CH. I.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
7
than was at first anticipated.
During this tour this Commission as a
whole, or in some cases Sub-Committees of the Commission, visited the head-
quarters of some of the more important Native States to make arrangements
for the collection of information in these States as desired by the Government
of India. Opportunity was also taken by the Commission at this period of their
inquiries to get at facts and opinions in an informal way; and with this object in
view many visits were made by the Commission, or by members of the Com-
mission (generally unexpectedly and under the guidance of private persons as
well as of officials), to see cultivation and manufacture of hemp drugs, to ware-
houses and to shops where these drugs are stored and sold, and to religious
places and other places of resort where the drugs are consumed in some form or
other. The results of these inquiries were sometimes recorded in notes, and some-
times in the statements of persons who were then added to the list of witnesses.
Inquiries were also held at many asylums, as will be explained in the following
paragraph, which deals with the special inquiries made by the Commission in this
direction.
Lunatic Asylums.
9. The Commission were especially enjoined to thoroughly examine the testi-
mony in support of the commonly received opinion
that the use of hemp drugs is a frequent cause of
lunacy, and with this object have made very searching inquiries. In order to
make this very important branch of their labours as complete and searching as
possible, the procedure adopted in the different asylums of India in classifying
and dealing with cases of insanity ascribed to the use of hemp drugs was specially
examined, and the connection, whether causal or otherwise, between hemp drugs
and insanity was investigated in minute detail. Every asylum in British India
was visited either by the Commission or by some members of the Commis-
sion, and careful inquiries were conducted on the spot in every case of insanity
attributed to the use of hemp drugs for a given period. The period selected for
the whole of India was the calendar year 1892, the last year for which statistics
were available at the commencement of the Commission's labours. Every case
of insanity ascribed to hemp drugs in the asylums of India during the year
1892 has been specially inquired into in the asylum where the patient was
confined, the papers and records of the case have been thoroughly examined,
and instructions were issued to have a further local inquiry made by an ex-
perienced Magistrate, in consultation with the Civil Surgeon, to ascertain the past
personal and family history of the patient and any circumstances likely to throw
light on the cause of his insanity. The record of this inquiry, where made, has
been submitted to the Commission through the Superintendent of the asylum
concerned, who has thus had an opportunity of reconsidering the case with
fuller information before him on which to base an opinion as to the cause of
the insanity. Further, the statistics of insanity and the method of preparing
and compiling these statistics have been subjected to a rigid scrutiny, and
no opportunity has been lost of obtaining the evidence of medical experts,
including Government officers, private practitioners of all classes, and Superin-
tendents of Lunatic Asylums and their subordinates, as well as of non-profes-
sional persons, as to the relation between hemp drugs and insanity. The
Commission have endeavoured to investigate and weigh the popular as well as
the scientific view of this subject.