45
56. (a) The effects of hemp used in moderation
when modified by the admixture of foreign sub
- s t a n c e s e x c e p t d h a t u r a a r e h a r m l e s s .
(b) If used in excess they are injurious to
health.
I am not aware of an instance in which the
admixture of dhatura for personal consumption
is used. But I hear that dhatura is added some
- t i m e s b y c r i m i n a l s t o m a j u m f o r a d m i n i s t e r i n g t o
their victims, when its effects are very dangerous.
Oftentimes the victims turn out insane.
57. Charas is never eaten or drunk as far as
I know. It is either mixed with ganja or
gudakho and smoked. Ganja is only smoked.
Charas has a stronger effect. It stupefies one at
once, that is, sooner than ganja, and the stupor
lasts longer. Ganja if smoked stupefies one also
at once but the stupor does not last long. When
bhang is drunk as ghota or when majum is eaten
it has also stupefying effects like ganja.
58. I consider the present system of excise
administration in this province in respect of hemp
drugs as working well,
59. I do not think it is capable of any improve-
ment.
60. I think the process of its preparation is
sufficiently controlled. As to its cultivation there
is little need of control on it.
61. Charas, as stated above, is produced in too
small a quantity to find market for it. What
little is produced is consumed in fields. So there
is hardly any necessity for special measures to
control the process of its preparation.
62. The cultivation of the hemp plant for the
production of bhang is, I think, sufficiently con
- t r o l l e d a t p r e s e n t .
63. I think the present system of (a) whole-
sale (b) retail vend of (1) ganja, (2) bhang, or their
preparations is free from any objection.
64. I have no objections to the existing regula-
tions governing the export and import of these
drugs and their preparations.
65. I think the taxation referred to in this
question is quite reasonable.
66 and 67. No.
68. As to such houses or shops there are none
in this province.
69. The wishes of the people are consulted
before a shop is opened in any locality. For this
purpose application bearing the signatures of the
residents in a locality is submitted to the Collector,
who sends it to the mamlatdar of the place for
enquiry and report. Permission to open a shop
is granted should the mamlatdar report that
there is necessity for it.
70. The production of hemp plants being
abundant in this district, there is no importation
or smuggling of hemp drugs from Native States.
26. Evidence of KHAN BAHADUR DADABHAI DEENSHAH, Parsi, Huzur Deputy
Collector and Magistrate,1st Class, Kaira.
1. I bad had opportunities for several years before
1880 of coming into daily contact with a few
persons, some of them in well-to-do circumstances,
and others of the class of peons in Government
offices, and foot and mounted constables, who were
habitual as well as occasional consumers of ganja.
Some of them consumed it in excessive and some
in moderate quantities ; some had, after indulgence
in it in excessive quantities, reverted to modera
- t i o n o r c e a s e d a l t o g e t h e r t o s m o k e g a n j a . N o w a n d
then I had had occasion to notice gangs of bairagis,
fakirs, and such like wandering tribes, who resort
to ganja-smoking as a rule, and with whom some
of the persons referred to above by me used some
- t i m e s t o a s s o c i a t e . S i n c e 1 8 8 2 I h a v e b e e n l i v i n g
at a short distance from people of the labouring
classes, a very large portion of whom are addicted
to ganja smoking. After the receipt of Govern
-ment orders, I endeavoured to seek information
from every direction where I thought there was a
possibility of my getting reliable particulars. I
have consulted police officers, abkari inspectors,
licensed vendors of ganja and bhang, ganja and
bhang consumers, including those who have given
up the use of ganja after indulgence in it for
some time, and friends in all the districts of
Gujarat, who are more or less conversant with the
subject.
2. Charas and chur are not imported into and
sold in this district. Flat ganja only is imported
and sold in this district, and it is known as ganja.
Bhang goes under that name only almost as a rule.
Sometimes it is called subji.
3. I am not aware of any.
4. Vide answer t o N o . 3 .
5 and 6. I do not know.
7. For its fibre the hemp plant is cultivated in
several talukas of the Kaira district. The follow-
ing are the particulars concerning it :-
IN THE REVENUE
IN The REVENUE
YEAR 1891-92.
YEAR 1892-93,
T A L U K A .
Area under cultivation Area under cultivation.
A.
G.
A. G.
Matar2.1 2 19
Kapadwanj
.38
29
61
Nariad
.
.
,
11
8
1
Borsad
,
1
25
2 21
Anaud
9
25
Total
. .
52
G
I
79
31
8. Before the introduction of the Bombay
Abkari Act (Act V of 1878) hemp plant was
cultivated in a small area in two of the villages
of the Kapadwanj taluka of this district for the
production of ganja and bhang. The seed required
to be sown in one bigha for bhang was about 10
pounds. The largest yield of bhang per bigha in
good soil was about 25 local maunds, and the
average yield in middle-class soil was from 5 to 10
local maunds. In about 3½ acres of land hemp
plant for the production of bhang was cultivated
in the village of Antroli. In about 26 guntas of
land hemp plant for the production of ganja was
cultivated in the village of Badarpur. In con-
sequence of the restrictions imposed by the
Abkari Act for the transport and export of ganja
and bhang and for their sale and possession, the
cultivation was given up as troublesome and un-
remunerative. From a very reliable source I have
been informed that hemp plant for the production
of bhang was cultivated in a small area in the
Paldi village of the Daskrohi taluka of the