CH. XIV.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 275
that the privation to the consumers would not be serious, and that it is difficult to
suggest any drug more deleterious than ganja to which they could take. The
Society contends that the alleged religious sanction to the use of the drugs is a
fallacy, and refers to the opinions of several pandits in support of this view. The
Society argues that to meet the deficit in the revenue, which would be about 24
lakhs per annum, the salaries of European officers should be cut down, the duties
on cotton goods re-imposed, and the income-tax increased with an enhanced
taxable minimum. Savings would be effected by reduction of establishment and
by decreased cost of lunatic asylums.
(236) Secretary, Band of Hope Temperance Society, Faridpur, Babu
Purna Chandra Maitra:
"This Society begs to urge upon the Commission
to consider the justice and propriety of a just, benign, and Christian Government
to allow cultivation and sale of a drug which has been excluded from some countries,
and in England doubly protected in the poison list." The witness argues that the
drug "has been unreservedly condemned by eminent doctors as one of the most
dangerous poisons known, as the most potent cause of lunacy, and as the most
pernicious and deleterious of all excitants ever in use in any country." He ad-
mits that there are a number of jogis, sanyasis, fakirs, and mendicants addicted
to ganja smoking, but states that ganja smoking forms no part of their religion,
and there is not a single Hindu or Muhammadan religious book which sanctions
the use of ganja. "No real disaffection can under the benign rule of the British
Government be seriously apprehended, and, even in the event of there being such
apprehension, the fact should not be lost sight of that the Government in this
case will have the support of the bulk of the population." He alleges that ganja
produces crime, and that the taxation, amounting to 22 lakhs, is a drain on the
poverty-stricken and half-famished people of Bengal. He finds it difficult to
suggest a substitute for ganja, but liquor may be one, and a peculiar prepara-
tion of strong tobacco may also serve the purpose.
(134) Secretary to Bogra Medical Society (10 members), Pyari Sanker
Dass Gupta, L. M. S.: "The prohibition will give rise to no political danger.
For the ganja smokers have very little influence over society. The Government
has faced questions of a greater religious character, as the Suttee or the Age of
Consent Act, with boldness. This is comparatively a minor question affecting
only depraved men."
(203) Rev. W. B. Phillips, Missionary.: "What with liquor and opium
and hemp drugs of various kinds, all licensed by Government, it does seem as if
the population were terribly exposed to degrading influences. It is not my prov-
ince to face the difficult task of dealing with these evils; and I sincerely sympa-
thize with the Government in the heavy duty of solving the grave problems involved.
But I do feel it my duty to set forth as strongly as possible the assurance that very
much mischief is being worked in the country by the various intoxicants so
freely and largely sold. I hardly care to distinguish between opium, alcohol, and
ganja. I regard them all as bad. My mind is so impressed with the evil effects
of excessive use that I do not care to consider the moderate use. I would wish
Government to begin with ganja, to proceed with little delay against opium, and
then tackle alcohol. I prefer this as a matter of policy, as ganja is easiest dealt
with. I am prepared to prohibit all three intoxicants on account of the evil
which I see done by them."