18
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
[APP.
ASSAM MEMORANDUM.
Both cultivated and wild hemp are consumed in this province. The cultivated hemp is
entirely imported from Rajshahi in the form of flat, round, choor ganja by licensed wholesale
vendors, who place the drug in registered warehouses, and the duty is paid by retail vendors
when the ganja is taken from the registered warehouses. The vend of charas and bhang is
at the present moment forbidden in Assam, no licenses having been taken out. The use and
sale of wild hemp as an intoxicant is forbidden. But the possession of wild hemp as a medi-
cine for cattle is permitted by a circular issued in 1882, a copy of which is enclosed. The wild
plant grows freely in all parts of the province and especially in the hill tracts by dwellers in
which it is illicitly sold in small quantities to the neighbouring plains people. It is also
grown in the Bhutan Hills and is sold privily in small quantities when the Bhutias come
down to trade in the cold weather. Similarly, men from Independent Tipperah sell the wild
plant to the inhabitants of Sylhet. No pains are taken, it is believed, to extirpate the male
plants by people who deal in wild hemp, of which the leaves and stalks as well as the flowers
are sold. 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 cheap-
ness of wild hemp, and the great facilities for its use. But the excise administration of this
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. On the whole, the consumption of
wild hemp is small, is effectually checked by prosecutions from time to time, and cannot, I
think, be checked in any other way. The wild plant is used by habitual consumers only as a
pis aller, and when their supply of the excise ganja runs short. I do not think any more need
be said about the wild plant.
2. With regard to excise ganja, we only use the three varieties above mentioned, and in
our dealings with them are entirely guided by the excise system of the neighbouring province
of Bengal. All our excise ganja comes to us from Bengal, and is dealt with in accordance
with the Bengal Board of Revenue's Excise Manual. The three districts of Sylhet, Cachar,
and Goalpara, in the matter of ganja consumption, entirely resemble the adjacent Bengal
districts of Mymensing, Tipperah, and Rangpur. In the five districts of Assam proper, name-
ly, Kamrup, Darrang, Nowgong, Sibsagar, and Lakhimpur, and in the three hill districts,
namely, the Garo, Khasi, and Naga Hills, ganja is consumed chiefly by foreigners. The inha-
bitants of the first five districts are perhaps the largest consumers of opium in India; and in
spite of the great decrease of opium shops, and the enormous increase in retail prices which
our excise system has brought about, ganja has not, to any considerable extent, taken the
place of opium. But these five districts contain about half the tea gardens of the province,
and consequently possess a large immigrant population—men from Behar, Chota Nagpur, the
North-Western Provinces, &c., who are many of them habitual consumers of ganja. In the
three hill districts ganja is chiefly consumed by imported servants of the State—sepoys, police
constables, &c. The duty on ganja, as I have already said, is the same as that in Bengal.
The varying retail prices are regulated by (1) the cost of importation (which is very heavy in
the hill districts); (2) by license fees, which are fixed by putting up each retail shop to auc-
tion sale. The results of sale usually agree roughly with the local demand and the probabi-
lities of making a profit. Occasionally, however, a combination is formed among the bidders
for keeping down prices. In such cases, it has occasionally been found necessary to let a
whole district to a monopolist. This expedient is, however, very rarely adopted, inasmuch as
it leads to an enormous increase in the retail prices and a consequent encouragement to smug-
gling and the use of the wild plant. This preface will probably make the following answers
to the questions proposed by the Commission complete and readily intelligible:—
(a) The vend of the drug throughout the province is carried on under one uniform sys-
tem under the general supervision of the Commissioner of Excise. The district
administration is carried on by the respective Deputy Commissioners assisted
by the Sub-Divisional Officers within the boundaries of their respective charges.
No separate coercive establishment is kept up, and enquiry into the breaches of
the Excise Law is made chiefly through the police. The Act in force is Act
VII (B.C.) of 1878, as amended by Act IV (B.C.) of 1881, and also Act I
(B.C.) of 1883 and the rules and circulars issued by the Bengal Board of Revenue
under that Act. I append a list of circulars (with an abstract of their subject-
matter) issued by the Chief Commissioner and by the Commissioner of Excise,
Assam, for this province exclusively.
(b) I have already stated the extent to which wild hemp grows in this province and the
steps taken to control its use. A perusal of Circular No. 28 of 1882, above
alluded to, will make this quite clear.
(c) The cultivation of hemp for the production of drugs is entirely forbidden.
(d) Ganja is imported by licensed wholesale vendors, who hold licenses to open regis-
tered warehouses. These warehouses are under double lock and key, one key
being in the hands of a Government officer, the other in those of the vendor.
Ganja is imported, as in Bengal, under passes issued by the District or Sub-
Divisional Officer, a fee of Rs. 2 being charged for each pass. When a retail