15
I am inclined to think it will only lead to the
formation of clubs, which will have the disadvan
- t a g e o f l e s s p u b l i c i t y .
69. No objection has ever been taken in this dis
-
trict to a ganja-bhang shop. If one was made, it
would be attended to ; but there is not the same
feeling as there is against liquor or toddy shops.
70. Large quantities of the drug were smuggled
in small parcels from the Baroda territory in
former times ; but since February 1892, when the
sale was brought under control and a farming
system introduced by His Highness the Gaekwar,
smuggling has almost ceased.
Oral evidence.
Question 32.—I hand in some translations of
popular sayings on the subject of bhang collected
from a company of sadhus.
Question 59.—I should say that bhang was
generally harmless—quite as harmless as the
English glass of sherry. The vast majority of
consumers are quite moderate. In my own office,
which represents in many senses the best class of
native society, there is perhaps not one who does
not occasionally take bhang in social entertain-
ments. I refer especially to the followers of
Shiva. I have noticed no ill-effects among them,
and they themselves say that the occasional dose
does not produce any effect at all. There are also
a certain number of habitual consumers and a few
who exceed; but the vast majority are occasional
consumers; and of the habitual consumers the
majority certainly do not exceed. According to
my information, the habit of drinking bhang is
not very quickly acquired. In this bhang differs
from ganja smoking. It would therefore take
long for a consumer of bhang to reach this de
-
graded condition. I do not, however, pretend to
accurate knowledge on the subject. I am not
prepared to say that I have myself observed
people to have been reduced to such a degraded
condition by bhang as by the use of ganja. I have
made enquiries during my tours, and people have
admitted to me that they took bhang, and their
physical condition appeared to me, as a general
rule, to be quite satisfactory. I do not mean to
say that the drinking of bhang is confined to the
Shivaites. The majority of Vaishnavites do not
take it; and these form the mass of the non-
Shivaite agricultural population of my district.
Some Musalmans do take bhang ; but not, I think,
the Parsis. The Musalmans reprobate the prac
-
tice. The number of victims to ganja smoking
certainly appears larger than the number who
injure themselves by the use of bhang. But this,
I think, may be explained in some degree by the
fact that there is more disrepute attaching to the
moderate use of ganja than to the moderate use
of bhang, and so long as a man indulges moder
-
ately in ganja, he can keep it secret and has an
object in doing so; but when his constitution is
ruined, he cannot keep the secret any longer and
abandons all restraint. Besides, there is no doubt
that the smoking of ganja is much less prevalent
among the respectable classes than the use of
bhang. The use of ganja is for the most part,
though by no means entirely, confined to religious
ascetics. The effects of ganja have not come to
my notice in my mag sterial capacity, at least
in the Surat district. One hears far more of
alcohol or toddy. My knowledge is derived from
information rather than ocular demonstration.
In every taluka town the mamlatdar can bring up,
and has sometimes brought up, perhaps half a
dozen social wrecks, said by him to have been
ruined by ganja. The persons themselves invaria
-bly admit the ganja habit; but they attribute
their condition also to the want of sufficiently
nourishing food in the form of milk and ghi.
On the other hand, there are always to be found
some well-nourished individuals who have used
ganja all their adult lives and appear to be none
the worse for it. Practically, I should not have
any hesitation in accepting the view that the
condition of the persons I have mentioned was
due to the causes alleged by them. I could not
answer for isolated cases. I have said that each
mamlatdar could produce five or six such cases.
The average population of a mamlatdar head
-
quarter town would be 3,000 or 4,000. I have
called upon the mamlatdar to produce the ganja
smokers more frequently in the last month or
two than previously ; but the subject has always
attracted my attention more or less, and I have
occasionally done this in past years. I cannot
definitely remember to have called upon the mam
-
latdar to produce the social wrecks from opium or
liquor. In regard to liquor, a large part of the
population of some towns get drunk when they
get the chance ; but the effects of alcohol on the
constitution do not seem to be so permanent or so
radical as those of ganja. Regarding the ganjeris,
I have not instituted enquiries into their habits
with the view of ascertaining whether they used
alcohol or other drugs, because their statement
and those of the mamlatdars and others that they
used ganja appeared to render it unnecessary.
It is very probable that if more strict enquiry had
been made, the mamlatdar would have been able to
produce even a larger number of persons than I
have mentioned as victims of the ganja habit,
because it is very unlikely that at a day's notice
every one would be able or willing to come.
I
have occasionally given the order a day before
-
hand—always verbally. I have taken far more
interest in regard to alcohol than in regard to
ganja ; and if I were to refer to my note books,
I could probably call to mind many more cases
bearing upon the effects of alcohol than upon
those of the hemp drug. My information regard-
ing the latter has been furbished up and added to
in consequence of the present enquiry. The
alcohol-consuming population of the Surat district,
which is the one with which I am best acquainted,
is quite distinct from time ganja-consuming popu
-
lation ; and, moreover, I do not know so much
about the population that consumes ganja immo
-
derately as about the liquor drinkers, and therefore
I find it difficult to make a general comparison
between the effects of the two habits. Alcohol
is consumed by a vigorous population, who live a
healthy, open-air life, and the injurious effects
upon them of frequently getting drunk are there
-
fore little or nothing. With regard to ganja,
one knows little of the religious ascetics who are
the chief consumers ; and I am not prepared to
say whether it is more or less injurious than
alcohol. I speak of alcohol in the form of toddy,
which I think is much more wholesome than
distilled liquor. Fully fermented toddy is about
as strong as London stout, as shown by experi
-
ments made a few years ago. I think increased
taxation of ganja would be highly impolitic. I
can hardly see how, apart from political reasons,
it could be beneficial. The consumer would be
prepared to spend a pice or two more upon it. It is
much cheaper to get intoxicated on ganja than on
liquor. I do not recommend increasing the cost
of the former, because the people who use it are
poorer than those who drink liquor. I never