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52. Any large proportion of bad characters are
not habitual excessive consumers of any of these
drugs. The excessive use of the drug has no
connection with crime in general or with crime of
any special character.
53. Excessive indulgence in ganja and bhang
may incite to unpremeditated crime, violence or
otherwise.
I do not know of any case in which it has led
to temporary homicidal frenzy.
Mr. Gopal Hari Mullick (District Superintend¬
ent of Police) was examined, and he cited two
cases in which violent crime was committed on
sudden impulse by habitual excessive ganja-
smokers. The excessive ganja smokers do not
listen to friendly advice.
(1) One of the adopted sons of the Rai-
chaudhory family of Nowpara in Jessore
used to smoke ganja in excess. Babu
Debendra Nath Rai Chowdhory, his
uncle, a respectable zamindar, used to
remonstrate with him for his smoking
ganja, and there was an altercation.
One evening in 1887 the young man
attacked his uncle with a sword and
hacked him to pieces. The murderer
was sentenced to transportation for life.
(2) Brother of the late Babu Gopal Chandra
Sen, Deputy Magistrate of Burdwan,
used to consume ganja in excess. One
morning his child (a baby) was crying,
and he at once took hold of a hatchet,
and with a single stroke severed the
head of the child from its body. The
man was acquitted by the Judge on the
ground of temporary insanity.
54. These drugs are not generally used by
criminals to fortify themselves to commit a pre¬
meditated act of violence or other crime. But
alcoholic stimulants are so used. Those who are
in the habit of smoking ganja generally smoke it
before engaging in any work; not generally for
committing a crime. Those that smoke ganja or
drink liquor, and who are habitual criminals, or
who have by nature a tendency to commit a
crime, do so.
55. Criminals, in order to further their design,
rarely induce their victims to consume ganja,
bhang or charas, and so stupefy them. Ganja
and charas are not so used. Bhang is rarely
used as drink or in the form of majum given
without the knowledge of the victim. In old
days Thagis used to do it. I know of cases in
which dhatura and strychnine were mixed with
liquor to stupefy prostitutes in order to kill them
or to rob them of their ornaments.
Complete stupefaction cannot be induced by
bhang alone without admixture with dhatura
seeds. If taken in a very large dose by a novice,
it is possible; but the victim will not drink so
much willingly.
56. For admixtures, vide answer to question 29.
Moderate consumers do not use any admixture,
except with—ganja, dried tobacco leaves; bhang,
sugar, milk, and bhang massala; charas, pre¬
pared tobacco.
Excessive consumers use admixture with—
ganja, mango leaf, betel-nut, dhatura seed, etc.
Bhang, dhatura seed, etc. Charas, ganja.
Dhatura seeds are powdered and mixed with
ganja or bhang. It is not generally done by the
consumers themselves, but is added by others for
producing greater intoxication and for amuse¬
ment without the knowledge of the consumer.
57. Ganja.—Eating rare. It is eaten by
sanyasis to show their power. (Dadhi or ghi and
ganja are eaten.)
Gurjat ganja is drunk by the priests (pandas)
in Orissa. The intoxication produced is more in¬
tense and powerful than that by bhang. The
effects last longer. Intoxication commences after
some time. The intoxication is not so strong as
in smoking,
Charas.—I do not know of any case of eating
or drinking of charas.
58. The present system of Excise Administra¬
tion is working fairly well, but is capable of im¬
provement.
59. (1) There should be equalisation of retail
selling price in every district; this must be
looked to in the incidence of duty and not in
license fees, which depend mostly upon the
uncertain nature of the competition at the auction
sales.
(2) The abolition of the system of private golas
or the maximum wholesale price per seer in
each district should be fixed by the Commissioner
(taking into consideration the expenses of the
goladar, the price paid to the cultivator, the cost
of transit, the cost of maintaining the gola, rent,
etc.). At present wholesale dealers charge very
high prices (R4 per seer) in some districts from
the retail vendors.
(3) The wholesale dealer should have no con¬
nection with the retail vending of the drug.
60. The cultivation and manufacture are
sufficiently controlled, but they are capable of
improvement.
(1) Storing all ganja in public golas. This
will prevent cultivators from selling illicitly in
small quantities.
(2) The stock in the cultivator's house is never
weighed, but is counted according to bundles.
It is easy to remove the ganja from the culti¬
vator's house illicitly. There is nothing to pre¬
vent the cultivator from taking out some ganja
from several bundles and forming another
bundle for illicit sale. In this way cases of
illicit sale of ganja take place at Naogaon.
(3) In ganja season a large number of out¬
siders (non-residents) go to Naogaon and they
can remove ganja by boat or road with other goods.
The smugglers generally do not travel by rail
from the Sultanpur railway station. It is not
sufficiently controlled.
(4) The ganja belonging to each cultivator
should be carefully and actually weighed at the
chatars before storing. The staff at Naogaon
should be strengthened.
(5) At the chatars ganja plants of inferior
kinds are rejected and these are sometimes re¬
moved by ganja smokers. The chatar inspection
is by no means satisfactory. All rejected plants
should be burnt in the evening.
(6) A class of manufacturers go to Naogaon
from Calcutta, and remain there for some months.
I suspect they smuggle ganja. Their names
should be registered in the ganja office, and
their date of arrival and leaving the ganja mahal
should also be noted. The present staff is in-
sufficient for doing all this.
(7) The goladars purchase ganja through dalals
brokers). I am opposed to the existing system
2 B 2