132 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. VIII.
Number of consumers estimated.
345. A fair average consumption for the whole province, exclusive of the
Native States, is 5,000 maunds, and this suffices for
400,000 smokers at the above allowance. The number
of smokers in the total population of 71,271,000 is thus something over one-
half per cent. In Calcutta and the 24-Parganas together the smokers number
more than 2 per cent. of the population. In the heavy consuming districts of
Dacca, Mymensingh, and Bhagalpur they are about 1 per cent. In only a few
other districts in the divisions of Rajshahi, Bhagalpur, Patna, and Orissa do
they exceed one-half per cent. Smoking is practically confined to adult males.
Assuming that these are one-quarter of the total population, the smokers do not
number more than one man in 50 over the whole province. The above calcu-
lation of the daily and yearly allowance does not probably err on the side of ex-
cess, and it follows that the estimate of the number of consumers is rather over
than under the mark. It is to be noted that Babu Hem Chunder Kerr estimated
the consumption per head at 11/2 sérs per annum, or three times the amount here
adopted. At the average price of ganja, Rs. 20 per sér, the Commission's esti-
mate of half a sér is equivalent to a yearly expenditure of Rs. 10, and it is not
likely that the poor people, who form the great bulk of the consumers, could
afford more than this amount.
Extent of use of bhang.
346. The use of bhang does not admit of a similar survey being made, because
the wild plant grows in such quantity over a large
part of the province, and passes into consumption
freely without the intervention of the Excise Department. Excised bhang is sold in
eight out of the nine divisions, the exception being Rajshahi; but in three other
divisions—Dacca, Chittagong, and Orissa—the quantity is quite insignificant:
In the Bhagalpur Division the sale is probably confined to the towns of Mon-
ghyr, Bhagalpur, and Deoghur in the Sonthal Parganas, which is a religious
resort, and, all told, it is very small. There is an appreciable amount sold in
Hazaribagh and Palamau of the Chota Nagpur Division, which would seem to
show either that the hemp plant is not cultivated in the States of that Agency
to any great extent, or that, if cultivated, it is not easily accessible to the people
of these districts. From the evidence of direct restriction in these States, the
former of these alternatives appears to be the fact. In the Burdwan Division also
there is a certain sale. But Calcutta with the 24-Parganas, Patna, and Gaya are
the only places where the excised drug finds any considerable market. There is
a large sale in Shahabad of the Patna Division. The Collector's evidence would
show that in this district, which contains the important city of Arrah, the hemp
habit is more than commonly prevalent. But it is probable that, as in the case
of ganja, there is some export to the North-Western Provinces.
Use of bhang in parts of the prov-
ince.
347. The evidence shows that the occasional use of bhang in the form of
drink is almost universal with Hindus, and that its
regular use is uncommon among the inhabitants of
Lower Bengal, but very prevalent among the people of Upper India. The habit
is accordingly found to increase towards the frontier of the North-Western
Provinces. All that the statistics can be held to show is that there is no sale for
the excised drug where the wild growth is abundant. They are no guide as
to the comparative prevalence of the habit in various parts of the province.
Such deductions as can be made in the districts where the wild growth is absent
or rare confirm the evidence that the habit of bhang drinking is uncommon