CH. VI.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 103
through the Punjab. Mr. Stoker reports that some of it passes into British
Kumaon and Garhwal.
273. It will be seen from the above detailed description that bhang, whether
Summary.
produced by the cultivated or wild plant, is prepared
by simple drying. The processes by which ganja is
prepared consist of pressing, drying, and removal of leaf. The manufacture is
most perfect in Bengal. In other provinces it is not characterized by the same
degree of care, and one or other of the three essential features of the manufacture
is more or less neglected. Ganja collected from the wild plant and from the
bhang crops of Sind, and probably also that yielded by stray cultivation, is simply
dried. There are only two methods of preparing charas which appear to be used
when the drug is produced on any considerable scale, viz., that by rubbing the
flower heads with the hands as in Kumaon and Nepal, and that described as being
practised in Yarkand, which may be called the garda method, and consists in
beating the plant over cloth, and manipulating the dust that is thus deposited. The
collection of the resin adhering to hands and implements in the course of harvest¬
ing ganja is worth remembering, for it is proved in Gwalior and Bombay. The prac¬
tice of the Malwa Bhils is perhaps established. Other methods are unimportant,
and the common report that charas is collected by men dressed in leather moving
about in the hemp crops has not been definitely located. It is doubtful if this
device is employed anywhere in India.
The results of the analyses of various samples of the drugs, which have been
prepared at the request of the Commission, are shown in Vol. III Appendices.
274. Regarding the question whether hemp drugs deteriorate or not by keeping,
the Commission, for reasons which will be explained
later, are unable to state definitely the precise period
for which the drugs will retain unimpaired their full narcotic power under ordinary
conditions of storage. A large number of witnesses have tendered evidence rela¬
tive to the question whether hemp drugs deteriorate or not by keeping. The general
tenor of the evidence is to the effect that the fresher the drugs, the better. Regard¬
ing ganja, Mr. K. G. Gupta, Excise Commissioner, Bengal, states that the drug is
"much valued during the first year; less so in two years—in fact, is not sold
after the first year if new ganja is available; absolutely unsaleable after two years."
Two years may perhaps be assigned as the limit during which the drug is popularly
believed to retain its narcotic properties without any very material impairment.
Some witnesses, however, give a longer period. The retention of properties
without deterioration of course very largely depends on the care exercised in
storage.
Bhang being relatively far cheaper than the other hemp drugs, and owing to
its being easily procurable for the mere plucking in a large number of districts, is
probably not stored to the same extent as ganja. Mr. Gupta appears to place the
limit for retention of properties between three and four years; and he makes an
interesting remark to the effect that the value of bhang as a medicine is enhanced
by age. Salig Ram, Punjab Witness No. 88, a drug contractor, states that freshly
cut bhang produces great heat and is very intoxicating, while in the third year its
intoxicating properties are lessened, and it goes bad.
Deterioration of hemp drugs.