138
41. (a) Native practitioners use it as such in
small doses.
(b) This is a popular belief, but of the truth
of it there is no reliable evidence obtainable.
(c) It is used as such in some parts of Bengal.
It undoubtedly acts as a stimulant and seda
-
tive, and people accustomed to its use can bear
hunger and work without food for a longer time ;
so in this way it prevents bodily waste of tissues.
42. I do. I have not known a case where the
moderate use of the drug has done harm.
44. Primarily stimulant ; secondarily anodyne,
sedative and antispasmodic. Narcotic in large
doses. In small doses it is said to allay hunger;
in moderately large doses it is believed to increase
the appetite ; diuretic and parturifacient proper
-
ties have been assigned to it, but these latter
require confirmation. Narcotic and intoxicant
effect usually lasts a couple of hours. Slight
longing or uneasiness is felt by the want of it.
No marked after-effects. The following have been
noted as occurring after its use :—Dullness, lazi
-
ness, redness of the conjunctivæ, thirst, appetite
increased.
45. The habitual moderate use of these drugs
produces, I think, no deleterious effects. I don't
think it impairs the constitution or injures the
digestion or appetite ; neither have I known any
cases where it caused dysentery, bronchitis or
asthma ; nor taken in moderation does it destroy
the moral sense, nor induce laziness, though it '
undoubtedly stimulates, I think, the sexual ap
-
petite. I de not think in moderation it deadens
the intellect or produces insanity. It has always
appeared to me to be simply the exciting cause of
insanity. Of itself, and without any predisposing
cause, it never excites symptoms of insanity when
taken in moderation, vide paragraph 46.
46. When taken in excess, and long continued, it
impairs the brain and intellect, making the person
taking it heavy, stupid and listless. In this way
it also impairs the moral sense and induces lazi
-
ness, with a tendency to immorality. I do think
that it produces temporary acute mania when
taken in very excessive doses, with or without
any predisposing cause. This mania, where there
is no predisposing, cause, passes off in a short time.
Where there is a predisposing cause, it merely
excites the disease, which may or may not be per
-
manent. This permanent form may, though com
-
mencing as acute, end in any form of insanity,
according to its heredity or predisposing cause. If
temporary insanity is caused, the symptoms are un
-
doubtedly set up again by the excessive use of the
drug when resumed. There are, as a rule, no
typical symptoms to distinguish it from insanity
induced by other causes. Many insanes who have
no recorded ganja history confess to the use of the
drug.
There is no doubt that there are insanes whose
history shows they were addicted to the drug,
who have been admitted to this asylum, and
whose insanity was not due, in my opinion, to it,
and the use of it was either a coincidence or was
taken as a medicine for the relief of pain, or to
allay mental anxiety and brain disease. I have
no evidence to prove that insanity may often
tend to indulgence in the hemp drugs by those
who are deficient in self-control through weakened
intellect; but my opinion is that this is so.
47 and 48. No.
49. Yes; charas-smoking has the effect of in
-
creasing the sexual appetite, and is used for pro
-
ducing this effect. The habitual use of the drug
as an aphrodisiac is believed to produce impotence.
Hindus are said generally to use bhang as a drink
in small doses for producing the effect as an
aphrodisiac.
50. It is not used for this purpose in excessive
doses.
56. Among natives dhatura is sometimes mix-
ed with ganja to increase the intoxication.
57. Ganja is said sometimes to be eaten in a
pan-ka-bidda.* In this form it produces slight
intoxication; but this is only the case in excessive
habitual consumers.
57 (a). Besides ganja, charas and bhang, there
is a preparation in the form of a sweetmeat in
thin, square, semi-transparent, light-greenish
pieces, about 2½ inches square. It consists of
bhang, sugar, butter, flour and milk. This is also
eaten to produce its intoxicant and narcotic effects.
This preparation is known and sold in the bazars
as under the name of majum.
Oral evidence.
Question 1 .—Apart from my Colaba Asylum
experience I have had no special experience in
insanity, though I had of course the usual Netley
course. The Colaba asylum is my sole charge ;
but I have on two occasions officiated in other
appointments in addition to my duties. I have
acted as Professor in several chairs in the Grant
Medical College and as Third Physician, Curator
of the Museum and Pathologist in the Jamsetji
Jeejeebhoy Hospital, as well as Presidency Surgeon
on several occasions, I knew of ganja-smoking
before my asylum experience ; but I had no oppor
-
tunity of studying its effects. I probably heard
of it as a cause of insanity.
I think that alcohol is much more deleterious than
hemp drugs. It produces organic changes in the
system. I have inquired from others and have
not found that such changes take place from hemp
drugs. Nor do I know of them from my own
knowledge. I think if they had existed, they
would have been discovered ere this. Alcohol
produces induration of the brain when taken to
excess for a prolonged period. It also produces
disease of the liver and other organs, which is not
produced, so far as I know, by any of the hemp
drugs. The hemp drugs "impair the brain " in
the sense of impairing its activity without produc-
ing pathological change. It would be better to
say that they " impair the intellect." I cannot
remember at present other points of comparison in
respect to injurious effects. The prolonged exces-
sive use of ganja and charas (not bhang) makes a
man heavy, dull, stupid ; but these same symptoms,
and worse, would probably be produced by taking
alcohol in excessive doses for prolonged periods.
In regard to the moderate use, I think that it does
no harm in either hemp drugs or alcohol. I have
been speaking of and comparing the injurious ef
-
fects of the excessive use of both. I have not gone
into asylum statistics on this point of the differ
-
ence between them in regard to insanity ; but my
opinion is clear and (I believe) would be supported
by statistics. As to opium, I think it less harm
-
*Pan-ka-bidda—a small three-cornered packet, usually
fastened into shape by a clove, consisting of pan-leaf, betel
-
nut, chunam and cardamom seeds. The above ingredients are
wrapped up in the pan-leaf, and the edge of the leaf fixed by a
clove.