CH. VIII.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 149
is allowed to sell is one anna a tola, and there is no minimum. The aver-
age price is probably much the same as that of the shops in the Presidency pro-
per. If the Bombay rate of 30 consumers to the maund be taken, the consumers
are about 3 per cent. of the population, or one man out of every 8 or 10. Con-
sidering the character of the population, composed to a great extent of Indian
sepoys and the followers of native regiments, the high figure is not surpris-
ing. There is reason to think that service abroad induces a more liberal con-
sumption of the hemp drugs among native regiments and their followers.
Sind and Khairpur.
Total consumption estimated of
bhang.
397. The average production of bhang in Sind and Khairpur is about 4,000
maunds. The statistics give the average retail sale of
the British districts as 4,539 maunds, and this does
not include the consumption of Karachi, for which district no figures of retail
sale are given. The population and circumstances of Karachi compared with
both those of Hyderabad justify the assumption that at least 500 maunds are
consumed in the former. The figure of total consumption of the province must be
raised by this amount, and by 1,000 according to the statistics for the State of
Khairpur. But looking to the population of Khairpur, this consumption appears
excessive, and the retail sale probably includes locally produced drug sold for
consumption in other districts of Sind. So also it is probable that the retail
sale of the Shikarpur district, where there is a considerable area of cultivation,
includes the drug which has been exported. This district has not as high a figure
of population as Hyderabad, and yet is credited with double the consumption.
Hyderabad has but a trifling area of cultivation, and its figures of retail sale are
probably a fairly accurate index of the consumption. They give one maund to
820 of the population, or say 800, allowing a few maunds for defective registration.
This rate applied to the whole population of Sind with Khairpur, about
3,000,000, gives a total consumption of 3,750 maunds, which approximates to the
estimate of production based on the area of cultivation. The statistics on a
six years' average show that about 650 maunds of bhang are imported, mostly
into the Shikarpur district. The estimated consumption, 3,750 maunds, therefore,
only falls short of the total supply, 4,650 maunds, by 900 maunds, which is not an
extravagant allowance for waste.
Individual allowance.
Number of regular consumers of
bhang.
398. The average price of bhang is about Re. 1 a sér, and the average daily
allowance 1 tola or about 4 sérs per annum. A maund
therefore supplies about 20 regular moderate consum-
ers. But the majority of the consumers take the drug only occasionally. The use in
Sind—certainly in Upper Sind—is very like that of the Punjab and Northern India,
where the beverage is drunk largely in the hot season, and to a comparatively small
extent in the cold. It is probable that not more than one-third of the consump-
tion can be credited to regular consumers, and that class would by this calcula-
tion number 1,250 x 20 = 25,000. The occasional consumers are very many times
more numerous, and may not improbably amount to between 5 and 10 per cent.
of the whole population. From this estimate the Thar and Parkar district is
excluded, where the use of the drug is much less common than in the other
districts of the province, its place being taken by opium.
Number of consumers of charas.
399. The retail sale of charas, making an allowance of 5 maunds for Karachi,
where there are no figures, is about 43 maunds. The
import, however, averages 70 maunds. The con-
sumption may be taken to be 50 maunds. The average daily allowance appears
38