ASSAM MEMORANDUM.
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be possible for us to vend ganja in the same way as we now vend opium. To
take this step would give us an increased hold over the vendors, and a possibi-
lity of influencing retail prices more effectually than at present. The experi-
ment is in fact being tried on a small scale in the Khasi Hills. But to
adopt it for the province at large, we should require the co-operation of the
Bengal Government. Probably the introduction of a similar system in Bengal
would be necessary. With regard to opium the system, as is well known, is for
Government to buy the opium from the cultivators, and to sell it directly after
manufacture to the retail vendors. Whether such a system can profitably be
applied to ganja is probably best known to the authorities in Rajshahi. In
practice the present system works fairly well: all reasonable facilities for the
sale of the drug are given, while it cannot be said that the number of shops
is such as to create an artificial demand for ganja. The one drawback of the
system lies in the violent vacillations in retail prices due to the forming and
breaking up of the combinations among the wholesale vendors.
Circular No. 28, dated Shillong, the 26th October 1882.
From—C. J. LYALL, ESQ., C.I.E., Offg. Secy. to the Chief Commissioner of Assam,
Revenue Department,
To—All Deputy Commissioners, Plains Districts.
I AM directed to invite your attention to the Notification No. 27, dated the 20th October,
published in the Assam Gazette of the 21st idem, declaring, under section 17A of the Excise
Act, VII (B.C.) of 1878, as amended by Act IV (B.C.) of 1881, that the possession without
a license of any "foreign exciseable article" (except spirituous and fermented liquors import-
ed by sea, and kept only for private use and consumption and not for sale) in any quantity
whatsoever, is absolutely prohibited in the plains districts of this province.
2. "Foreign exciseable article" is defined in section 3 of Act IV (B.C.) of 1881 so as to
include not only exciseable articles manufactured or produced at any place beyond the limits
of British India, but also all such articles produced or manufactured in places within British
India, where no duty of excise is levied upon them. Such places are the Hill Districts
in respect of country spirits and ganja, and the Act amending Act VII (B.C.) of 1878 was
passed mainly with the object of preventing injury to the excise revenue of the plains dis-
tricts from the introduction into them of untaxed spirits and ganja or bhang from the Garo,
Khasi and Jaintia, North Cachar, and Naga Hills. If in your district any such importation, or
importation from foreign territory, exists, you should take steps to make the prohibition widely
known and understood. Magisterial officers should of course, especially at the outset, deal
leniently with such cases of possession, where there is reason to believe that the importation was
made in ignorance of the prohibition. It must be understood that this notification does not make
the possession of wild ganja, whether green or dry, illegal, if it is grown in a plains district,
but only if grown in a hill district, or beyond the British boundary.
3. In connection with the discussions which have preceded the issue of this notification,
it has been brought to the Chief Commissioner's notice that the wild hemp plant, which
grows abundantly both in the hills and plains of this province, is largely used, after being cut
and dried, as a medicine for cattle. I am to invite your attention to sections 16 and 17,
rule 2 of Chapter XV of the Board's Rules, Vol. I., edition of 1878, which bear upon this
subject, and describe the different preparations of hemp which are "exciseable articles." Ganja
is said by the Board to be made from the dried flowers of the female hemp plant, and some
authorities say that it is only made from the cultivated plant. Bhang, again (which accord-
ing to the Board is otherwise called siddhi, patti, or sabji), is said by them to be made from
the dried leaves of the wild plant, and to be usually consumed in some liquid or to be
mixed with sugar and ghi in the electuary called majum. Charas is the resin found on the
flowers and leaves of the plant, in which the active intoxicating principle of all the prepara-
tions resides: it is not sufficiently abundant to be collected separately in most of the varieties
of hemp grown in India, and is chiefly imported from Afghanistan and Yarkand. Thus, the
danger to the excise revenue from the illicit use of wild hemp arises from its use as bhang,
not as ganja properly so called. Its cultivation without a license is already prohibited by
section 5 of the Excise Act. By section 2 of the Act the sale of bhang in any quantity
without a license is forbidden. By sections 15 and 17 of the Act the possession of a larger
quantity of bhang than a quarter of a seer, except by a licensed vendor, is prohibited.
4. But you will observe that in rule 2 of 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 pre-
paration of the plant to be used, stored and sold as a narcotic or stimulant is prohibited,
except under the rules framed under the Act." 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
as a 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 was so or not is of course
a question of fact.
5. This circular should be communicated to all judicial officers subordinate to you and.
also filed in the judicial side of your office.
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