338 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. XVI.
to be higher than in the case of ganja. But upon the whole the Commission
think that the two products, ganja and bhang, are sufficiently distinct, and that
no great objection exists to allowing a higher maximum. They would therefore
recommend that 5 tolas for ganja or charas and 20 tolas or 1/4 sér for bhang be
regarded as the proper maxima for all provinces, and that as opportunity offers
all Native States be advised to accept these limits. There is certainly some
advantage, considering how British territory is interlaced with Native State
territory, in having one standard in this respect for the whole of India.
Taxation of hemp drugs according to strength.
691. In the case of the excise of spirits, the duty is levied on the alcoholic
content of the liquid as determined by the
percentage of proof spirit present, and, in
view of the varying amount of resin extraction present in different qualities of
hemp drugs (on which the narcotic value depends), it might be argued that
the equitable mode of levying duty would be by the adoption of a sliding
scale, the duty varying with the percentage of resin extraction present. But
there are at present practical difficulties against the adoption of such a system.
The physiological value of the resin extraction present in all samples is not
similar; and, though two specimens may contain precisely the same percent-
age of resin extraction, it does not follow that the narcotic power of the drugs
would be equal, and also that the percentage of extraction in the drugs may vary
from year to year. The Commission, therefore, make no recommendation
regarding the taxation of hemp drugs according to their strength.
Burma.
History of prohibition.
692. The province of Burma stands on a different footing from that
of any other province, inasmuch as the hemp drugs
are entirely prohibited. This prohibition was put
into force in the year 1873 and embodied in the Excise Act, 1881. The Chief Com-
missioner has power to grant special licenses for cultivation, sale, and possession
of the drugs; but the power has not been used. The prohibition arose out of the
inquiry made by the Government of India in 1871. Sir Ashley Eden, then Chief
Commissioner, recorded the following remarks regarding ganja in his review of
the Excise Report for 1870-71: "The sale of this article is prohibited at Ram-
ree, Sandoway, Tavoy, and Mergui, and the Chief Commissioner considers that
no further addition should be made to the number of places for the sale of this
pernicious drug, which is smoked only by the natives of India. Indeed, he would
be glad to have the opinion of the Commissioners as to the possibility of with-
drawing all licenses for the sale of ganja throughout the province. Its use is at
present happily little known to the people of the country; at the same time there
is every reason to fear that a taste for it may be spread among them by the people
of India as in the case of opium. It certainly seems to the Chief Commissioner
that it is very desirable to at once sacrifice the small revenue derived from this
source and stop the consumption absolutely before the evil comes upon the
country. The only sufferers from the cessation of the supply will be a few of the
Indian labourers who come to work here during the rice season. They must
learn to take the want of ganja as one of the discomforts of a sojourn in a foreign
land, for which they are amply compensated by the large earnings they obtain.
The Chief Commissioner observes that the percentage of persons admitted to