29
(b) Yes; in the manner noted above.
(c) No, except in so far as these may be asso-
ciated with asthma or chronic bronchitis.
(d) It does not cause dysentery, but may be-
come a factor in the production of bronchitis or
asthma, as stated above.
(e) No.
(f) I am unaware of any case in which the
habitual moderate use of bhang, ganja or charas
produced or tended to produce insanity.
46. (a) I have known no case of habitual exces-
sive use of these drugs in this regiment. Speaking
generally, however, the effects of bhang, ganja
and charas, when they are consumed in excess,
are noxious-physically, mentally and morally;
charas being perhaps the most objectionable form.
(b) They provoke debility and emaciation, and
in the forms of ganja and charas, chronic bron-
chitis and asthma.
(c) Yes; both.
(d) It would appear that they never induce
dysentery, but the smoking of ganja and charas
does cause asthma and chronic bronchitis.
(e) Yes; they would seem to lead to all these
results.
(f) The habitual excessive use of these drugs
dulls and impairs the intellect; I have, however,
no experience of their relations with insanity.
49. Yes.
51. None.
53, 54 and 55. No.
Answer No. 41.
20. (a) Combatants 910 (caste Gurkha).
(c) Authorised camp-followers 33 (23 Hindus,
10 sweeper caste).
No men in the battalion smoke ganja, and only
a very few, probably three or four of the Gurkha-
damahis, habitually smoke charas.
In the cold season it is consumed by perhaps
something like 50 men, and occasionally when on
service in Burma and Lushai.
24. None.
25. Rather on the decrease since the establish-
ment of a battalion canteen.
28. Each man smokes about a tola's weight,
its cost being one pice.
32. I know of no religious or social custom in
connection with the consumption of these drugs
that are observed by any of the men of this
battalion.
33. An habitual consumer of charas becomes
slack in every sense as a soldier; his senses and
perceptions become dulled, and if persisted in, he
usually breaks down. Such men are naturally
looked down upon by their comrades. There is
no worship of the hemp plant amongst Gurkhas.
Kumaonis and
other hill-men on certain
occasions place the hemp plant soaked in milk and
sugar on the idol of Mahadeo.
39. The hemp plant in this battalion is only
smoked in conjunction with native tobacco. It is
never in any form drunk by the Gurkha.
41. The moderate use of the charas ration once
a day is held by the men to be an antifebrine.
42. If strictly in moderation, and in regard to
the men who take it, I am inclined to believe the
use of these drugs would not be attended with any
harm.
43. They are.
45. (1) In my experience it is never habitually
used in moderate quantity. There is a craving to
increase the dose, and it injuriously affects the
consumer, physically, mentally and morally.
(2) It causes indigestion, which is followed by
emaciation, and predisposes to bronchitic affections.
(3) It does.
(4) It is the principal cause of insanity, as
observed by me, in this country. It is a powerful
exciting cause. The monomania induced by it is
not permanent, if the subject is debarred the
use of the drug. Re-indulgence in the drug will
re-induce the insanity. The symptoms are not
typical, but an examination of the hands of the
insane, if addicted to hemp, will show the usual
stains; but apart from that, the craving for the
drug induces the subject to confess to the habit.
(5) I do not think indulgence is in any measure
due to want of self-control through a congenitally
weak intellect.
(6) My knowledge of the drug as above stated
has been acquired in civil practice, and not among
the men of my regiment.
46. My views are fully expressed in my answer
to the previous question.
[Questions 45 and 46 answered by Medical
Officer].
49. Not in this battalion.
51. There is such an utter absence of crime
amongst Gurkhas, who, as I have said, with very
few exceptions, do not indulge in narcotics, that I
could not say to what extent our bad characters are
affected. My Subadar Major sums up by saying
that the constant use of these drugs rather tends
to unnerve a man, which is only to be expected.
53. No. I do not think so, but ganja and
bhang, I believe, might have such a tendency. I
have never known a case in this regiment which
could be attributed to indulgence in any exciting
drugs.
54. Gurkhas assuredly require no Dutch cour-
age; if a man has made up his mind to commit a
violent crime, he would more likely do so on the spur
of the moment. I do not say this is absolutely
the case at all times; but my experience is
happily most limited on this point.
55. No. Certainly not.
Stupefaction could doubtless be produced by
an overdose of any narcotic, or a state closely
resembling it.