74
wild plant, but appendix A ( attached hereto )
contains a memorandum of preparations made
from ganja and bhang for drinking and eating
purposes. It describes also the process ganja
goes through preparatory to its being smoked.
Bhang drinking is much patronized during the
hot months of the year. It is said to have a
peculiar effect on different constitutions; in some
cases it excites mirth and risibility, in some
grief and crying, and in some quiet and repose.
It has also a further peculiar effect on those who
have taken it in that they are unable to face a
burning light with eyes open.
16. As far as I am aware, bhang as a drink is
invariably prepared by people in their houses.
I am unable to give information on the other two
points.
18. As a rule, the drugs would deteriorate in
due course unless kept in hermetically closed
bottles or tin cases. Loss of effect must follow
deterioration.
19. Ganja is chiefly used for smoking in
the Ahmedabad district, and this to a very limited
extent indeed, its use being confined to wandering
gosains, natives of Upper India sojourning in
the district in consequence of employment, and
some of the lower classes of the local population.
Charas, as stated before, is not used at all in that
district.
20.The foregoing reply answers the query as
regards the classes of people. It is utterly
impossible to give proportion even at a guess. It
is principally in the city of Ahmedabad and some
of the larger towns in the district that ganja is
smoked.
21. Flat ganja is what is used in the Ahmedabad
district.
22. No chums is used in the Ahmedabad
district.
23. Not in the Ahmedabad district, so far
as I am aware.
24. It is the Hindus who generally use bhang
as a drink on certain occasions, during hot weather
especially. They do not form a large number,
and what they do use is used in moderation, As
regards eating, the use of the extract from bhang
drawn in ghi and mixed up with poppy seed, etc.
(vide paragraph VI, appendix A), is confined to
an infinitesimally small section of the population,
and that among the rich and well-to-do people.
25. I do not think it is on the increase. In-
deed, the habits of the people preclude the possi-
bility of ganja or bhang (charas is not used) ever
taking hold of them beyond a moderate indul-
gence.
26. They are all moderate consumers, and occa
-sional consumers in the Ahmedabad district.
28. So far as my information goes, there are no
habitual excessive consumers in Ahmedabad. The
moderate consumers—I mean those who have
become addicted to the daily use of bhang and
ganja—rarely go beyond a dose, or a smoke or
two, and this may cost three or four pies, certainly
not more.
29. My answer to query 15 supplies the inform-
ation desired. Dhatura is not used in the Ahme-
dabad district, nor is bhang massala an article of
sale there.
30. As far as my information goes, bhang is
used generally company. It is mainly confined
to the male sex, and used without reference to
period of life. Children may sometimes come in
for a small share—in cases where they are spoilt
by their parents—if they happen to be with them
when they (the latter) indulge in it.
31. The use of ganja and bhang is so very
limited that it is impossible for me to hazard a
satisfactory reply. But it may be observed that
the habit of ganja smoking is formed by associa-
tion with the consumers of the drug, and, unless,
it has taken root, there would be no difficulty in
breaking it off.
32. The beverage made from bhang (vide V
of Appendix A) is used in the worship of Maha
-
deo in the temple during the hot season, and
drunk by the worshippers when the service is over.
The beverage forms an essential part of the cere-
mony, and has not been known to have been used
except in moderation. So far as my experience
goes, I have not known it to have led to the form
-ation of a habit of indulging in it, and I do not
think it has proved to be injurious.
33. So far as I am aware, there is no public
opinion against bhang drinking in Ahmedabad.
But against ganja smoking there certainly is a
public feeling just as there is against the drinking
of spirituous liquors. Hemp plant is not wor
-shipped in Ahmedabad.
34. The privation in this case would be almost
the same as the foregoing of wines and liquors
would be to a European habituated to the con
-
sumption of wines and liquors. As already stated,
the users in Ahmedabad are very few.
35. As far as my experience goes, no good will
come out of a prohibition to use either bhang or
ganja in the Ahmedabad district. As the use of
the drugs there is not general, its prohibition may
not lead to any political danger, but it will be
sure to cause considerable discontent. I know of
a few cases in which bhang has given way to
alcoholic liquors. Indeed, as matters stand in
Ahmedabad, alcoholic drinks, which thirty years
ago were looked upon as an abomination by the
people there, Hindus specially, have now become
articles of regular consumption among certain
sections of the community, and they have caused
far greater ruin among them during the last 25
years than bhang and ganja ever did singly or
collectively during ten times 25 years.
30. I think there is. Education has given the
rising generation a distaste and contempt for
old things, among which may be included the use
of these drugs, and created a desire for alcoholic
liquors, which are indulged in pretty freely.
58. Considering that there is no hemp cultiva-
tion in the Ahmedabad district, and that ganja
and bhang come there prepared ; further, that I
left the service seven years ago, and that I am
ignorant of the changes that have been introduced
as regards administration and control since my
retirement, I am not in a position to discuss the
questions in this chapter. But bearing in mind
the small and partial consumption of these drugs
in this district, it seems to me that the farming
system as regards their importation and retail sale
(prevailing in my time) is the best arrangement
possible.
68. Bhang, ganja, and majum are sold in the
Ahmedabad district by tambolis or sellers of betel
leaves and betel nuts (pan supari). The demand
for them is not such as to admit of a shop being
devoted to their exclusive sale. There was in
that district during my time no house or shop
where their preparations were consumed on the
premises, but I hear that one has lately been