CH. XIII.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 259
states that "running amok is always the result of excessive indulgence" in hemp
drugs; but under cross-examination he says: "I have never had experience of
such a case. I only state what I have heard." These witnesses also are typi-
cal of a considerable class, who refer to hearsay, to rumour, and to newspapers
as the basis of their opinion.
Many others, like Mr. Cooke, Commissioner of Orissa (Bengal witness No.
8), base their opinion on what they have heard of the history of criminal lunatics
in asylums, and really speak only of acts of violence due to mania. One witness
exposes this fallacy very simply: "I have never seen any instance of unpreme-
ditated crime committed by a consumer, except that mad men sometimes grow
violent." Such cases are clearly irrelevant to the question immediately under
discussion. But there are a good number of witnesses who thus confound cases
of violence occurring in the course of established insanity with unpremeditated
crime incited by drugs. Instances are thus given of acts of violence committed
in the asylum where the lunatic is confined. Some witnesses are even content
to quote the fact of mania characterized by violence without any particular
offence being committed as establishing this alleged connection between hemp
drugs and violent crime.
Some witnesses again base their opinion on a purely casual connection
between the use of the drugs and the commission of crime. Thus Mr. Hugh
Fraser (North-Western Provinces witness No. 8) spoke in his written paper of
many crimes "committed under the influence of ganja." In his oral examination
he asked that the word "while" should be inserted; and added: "I do not attri-
bute the crime to the consumption of the drug. I cannot recall the details
of any of these cases." This is certainly very different from the impression
which his written answer conveyed. A Bengal witness goes even further in this
direction. He says: "I know of two cases in which two ganja smokers com-
mitted murders, one for gain, and the other in heat of provocation."
There is another class of witnesses who do not profess at all to require any
basis of fact for their opinion. They speculate on the probabilities. They are
content to reply that hemp drugs "weaken the brain and may lead to crime," or
"I can imagine their doing so in the same way as excess of alcohol in an indivi-
dual of a naturally violent temperament, but not in a peaceful subject."
Cases referred to.
548. All this tends greatly to lessen the weight of the evidence in support of
the affirmative answer to this question, and to streng-
then the impression that it is but rarely that exces-
sive indulgence in hemp drugs can be credited with inciting to crime or leading
to homicidal frenzy. All witnesses have been asked whether they know of cases
of homicidal frenzy. The cases quoted are, however, very few. They have all
been carefully considered by the Commission. As already stated, a few witness-
es have mentioned cases which are admittedly mere outbreaks of established
insanity. These cases are excluded. Two Punjab cases mentioned by Colonel
Tucker (witness No. 28) and Mr. C. Brown (witness No. 29), in which Ghazis
and Kukas are stated merely to have fortified themselves by bhang for a fanati-
cal attack on their enemies, have also been excluded. Finally, four cases which
occurred beyond British territory in feudatory states have also been excluded.
With these exceptions, all the cases mentioned by witnesses answering question
53 have been abstracted and compiled in a tabular form in Vol. III Appendices.