341
Question 28.—A sanyasi came to Bogra last
winter who used to smoke all day long. I was
told he smoked all day long, and that he took 2
or 3 rupees worth, which I understood to represent
about 20 tolas. He had chelas with him who
smoked in smaller quantity. This is the only
case I have seen of a man consuming as much as
20 tolas a day. I know another man who smoked
every hour, but I cannot say what quantity he
smoked. The sanyasi was always in bad temper,
and his eyes were red; but the consumption of
20 tolas had not damaged his health, which was
stout and strong. He ate but a small quantity of
food.
Question 43.—If a man loses the even tenor of
his temper I consider him intoxicated. A man
loses his understanding to some extent when in-
toxicated. Moderate smokers become intoxicated
in this manner. I have seen men lose their
temper after smoking their usual quantity. In-
toxication consists in a man's brain becoming
congested and his losing the balance of his mind.
I have seen moderate smokers become intoxicated
from their usual dose, perhaps because they had
empty stomachs or were not in good health.
This intoxication is not analogous to alcoholic in-
toxication, but of a different kind. My answer
44 describes a certain degree of this intoxication.
Question 44.—My answer 44 describes the
ordinary effects of the drug even in a moderate
dose. I found this statement in books I have
read, and I have also asked smokers.
Question 45.—The moderate use does not pro-
duce insanity. The words "delusions of senses,
a sort of dual consciousness, give succession to un-
sound mind," come from Ringer's or Hughes'
Therapeutics. I have never observed these effects
myself.
I had to treat a boy whose insanity was caused
by ganja-smoking. He was under my treatment
for three or four months. He was nineteen years
old. I know another case of a beggar who got his
insanity from ganja-smoking. Whatever he got
by begging he spent in the ganja shop, instead of
buying food. I did not know the beggar before
he became insane.
The boy was a student at the Bogra school.
I knew him then, and he was in sound mind. He
left school and fell into the company of de-
bauchees, who were bad characters of immoral
life. They drank occasionally, but smoked ganja
principally. I never heard that the boy drank.
I knew the boy's family, and there was no
hereditary taint. I knew his father and uncle,
but not his grandfather. I asked the uncle if any
of the family had been insane, and he said none.
I did not enquire particularly about the grand-
father. The mother is living, and I have not
enquired about her family. The boy was insane
for one and a half years. He did not go to an
asylum. For some months before the case came
to me, the boy was under the treatment of kabi-
rajes. He was under my treatment only during
the last three months of his insanity. The boy
took my medicines, and after some days came
without showing any symptoms of insanity.
I
gave him sedatives. He was not epileptic.
I read a Materia Medica by Dr. Durga Das
Kar, written in Bengali, in which it is stated that
Dr. Simpson had taken a census of the Dacca
Lunatic Asylum in 1862, and found that 48 per
cent. of the lunatics were addicted to ganja.
This was what led me to think that ganja pro-
duced insanity, and my opinion was confirmed by
the case I have described.
Question 51.—I have been an Honorary Magis-
trate for seven or eight years, but in that capaci-
ty I have not seen any cause to connect ganja with
crime. Many of my neighbours smoked ganja
and committed crimes. Many of the observa-
tions in answers 51 to 55 are mere hearsay, and I
made enquiries from villagers who told me there
were ganja-smokers in their villages who were
also bad characters. I don't remember that any
of my neighbours who committed crimes went to
jail. I mean such crimes as abusing others and
extorting money from others and going to beat
them. I only know of one man who extorted
money, and he lived in the same "para" as
myself in Jessore when I was a child. Some of
my neighbours in Bogra may have committed
crimes, but I know no particular person who has
committed a crime.
I am member of a temperance association. The
medical society of Bogra is not a temperance
society. The temperance association to which I
belong is that founded by Keshub Chunder Sen,
and called the Band of Hope. I am pledged against
all intoxicants.
135. Evidence of KAILAS CHUNDRA BOSE, Kayasth, Medical Practitioner,
Calcutta.
1. By directly communicating with people who
have extensive knowledge of the subject and who
are personally acquainted with the process of hemp-
growing in Bengal, Central Provinces, Rajputana
and Nepal, I could get opportunities of collecting
facts regarding the subject.
2. Dr. Prain's definitions may be accepted for
our province.
Siddhi, bhang, subji, pati, buty, thandi, bijaya.
Ganja is sometimes called kara tamock (strong
tobacco) by the lower-class people of Bengal.
Charas has got no other name.
7. (a) Yes.
(b) No.
(c) Yes.
(d) Yes.
Eastern Bengal. Extensive cultivation of ganja
and bhang made under the supervision of Govern-
ment. The cultivation of hemp for fibre is carried
on at Reshra, Lakimpur, and Malda; but the
result is quite unsatisfactory.
8. The consumption of hemp drug has increased,
and consequently there has been an increase in the
area of its cultivation. Poverty brought on by the
consumption of alcohol has driven many a hard
drinker to moderate the ration of alcohol and to
take recourse to ganja and bhang as chief ingre-
dients for intoxication.
9. February and March is the time when the
cultivators prepare their soil. The land is then
ploughed for several times and all weeds are care-
fully taken out; it is then manured, the best
manure being human excreta and the cow-dung.
After the rains have fairly set in, the land is again