oil-cake and cow-dung,
and then reformed, freshly manured soil being
thrown up round the roots of the plants. In
November the lower branches of the plants are
lopped off to promote the upward growth of the
shoot; the ridges are redressed and manured, the
furrows ploughed, and weeds removed. The crop
of the hemp plant is harvested in February and
March.
19. Charas is never used for any other purpose,
but smoking ganja is sometimes used by Ayurve-
dic physicians in the preparation of medicated
oils for various diseases.
20. The use of charas in this province may be
perhaps found to be more prevalent among low
classes, especially in the larger towns, than among
any other section of the population. The use of
ganja is not confined to any particular class or to
any particular locality, but there are sects of
religious mendicants who are habitual and even
excessive smokers. Among other classes which
use ganja may be mentioned agricultural and day-
labourers, palki-bearers, fishermen, boatmen, and
dhobies; but votaries of the drug may also be
found even among the respectable middle classes.
21. Chur ganja is preferred as having the
strongest intoxicating properties over the other
two varieties—flat and round.
3 G 2