CH. VIII.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 145
preparations, as well as the sweetmeats and electuaries, are made from ganja.
Preparations of the latter class occupy a much more prominent place in the
evidence of witnesses than they do in other parts of India, and this would sug-
gest that they are in more common use.
The statistics of retail sale do
not show the full consumption of
ganja.
383. The statistics furnished by the Madras Government give 67,000 sérs as
the retail sale of ganja for 1892-93. It has been
ascertained that these are sérs of 80 tolas, and the
registered consumption is therefore 1,675 Indian maunds. In a previous chapter
it was estimated that the share of the Madras produce which stayed at home
was 3,500 maunds. A considerable reduction has to be made from this on
account of waste to arrive at the amount which actually goes into consumption.
The general tenor of the Madras evidence must also be noted. The same
general unfamiliarity on the part of the witnesses with the facts relating to con-
sumption which has been found more or less all over India exists in Madras also,
and perhaps to a greater degree. The returns of retail sales obtained from the
shops cannot represent more than a portion of the consumption of the Presidency,
for there is ample evidence to show that the drug is freely handed about, and it
has been admitted in official reports that the consumption is much larger than
was supposed.
Use of ganja in different parts of
the Presidency.
384. The figures of retail sale place the districts in the following order as
regards their rate of consumption: Madras, Kistna,
Trichinopoly, Bellary, North Arcot, Tanjore, Mala-
bar, Vizagapatam, Godavari, South Arcot, Madura, Salem, Cuddapah, South
Canara, Coimbatore, Nellore, Tinnevelly, Chingleput, Ganjam, Anantapur, and
Kurnool (Nilgiris no figures furnished). The evidence leaves the impression that
the use is most common in the Northern Circars and gradually diminishes to the
south until the Nilgiris are reached, where, according to some witnesses, the
percentage of consumers on the population is high. The statistics and the
evidence, therefore, do not agree; for, according to the former, Ganjam takes
a very low place, while some southern districts are high on the list. It appears,
however, from the evidence that the people of the northern hill tracts prefer
opium, and consume little of the hemp drugs. The latter are used principally
in Vizianagram and the seaport towns. The non-consuming population of the
hill tracts would materially affect the rate of consumption as deduced from the
figures. Kistna may owe its high position to other than strictly retail sales, as it
is a district of production, and the same may be the case with North Arcot.
Trichinopoly and Bellary have troops and probably heavy consumption in the
cities to account for their retail sales being high. The position of Malabar is
justified by the evidence as to the use in that part of the Presidency. The
consumption of the City of Madras is probably indicated with fair accuracy by
the figure of retail sale. It is lower than that of Bombay, which again is lower
than that of Calcutta, the figures being—
Calcutta, one maund to
1,400
Bombay
"
"
2,300
Madras
"
"
4,900
The number of consumers of
ganja.
385. Looking to the cheapness and comparative inferiority of Madras
ganja, the average yearly allowance of the habitual
consumer cannot be put at less than one full sér
of 80 tolas, and the total number of regular consumers in the Presidency
37