84
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
[APP.
Nothing is known of the extent to which wild hemp is found in the presidency, nor of its
use for preparation of bhang or other narcotics.
The average yield of ganja from the best description of plant is 41/2 visses or 221/2 seers of
24 tolas. The ordinary plant is not, however, so prolific as this, and the average yield may be
set down at 2 visses or 10 seers of 24 tolas.
As remarked in paragraph 8 supra, the cultivation of the hemp plant is unrestricted
throughout the presidency.
11. Intoxicating drugs prepared from the hemp plant.—The drugs usually manufact
in this presidency from the plant are of three main descriptions—
(1) Ganja.
(2) Bhang.
(3) Majum.
Other preparations from the hemp plant, such as poornadhi laghium, ramarasam bhoja,
sabja, mathai, sakkarai, billai, and alwah are more or less local synonyms of one or other of
the,above 3 preparations.
Ganja, bhang, and majum are prepared in various ways, the chief only of which will be
noticed below:—
Ganja is a preparation of the dried flowers of the female hemp plant, usually reduced to
powder in the palm of the hand by being rubbed with the thumb of the other hand. It is
generally mixed with tobacco and smoked in a "chilam" or "hooka."
Bhang is prepared from the dried leaves of the male hemp plant and is usually taken
as a beverage after being ground into a paste and then dissolved in some liquid, milk or water,
with spices, pepper, ginger, &c.
Majum is a confection made of ganja boiled in milk and then mixed with ghee and
sugar.
Charas, the resinous exudation from the stems, leaves, and flowers, is used but very rarely
in this presidency.
12. Other preparations of intoxicating drugs.—In Ganjam and Bellary, a drink calle
mathath is prepared by mixing hemp flowers with opium. Mathana-kamaswaram,
and p
are medicinal preparations made from the leaves of the plant rendered palatable by the admix-
ture of sugar, spices, ghee, milk, &c. The former is reported to be in use in Ganjam and the
latter in Tinnevelly.
The manufacture of intoxicating drugs is not forbidden in any part of the presidency,
nor is it subject to any rules or restrictions.
13. Import, export, and transport.—Enquiries made since 1886 tend to show that ther
very little or no export or import as defined in the Madras Abkari Act. but merely transport
between districts. The only provinces or States from which intoxicating drugs are imported
are Hyderabad, Bastar, and Banganapalle; exports are made to Ceylon, Mysore, Hyderabad,
and Cochin territory. Transport between districts within the presidency is not uncommon.
The above information cannot, in the absence of trustworthy statistics, be regarded as reli-
able. No pass duty is levied on import, export, or transport of these drugs, and without some
such check there is no means of obtaining reliable information about the traffic in the drugs.
There is no recognized class of importers.
14. Vague complaints of smuggling from the Ganjam district to the adjoining district
of Pooree, as also from the feudatory States of the Madras Presidency into the Central
Provinces, were received from the Commissioner of Excise, Orissa, and the Chief Commissioner,
Central Provinces, respectively. But on inquiry it was found that the smuggling complained
of by the Orissa authorities was not from this presidency. As regards the alleged smuggling
from the feudatory States its very existence was not seriously asserted in the complaint
and special action was not considered necessary, as the smuggling, if any such existed, was
considered of too trifling a nature to render any preventive measures with the consequent
expense justifiable.
*Rs. 45 in Madras and Rs. 30 else-
where.
15. Sale.—The sale of intoxicating drugs is, as already pointed out in the introductory
remarks, subject to restrictions and placed under control, only those who are licensed vendors
being allowed to carry on sales. An exception is, however, made in case of cultivators who
are allowed to sell their produce wholesale to persons to whom the privilege of vend has been
granted (section 15 of Act I of 1886). Prior to 1st April 1891 and subsequent to 1889
licenses for sale were issued on payment of fixed fees, but this system having been found to
entail considerable difficulty and loss of time on Collectors in the choice of applicants and to
be unduly advantageous to licensees, it was superseded by the present system of auction sales
with the former license fees* as upset prices. In Madras
town shopkeepers have also to take out a license on payment
of Re. 1 from the Commissioner of Police under Act III of
1888 merely with a view to ensuring good conduct and orderly behaviour in the shops.