296 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. XV.
except in the case of charas, half the duty on which is levied at the time of taking
out the pass for the importation of the drug.
The importance of the ganja traffic in Bengal may be gathered from the
fact that in the year 1892-93 1,510 maunds were exported to other provinces and
5,451 maunds paid duty, amounting to Rs. 12,80,631. The license fees for retail
sale of ganja amounted to Rs. 11,05,435 in addition. The total revenue from
charas, of which only 11 maunds 26 sérs paid duty, was Rs. 9,097, and from
bhang, of which 1,033 maunds paid duty, Rs. 53,558.
Assam.
Law in force.
602. The law in force in Assam is the same as in Bengal, and the Bengal
Excise Manual is followed.
Supply of the drugs.
603. There is no licensed cultivation of hemp for the production of
the drugs. Excise ganja is supplied from Bengal
under pass, and pays duty in the province. The
vend of charas and bhang is practically forbidden, as no licenses for
their sale have been taken out.
Wild hemp grows spontaneously in
many parts of the province, and especially in the hill tracts. The offi-
ciating Excise Commissioner says: "There is nothing to show that the
trade in the wild plant is sufficiently large to compete seriously with excise
ganja, unless possibly in the Khasi Hills, where the continuous decrease in
the consumption of the Rajshahi drug can, I think, only be attributed to
the cheapness of wild hemp and the great facilities for its use. The excise
administration of the district is attended by abnormal difficulties owing to
the fact that the Khasi Hills are parcelled out into the territories of many
semi-independent chiefs. The wild plant is used by habitual consumers
only as a pis aller, and when their supply of the excise ganja runs short."
This view is not shared by the Excise Commissioner, Mr. Driberg, who says: "I
think this so-called wild hemp affects our revenue very considerably. It is used
by certain consumers, and is also mixed by vendors with excise ganja and sold."
Mr. Driberg states that he does not think there is any such thing as wild ganja.
As a rule the plant is found in lands occupied by the owner's homestead. From
this he infers that the growth is very ordinarily surreptitious. He thinks that the
practice of Deputy Commissioners in treating this growth as unlicensed cultivation
differs considerably. A circular issued by the Chief Commissioner in October 1882
contains a ruling which appears to be the cause of this diversity of practice.
The concluding portion runs as follows: "You will observe that in rule 2, section
17, of Chapter XV, of the Board's Rules it is said that 'no restriction is imposed
on the use of the hemp plant in its green state for medical or other purposes,
or on its manipulation for the manufacture of fibre. But any preparation of the
plant to be used, stored, and sold as a narcotic or stimulant is prohibited except
under the rules framed by the administration.' This rule mentions the medicinal use
of the plant only 'in its green state;' but if, as appears to be the case, the wild
hemp is also used for medicine for cattle when dried, the Chief Commissioner
desires that the rule may be liberally interpreted, and no penalty imposed when
it is probable that the cultivation or the drying and storing of it was only for this
purpose. Whether this is so or not is a question of fact." Mr. Driberg, whose
experience of Assam is unique, does not believe that the plant is used to any