45. There are two classes of moderate habitual
smokers of ganja and drinkers of bhang. There
are some, for instance, who have a perfectly
good physique and a healthy body whose
mind is perfectly clear and active, and who
lead a moral life, and indulge in their respect-
ive practices before their day's work is begun or
after they have finished it. There are others again
who even after moderate use of bhang or ganja live
a life of idleness and are unfit for any kind of work
requiring mental or physical exertion. They may
be otherwise healthy and perhaps mentally happy ;
they may also be moral ; but they are persons who
show that they are indulging in a practice which
is doing them no good.
These drugs lead to a little emaciation, es-
pecially smoking, or when after bhang the required
supply of food is not available. It is noted by
ancient Hindu writers as a reducer of fat. Per-
haps this emaciation is due to loss of appetite
among ganja-smokers, and not to any direct pre-
ventive influence on fat-formation in the body.
As noted above, ganja-smoking impairs the
power of digestion, and though it may actually
cause loss of appetite, it staves off hunger.
Hence it is that the bairagis and gosains look
upon it as a stand-by when the collected alms of
the day do not give them their full meal.
I have not seen, nor have I heard from any re-
liable source of dysentery, asthma, or bronchitis
being traced to the use of hemp in moderation.
European physicians use it for the cure of dysen
-
tery. To my knowledge, moderate use does not
impair moral sense. It does induce laziness in
some cases, especially where a person has not to
earn his livelihood. But as a general rule with
habituals, bhang sharpens the intellect, so does
ganja.
So far as I am inclined to believe, there is no-
thing in bhang or ganja to lead to habits of im-
morality or debauchery.
149
It does intoxicate men not accustomed to it. It
staves off hunger. The effect of ganja is tran-
sient. It lasts for an hour or two at the utmost.
Want of a ganja smoke to a habitual but moderate
smoker produces uneasiness. The man misses his
little excitement. There is always a longing for
it among confirmed smokers. The same is the
case with habitual moderate bhang drinkers.
Bhang drinking is decidedly cooling at first; by-
and-bye the drinker feels exhilarated; within half
an hour he becomes talkative, after which he feels
sleepy, especially if he is a novice. The sleep is
full of dreams. On waking there is a desire for
food. The desire for food is in some instances
immediate ; and a man may eat voraciously
under its influence. Some prefer taking bhang on
an empty stomach ; others take it a couple of
hours after food. In the former case the effect is
more rapid for obvious reasons. After the drink-
er wakes from his sleep, if he is an habitual, he
goes to work as usual, but if he is a mere begin-
ner be feels heavy in. the head and still continues
to be talkative. He often gets double-vision.
The effects pass off in about five or six hours.
With habitual drinkers beyond talkativeness
there is no marked effect. They appear happy.
They have not to lie down, or go to sleep after
their usual drink.
The habitual use of these drugs, even in a mo-
derate degree, is looked upon as vice. It is, how-
ever, not considered wrong by the devotees of Shiva
to indulge in ganja or bhang on days held sacred
to that divinity.
I am not satisfied that either of these drug s
acts as a direct aphrodisiac. Of course, when
there is a general excitement of the whole system
under the influence of smoke or drink, the sexual
passions may be roused as often as not. The drug
acts more on the sensory part of the brain than on
the motorial. It acts as a distinct sedative on the
cerebral centres and benumbs the sensory nerves.
The theory of hemp acting as an aphrodisiac is
not borne out by clinical investigation or expe-
rience.
I am not aware that moderate use causes insani-
ty. On the contrary, European physicians of re-
pute use the drug medicinally in cases of insanity.
Table showing typical cases which came under my
observation between 1881–1892, in the Thana
Civil Hospital, as the result of ganja-smoking.
No. Name. Sex. A g e .
Caste.
Occupation. Disease. REMARKS.
1 N. R. K. M.
25 Brahman,
Deccan.
Writer. A cute
mania.
Smoked
ganja ex
-
cessively
f or 4 or 5
years ;
used to lie
insensible
after
smoking.
2 S. R.
M. 30 Maratha
Gowli.
Policeman
...
24th May
188 6, 1s
t a t t a c k .
3 K. M. J. M. 35 Hindu Jun
-
gum.
Mendicant
...
4 W. R. P. M. 22
Deccan
Brahman.
Writer
...
5 K. V. S. M. 24 Maratha . Labourer .
...
6 S. R.
M.
34
Maratha
Gowli.
Policeman,
now with
-
out e
m
-
ploy.
...
10th Octo
-
ber 1890.
dud at
-
tack.
7 N. C. D. M. 48 Maratha . Labourer .
...
8 G. C.
M. 38
Pardeshi ,
Brahman,
Upper In
-
dia.
Labourer .
. . .
Tansa Val
-l
cy Water
Works.
9 Y. R.
M.
30
Maratha . Labourer . Melan
-
cholia.
10 S. S.
Par
-
deshi
M. 36
Pardeshi,
Upper In
-
dia.
Labourer . Melan
-
cholia.
Tansa Val
-
ley Water
Works.
11 K. V. S. M.
25 Maratha . Labourer . Mania .
12 S. R.
M.
36 Maratha . Unemploy
-
ed.
Mania .
The symptoms of mania are those ordinarily
described in books under that head.
46. The habitual excessive use of ganja does
impair the constitution. Young men who have
taken to it have either died of melancholia and a
general break-up of the system or some other
complaint such as asthma or chronic bronchitis.
I d o n o t t h i n k e x c e s s i v e g a n j a s m o k i n g c a u s e s
dysentery. The tendency of excessive ganja
smoking is to reduce the excretions and secretions
of the body by paralysing the sensory nerves,
hence the pinched face, dry sluggish eye, often
bloodshot, and shrivelled frame. From the few
cases I know, I do not think excessive ganja-
smokers are given to sexual excesses.
Gosains and bairagis who are given to excessive
ganja smoking are men whose morals are of a low
order, as would appear from the many cases of bad
syphilis for which I had to treat them in the
hospital.
Excessive ganja smoking deadens the intellect
and causes insanity. It acts more as a predispos-
ing than as an exciting cause. Men generally
suffer from melancholia in the commencement.
This is followed by mania coupled with violence.
Violence in some cases is more marked in the