496
This has, however, nothing to do with religion,
for a Baisnava smoker, who belongs to the op-
posite sect and owes no. allegiance to Mahadeo, is
also seen to do the same before he smokes his
ganja. Ganja, out of this belief, is sometimes
offered at the temples of Mohadeo as a present to
the. deity.
34. I do not think it would be a serious pri-
vation to any class of consumers if they were to
forego ganja and charas. The habit of using
these two drugs is not so hard to shake off as
that of opium. No particular class of society is
addicted to these drugs as a class, and most of
the habitual consumers are only moderate con-
sumers of the drug. The hardworking bearers
and boatmen of Behar and the North-Western
Provinces, and very few low class people of
Bengal will no doubt regard its disuse as a pri-
vation; but whether such disuse would constitute
a real or a sentimental privation has yet to be as-
certained. The use of ganja is not essential for
their existence; it does not supply a physical
need, and its disuse is not known to produce any
disastrous physical discomfort of a serious nature.
These considerations lead me to suppose that even
if it be regarded as a privation by some, it would
really be a sentiment rather than a fact.
35. The question of feasibility is a large one.
It is not impossible, nor will it be deemed unwise
to prohibit the use of ganja and charas; but I do
not think that a prohibition, however strict, will
stop illicit consumption. This, again, is not,
however, a consideration which should be looked
upon as a serious stumbling block to its prohi-
bition. Illicit consumption may be detected and
adequately punished, that is all that can be done,
and is even now being done in the case of illicit
distillation of liquor. In my humble opinion the
real point at issue should be, if I may venture to
suggest it, to decide whether the consumption of
any and which of these drugs is injurious to public
health and morals, and then to find out how to
repress with a strong hand the consumption of
such drug. The prohibition can be enforced in
the same way as the prohibition of unlicensed cul-
tivation or sale of ganja is enforced, namely, by
law and by the enforcement of the legal penalty.
Such prohibition will, no doubt, stop a great
source of public revenue, but it will not saddle
the Government with any additional expenditure
to enforce the prohibition. The Excise Detect
ive Establishment, now in force, has not only to
keep in check the smuggling in hemp drugs,
but it has also to exercise similar functions in
respect of opium and distilled liquor of all sorts.
The prohibition of ganja will not, therefore,
relieve the Government of this Detective Estab-
lishment, which, as at present, may be utilised
in enforcing the prohibition of ganja without any
additional cost to Government. Ganja cannot
be successfully grown on any soil, and its cul-
tivation and manufacture, from the very nature
of the drug, cannot be secretly carried on. The
cultivation, which takes about six months from
transplantation to reaping, has to be carried on in
open fields; the peculiar odour set forth by the
plants when in flower travels far beyond the cul-
tivated area; and the final manufacture has also
to be completed in open places. All these consi-
derations tend to shew that its manufacture, once
being prohibited, may be very easily detected and
adequately punished, The only other question to
be considered in this connection is the vexed
question of loss of public revenue; that loss may,
however, be recovered by slightly increasing the
tax on distilled liquor. I am opposed to any
scheme of establishing a Government monopoly in
the cultivation and manufacture of ganja. That
course will not only be met with great opposition
by the tenants and landlords, but will also be at-
tended with great oppression in its operation, inas-
much as it will necessarily take the form of a
forced cultivation.
The prohibition of consumption of ganja is not
likely to affect the bulk of the people, nor is it
such a matter that the disinterested majority will
take it as a national grievance and make a com-
mon cause with the interested minority. There
are questions of sectarian importance, which may
be taken up by the opposite sects as a matter
involving a principle of Law applicable to all. If
a public worship of the Hindus of one sect were
sought to be repressed by Law, the Hindus of
other and opposing sects, nay, Christians, Mu-
hammadans and other non-Hindus may join their
hands to oppose such repression on principle.
But I do not see any reason to suppose that the
prohibition of consumption of ganja involves such
a principle or is such a cause as is likely to arouse
the sympathy of disinterested men. Persons in-
terested in the free consumption of ganja are few
and far between; and although the prohibition is
likely to occasion some discontent among the
habitual consumers, it is not likely to take any the
least serious attitude. If the evil is there, the
only question for consideration should be how to
repress it. To think for a moment that such
prohibition would create a discontent likely to
amount to a political danger is, in my humble
opinion, entirely groundless and frivolous. So
long as there is a tendency in human nature to
have recourse to some form of intoxication, there
will always be room for supposing that the prohi-
bition of one form will only serve to introduce
another form of intoxication; and in the present
case the prohibition of ganja is likely to be fol-
lowed by the introduction of dhatura to some
extent and by increased consumption of alcoholic
stimulants to a large extent.
36. That alcohol has now-a-days displaced ganja
and charas to some extent and bhang to a large
extent, is mainly due to the change of habits of
life of the people with the change of times. Even
an illiterate man of these days tries and aspires to
copy his superiors, and the example of the higher
class is thus gradually penetrating the lower strata
of society.
Ganja is a disreputable drug; its use in this
country has always been associated with crimes
and misdemeanors; indulgence in this drug is
generally regarded as a low habit. Against all
these stands its extreme cheapness as the only
recommendation of ganja to the poor people. It
is poverty which binds them down to ganja, and
the moment a man of dissipated habit earns enough
to pay for an alcoholic drink, he eagerly begins to
copy his superiors. This natural tendency finds a
ready satisfaction if the votary gets richer than
before or if the price of alcoholic drink is brought
down within his means. The cheap liquor of the
outstill having supplied one of these conditions,
ganja begins to decline in a perceptible degree
It was not uncommon to find the use of ganja
still lingering among some of the middle classes
so long as the price of alcoholic drinks was high,
but with the introduction of cheap liquor, ganja
has wholly been discarded by the middle class.
During the Muharram and Holi festivals, a few
years ago, ganja smoking used to be noticed to a
large extent, but we find on such occasions now