99
15. In this State only ganja is prepared from
the hemp plant. It is prepared in the following
manner
: —
The hemp plants bear flowers in five months.
When the flowers are fully developed, they be
-come brown, and are then plucked by hand from
the plants, and are piled and dried on an open
raised ground. They are then pressed and
trampled under foot for three or four days. When
they become dry, they are winnowed, and the sub
-stance which remains after winnowing is called
ganja.
Ganja is used in this State chiefly for the
purpose of smoking. It is occasionally eaten
with meat or sweetmeats and drunk in milk or
water after being well pounded. The yield of
ganja per acre is about one khandi. The cost
of producing one khandi of ganja is about Rs. 30
— 3 5 , a n d i t i s s o l d a t a b o u t R s . 5 0 — 5 5 p e r k h a n d i .
16. Not known.
17. Ganja is prepared in this State by any
agricultural cultivator. The preparation is not
restricted to any particular class of people.
18. Ganja deteriorates by keeping. It keeps
good with ordinary care for one year. Then it
begins to loose its narcotic properties by degrees,
and after three years it becomes quite useless.
19. Ganja is generally smoked throughout the
State, and on rare occasions eaten with meat or
sweetmeats and drunk in milk or water after
being well pounded, in the talukas of Miraj-Prant
and Shahapur. It is also administered to animals,
by way of medicine.
20. Ganja-smoking is not confined to any
particular class of persons. However, people of
the lower classes, especially the class of mendicants
called gosains and bairagis and fakirs, are general
-ly known to indulge freely in this kind of drug,
which serves them as a stimulant.
The total population of the State is 238,945
souls. Of these about 5,000 or nearly 3 per cent.
smoke ganja. Ganja smokers are distributed in
the six different talukas of the State as given
below:—
Miraj-Prant . . .
700
Kuchi. . .
200
Mangalwedh . . .
400
300
Terdal . . .
Shahapur . . .
3,000
Sherhatti . . .
400
5,000
21. So far as this State is concerned, flat ganja
is generally preferred for smoking.
22 to 24. Not known.
25. The use of ganja, which is the only hemp
drug consumed in the State, is neither on the
increase nor on the decrease.
26. The proportion of the ganja consumers
is as given below:—
(a) 3,750 or 75 per cent.
(b) 500 or 10 ditto.
(c) 500 or 10 ditto.
(d) 250 or 5 ditto.
5,000
27. Habitual as well as occasional excessive
consumers are generally found from among the
classes of mendicants called gosains, bairagis, and
fakirs. Moderate consumers, habitual as well as
occasional, are taken from all the classes of
population, especially the lower classes. Men of
small means, who have to work hard for their
maintenance, generally take to the habit of ganja
- s m o k i n g .
28. The average quantity of ganja which a habi
- t u a l m o d e r a t e c o n s u m e r r e q u i r e s p e r d i e m i s
about two tolas, and its cost is about three pies.
A habitual excessive consumer requires more than
triple that quantity.
29. The ordinary ingredient that is mixed with
ganja for smoking is tobacco. The ganja smo
-kers say that tobacco adds to the odour and taste
of ganja. Sometimes aromatic spices are added
to the admixture. The following ingredients,
viz., opium, bachanaga (Gloriosa superba), dha
-tura (thorn apple), and kachala (strychnia) are
mixed with ganja to give it greater intoxicating
properties. The admixture thus formed is called
panch-rangi (consisting of five narcotics) ganja.
No; I do not know of any preparation such as
bhang massala.
30. Ganja is smoked in this part of the country
generally in company. It is mainly confined to
the male sex. It is generally the period of man
-hood when one gets addicted to the habit of
smoking ganja. Children are never seen to smoke
ganja.
31. The habit of smoking ganja is easily formed,
and when once formed it is difficult to break off.
Ganja-smoking has a tendency for the moderate
habit to develop into the excessive.
32. There is no custom, religious or social, in
regard to the consumption of ganja. Its use is
neither socially nor religiously prohibited.
33. Society looks upon ganja-smoking with con
-tempt, as it produces evil effects on body and mind
in old age, and decline of health. Besides, indul
-gence in every kind of intoxicating drugs is regard
-ed as a vice. I have no knowledge of any custom
of worshipping the hemp plant on any occasion
by any sects of the people.
34. It would be a serious privation to habitual
smokers of ganja to forego the consumption, as it
is a very difficult thing to break off the habit once
formed. Besides there is no cheaper drug which
can as a stimulant be substituted for ganja. People
who have to toil hard must have some narcotic
drug to keep their spirits up. These men will
keenly feel the want of ganja.
35. I do not think that it is feasible to prohibit
the use of ganja unless its cultivation is wholly
stopped like poppy. It would lead to discontent
among a class of desperate men, such as bairagis,
gosains, and other vagrant mendicants, who have
no property to lose in the event of a riot or even
a more serious disturbance. But no political
danger need be apprehended from it. The pro
- h i b i t i o n w i l l b e f o l l o w e d b y h a v i n g r e c o u r s e t o
other stimulant drugs, not necessarily to alcoholic
stimulants, as they are dearer than the former.
36. I see no reason to think that alcohol is now
being to any extent substituted for ganja smok
-ing.
37 and 38. Not known.
39. The drinking or eating of ganja is less
injurious to health than smoking, as the latter
directly acts upon the brain, while the former
serves as a nourishment.
40. In
Sharangdhar and Yoga-ratnakar
(treatises on native medicines) ganja (bhang) is
vol. vii.