CH. XIV.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 287
ganja. Apart from all this, there is another consideration which has been urged in
some quarters with a manifestation of strong feeling, and to which the Com-
mission are disposed to attach some importance, viz., that to repress the hemp
drugs in India and to leave alcohol alone would be misunderstood by a large
number of persons who believe, and apparently not without reason, that more harm
is done in this country by the latter than by the former. The conclusion of
the Commission regarding bhang has been given in paragraph 564; under all
the circumstances they now unhesitatingly give their verdict against such a
violent measure as total prohibition in respect of any of the hemp drugs.
Policy in regard to hemp drugs.
586. Failing prohibition, the question arises, what should be the policy of the
Government in regard to the hemp drugs ? On this
point some important evidence has been recorded,
and the Commission deem it to be within the scope of their duty to state in general
terms their own conclusions. In the first place, then, they are of opinion that in
view of the harmful effects produced by the excessive use, and in exceptional cases
even by the moderate use, of the drugs, the action of the Government should be
directed towards restraining the former and avoiding all encouragement to the
latter. The object should be to prevent the consumers, as far as may be possible,
from doing harm to themselves and to lessen the inducements to the formation of
the habit which might lead to such harm. In aiming at this object, however, other
considerations need to be kept in view. There is in the first place the question of
illicit consumption. If the restriction imposed by Government is counterbalanced
by a corresponding increase in smuggling, no advantage is gained, but, on the
contrary, a moral wrong is done to the community apart from the annoyance
necessitated by such restrictions. Then, if there is a legitimate use of the drugs,
restrictions should not be such as to make the exercise of this use impossible.
The Commission have formed the opinion that there is a legitimate use of the
hemp drugs, and that it exists generally among the poorest of the population.
Again, if the restrictions lead to the use of more deleterious substances, or even
drive the people from a habit the evil of which is known to another of which the
evil may be greater, they are no longer justifiable. The policy of Government
must be tempered by all these considerations, and the neglect of any one of
them may lead to serious error.
Objection to raising revenue from
hemp drugs.
587. In this connection an objection to the present system, which has been
raised by some few of the witnesses, deserves a brief
notice. They have laid down the maxim that the Gov-
ernment should not derive revenue from the vices of the people, and starting from
this theory they condemn the taxation of the hemp drugs. Now, if the habit of
using the hemp drugs were so disastrous as to call for suppression, and such sup-
pression were possible, the conclusion would be just. But this is not the Commis-
sion's view, and the policy which the Government has generally adopted of
restricting the use by taxation is in their opinion the right one. Taxation by itself
does not imply encouragement, though the methods by which it is raised may, if
not guarded, tend to encouragement. And this is perhaps the tendency which
the witnesses above alluded to mean to criticise.
As regards the taxing
of intoxicants generally, the Commission cannot do better than quote from
a standard work on political economy by Professor Henry
Sidgwick
(Chapter VIII, paragraph 7): "Generally speaking, it is desirable to select