INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION.
No. 1369 Ex.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.
FINANCE AND COMMERCE DEPARTMENT.
SEPARATE REVENUE.
Excise.
RESOLUTION.
Calcutta, the 2 1 S1 March 1895.
READ—
Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission.
RESOLUTION.—The Report of the Hemp Drugs Commission,* which was
received by the Government of India (in
Appointment of the Indian Hemp Drugs proof) on the 7th of August 1894, has been
Commission.
considered by the Governor General in
Council.
The Commission were appointed, under the orders of the Government of
India contained in the Resolution quoted in paragraph 1 of the Report of the
Commission, at the request of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India, who,
in answer to a question put in the House of Commons, had signified his
willingness to have a Commission appointed to inquire into the cultivation of the
hemp plant in Bengal, the preparation of drugs from it, the trade in those drugs,
the effects of their consumption upon the social and moral condition of the
people, and the desirability of prohibiting the growth of the plant and the sale
of ganja and allied drugs. In view of ensuring that the inquiry should be
thorough and complete, the Secretary of State was of opinion that it could
hardly be confined to Bengal, but should extend to the whole of India, and that
the Commission should ascertain to what extent the existence of the hemp
plant all over India affects the practical difficulty of checking or stopping the
consumption of ganja as distinguished from other narcotic drugs prepared
from the hemp plant, and whether there is ground for the statement that bhang
is less injurious than ganja to consumers.
2. The instructions given to the Commission are reproduced in paragraph
3 of the Report; it was left to theC o m -
Instructions issued to the Commission and mission to take up any other branch of the
method of inquiry adopted by the Commission.
.
.
inquiry which in their opinion was likely
to elucidate the subject and to aid the Government of India and the Secre-
tary of State in deciding on the policy to be adopted in regard to hemp drugs.
The Commission were directed to visit and take evidence in all or most of the
provinces of India, but were informed that there were political objections to
their holding sittings in Native States, although any information similar to that
required regarding British India, which could be obtained regarding Native
States, should be included in the Report. This was the only restriction placed
upon the scope of the Commission's inquiry, and the Governor General in
Council is of opinion that the Commission have fully acted up to the instructions
they received, and that the inquiry made has been as complete, full, and ex-
haustive as it was intended that it should be. The method of inquiry adopted by
the Commission is described at length in paragraphs 4 to 16 of the Report.
After distributing questions for reply by such persons as might be expected to
possess information on the subject, the Commission made a tour of inquiry,
President :
*The Hon'ble W, MACKWORTH YOUNG, M.A., C.S.I., First Financial Commissioner, Punjab.
Members :
1. MR. H. T. OMMANNEY, Collector, Panch Mahals, Bombay.
2, „ A. H. L. FRASER, M.A., Commissioner, Chhattisgarh Division, Central Provinces.
3. Surgeon-?Major C. J. H. WARDEN, Professor of Chemistry, Medical College, and Chemical Examiner to
Government, Calcutta ; Officiating Medical Storekeeper to Government, Calcutta.
4 RAJA SOSHI SIKHARESWAR ROY, of Tahirpur,
5. KANWAR HARNAM SINGH Ahluwalia, C.I.E., Punjab.
6. LALA NIHAL CHAND, of Muzaffarnagar, North-Western Provinces.
Secretary
:
MR. H. J. MCINTOSH, Under-Secretary to the Government of Bengal, Financial and Municipal Departments.