236
a man's courage. If a criminal wishes for Dutch
courage, in Sind he takes liquor.
Cases of dhatura-poisoning, both by mixture
in hukas and in food occur, but I cannot
remember a case in which adulterated or even
pure ganja was used to procure somnolence on
the part of the victims.
58 to 70. I do not think that any alteration in
the law or administration is required at present.
So far as I know, no such evil results, either
physical or moral, have presented themselves
as to justify any interference.
65. Compared with other intoxicants, hemp
drugs are lightly taxed. For instance, a retail
seller in Sind tells me that a novice to bhang drink-
ing could get intoxicated for 6 pies, while liquor,
to have the same effect, would cost 2¼ annas.
One accustomed to bhang drinking would need
2 annas worth to produce the desired effect, while
a drunkard could take 4½ annas worth of liquor or
more comfortably.
travel long distances and undergo severe expo-
sure to sun and frost alike, in an almost nude
condition, do find that the use of ganja and
charas alleviates fatigue and gives staying—power.
45. I have often made it a practice to converse
with ascetics, as some are very intelligent and able
to give interesting accounts of their travels, and
I should say that on the whole, the use of drugs
by them does not injure their health. Many are
often very robust specimens of humanity, though
of course their wandering life is not a healthy
one in many respects, and there are many feeble
ones amongst them. The ordinary sepoy or
coolie who takes hemp drugs, in lieu of alcohol,
does not appear to suffer from it.
I have known one case in which a native of
India, one of the best servants I ever had, be-
came partially insane, and I attributed it,
whether rightly or wrongly, to smoking ganja.
And I have heard (I believe on accurate autho-
rity) of students at Cambridge losing their
mental power owing to their having become
addicted to the drug. I have seen lunatics in
Indian Asylums whose insanity was attributed to
the use of ganja.
The conclusion which my necessarily limited
observation leads me to is, that if an individual
takes to ganja smoking merely as a vicious
habit, as a man may in England take to excess-
ive liquor solely for the pleasure of its intoxi-
cating effects, and becomes a slave to it, insanity
or at least weakened intellect is very likely to
follow. But if habitually indulged in moder-
ately, I believe there are no special ill-effects.
Ganja smoking is frequently associated with
immorality, in much the same way as betting
is with horse-racing ; and even the drinking of
bhang is reprobated by purists amongst natives.
But whether ganja produces immorality, or
immorality a love for ganja, I cannot say. Pro-
bably the association is due to the drugs being
most in favour with the lowest and least educated
or moral classes in the great cities. It is a truism
that the surrender of the will to any habit, and
the consequenet indulgence of that habit, even
if it be only tobacco-smoking, immoderately,
impairs a person's general power of self-control.
But I have no reason for thinking hemp drugs
are an incentive to crime.
53 (51 to 55). I have already mentioned the case
of a servant, a North-West Province Brahmin.
He attacked a man with a sword for not procuring
him a coolie, and was sent to jail for several years.
He may have had brain disease apart from ganja,
as he was always rather " queer," even before he
took to it, but always assumed that ganja had
a good deal to do with his mental breakdowns.
After coming out of jail, there seemed no change
in his mental condition, and he would attack
individuals who were quietly talking or even
passing on the road, under the delusion that they
were mocking him.
It has always been said, e. g., in the account
of Clive's defence of Arcot, that Muhammadans
take bhang in order to rouse their courage,
but thoroughly well-informed Sindhis tell me
that this is a myth altogether. Habitual, and
e s p e c i a l l y i m m o d e r a t e u s e o f b h a n g a n d g a n j a
lead, on the contrary, to grave nervous depres-
sion and symptoms of fear, like those produced
by delirium tremens. " Charas " is the only
hemp preparation that does not actually damp
Assuming (though I have no evidence of it)
that the effect of the raising of the excise on
liquor has been to stimulate the consumption of
hemp drugs instead, the circumstance, if proved,
might be considered to point to the desirability of
raising the duty on these drugs more to a level
with that on liquor. But I would certainly not
recommend any attempt of the kind. The follow-
ing are my reasons :—
First. —We practically levy the highest excise
possible on these drugs by our system of
selling farms by auction. The farmers know
the cost of the raw material, and bid against one
another, till the sum paid for the farm only
leaves a reasonable remuneration to him, as
interest on his capital, wages for his labour and
recoupment for his risk, after paying expenses.
Secondly .—The only way to excise the drugs
and so raise their selling price, would be to
initiate such a careful control over their produc-
tion, importation, and retail sale, involving
measures for the prevention of smuggling, that
the expenses would be very considerable, and not
recouped out of the increased receipts, for the
consumption will fall off.
Thirdly.—If the price be raised so as to ap-
proach the price of liquor, the best-to-do con-
sumers may eventually take to alcohol, which
imparts a much greater stimulus to crime than
these drugs, while the poorer will almost
certainly find dhatura, or some other vegetable
substance, out of which to manufacture or distil
intoxicants at a cheaper rate than liquor.
Fourthly.—The recent interference with liquor,
at any rate in Western India, has been sufficient
interference with the luxuries of the poorest
classes during the present generation. The
artificial increase in the selling price of liquor has
fortunately been accompanied by a general rise
in wages and prosperity and has, therefore, not
been seriously felt. There is always, however, a
substratum of very poor in India, and any attempt
to make their intoxicants too expensive, must
result in failure, apart from the discontent it
would cause.
Fifthly.— The whole question of hemp-drugs
is not worth the tro
uble involved in meddling with it. Overworked as all officials are, the
time that would have to be devoted to intro-
ducing an elaborate system of hemp excise, would
only be taken away from the consideration of