FURTHER ENQUIRIES REGARDING THE ALLEGED HEMP DRUG CASES OF 1892. 133
Report of the Superintendent, Nagpur Asylum, on the hemp drug cases of 1892.
IN reply to your No. 2236 of 9th instant asking me for an expression of my own views
with regard to the history of the cases of insanty admitted into the Asylum during the
year 1892, and in which cases the alleged cause of the insanity was the immoderate use
of ganja or other preparation of Indian hemp, I may be permitted to draw your attention
to the concluding paragraph of my letter No. 21 of 27th January 1894, in which I express-
ly stated that I had not been able at the time of writing to formulate any decided opinion
as to the mental condition and causation of the insanity of the cases admitted during
1892-93.
2. Since writing the above I have endeavoured to study the mental condition of the
six insanes admitted during 1892 and still in the Asylum, in which the cause of the insani-
ty is alleged to have been the excessive use of ganja taken in some form or other. I beg
to submit a few brief notes and comments on these cases.
3. I may note that, although acute ganja intoxication and its detection, symptoms,
&c., &c., are abundantly treated of in various medical works, I am not myself acquainted
with any recent medical work which specifically treats of types of insanity which are espe-
cially attributable to the habitual use of ganja or any of the various preparations of Cannabis
indica or sativa and the differentiation of the symptoms of these cases from other cases of
toxic insanity (alcoholic, opium, &c.), and, therefore, when discussing the causation of the
mental aberration in any given case in which a history, which may be true or may be ex-
aggerated, of having taken some preparation of Cannabis at some previous period of their
lives is obtainable or suspected, it is necessary to avoid being led away by the post hoc
ergo propter hoc fallacy—I mean that, although it is, no doubt, exceedingly common to
meet with cases of chronic insanity associated with the frequent or habitual use of ganja,
it is not therefore sufficient to assume from this alone without the very clearest proof
(which proof must exclude every other probable cause) that the man or woman is insane
because he or she has taken ganja or bhang at some time in his life.
As a writer has pointed out, a list of the number of cases in an Asylum in which a
history of ganja-smoking is alleged as a cause of the insanity in the papers sent with the
lunatics often simply shows the number of lunatics in the Asylum who have used ganja at
some period of their lives, moderately or immoderately, as the case may be, and the causal
connection between the use of the intoxicant and the insanity is not readily demonstrable.
1. Atmaram, Soonar.—This man tells me that he has taken ganja since his father died,
that is, about 9 or 10 years ago. He says that his father occasionally took ganja. His
mother did not take ganja, but both his parents were in the habit of drinking "daru" or
country spirit freely and habitually. An uncle (mother's brother) also was a heavy drinker.
He himself cannot say why he commenced the habit of ganja-smoking, but his usual allow-
ance was 2 chillums daily. In addition to the ganja-smoking he used to drink ½ bottle of
"dobara" (or the 2nd distillation) daily. The average cost was 16 pice, and he says he
drank it because he felt tired after his day's work. In the hot months he also used to
drink bhang mixed with sugar, 1 pice worth of each, and by his own account he drank
this concoction 3 times in 5 months. He has been in Jail for theft.
The papers that were sent with him when he was admitted into Asylum state that his
insanity dates from the time he went to Jail, and the supposed cause is "perhaps the use
of ganja."
Dajiba, a distant relative (cousin) of Atmaram, told the Magistrate who was deputed
to make a special enquiry into the antecedents of these cases, that from an early age
Atmaram was "given up to vicious habits" and that "he used to smoke ganja."
As a rule his behaviour in the Asylum has been good. Once (in August 1892) he was
excited and destroyed a coat, and once again (in August 1893) he is said to have become
very excited and abusive. Excepting on these two occasions he has not shown any
violent or maniacal excitement.
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