76 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [APP.
6. Ram Samair.
Ram Smair I succeeded in finding. He is now in his right senses. I append state-
ments made by him and also by other persons likely to have an intimate knowledge of him.
From these statements it appears that Ram Smair never indulged in ganja, but that he
occasionally took bhang in moderate quantities. It does not appear that this was really
the cause of his becoming insane, though possibly insanity may have been hastened by an
overdose of the drug.
Ram Smair states:—I am all right now. I remained for two months in the Asylum
and then got well. I left the Asylum 61/2 months ago, and since then I have had no return
of insanity. I was a consumer of bhang before I went into the Asylum. I consumed
bhang for five or six months. I did not consume it every day, perhaps once in 7 or 8
days. I did not consume it to excess, but just as any one else does. I have no recollec-
tion of how I came to commit theft. I was quite out of my senses for two months. I had
not indulged in bhang to any excessive extent before I lost my senses. It was not
owing to the bhang that I lost my senses. I was affected by a disease which is known as
"thai." It was this that made me insane. I was affected this way once before. It was
about the time of the Dasehra that I first began to lose my senses. I did not indulge in
bhang to any excessive extent in the Dasehra. I have never smoked ganja.
Ram Das Misser.—Ram Smair is my brother; he is younger than I am. He only
drank bhang occasionally. He was not a daily or a habitual consumer. Numbers of
people drink bhang, and Ram Smair drank it just as other people do. I never drink
bhang myself. Ram Smair is engaged in the ceremonies at the Ram Lila.
Ram
Smair did not engage in any excessive consumption at the time of the Ram Lila.
The
first time he became insane was about a year ago. He got well in a month or two.
When Ram Smair was arrested for theft he went to Benares to read; he was alright;
he was arrested there. I don't know the circumstances as I was not there. Ram Smair
read with Sama Churn and Mahabir. Sama Churn lives in Nai Basti. It was owing to
illness that Ram Smair became insane. He took very little bhang: that was not the
reason of his insanity. He never smoked ganja; he is a Brahman, and is not allowed by
the rules of his caste to smoke ganja.
Raj Narain, Kayast.—I am zamindar of the village in which Ram Smair lives.
I have known him for a long time; he is one of my tenants. He is an exceedingly re-
spectable man, and belongs to a most respectable family. Ram Smair used to take bhang
now and then in an ordinary way, just as other people take it. He never consumed
it to excess. That was not the cause of his madness. He became insane from illness.
In Benares all the Pandas and Brahmans and Mahajans are consumers of bhang. There
is no popular feeling against taking it. Just as other respectable men take bhang
so Ram Smair used to take it. Ram Smair was reading with Mahabir at Benares
when he went mad; he ran away from there; he wandered about for many days; he
threw away his sacred thread, and committed many other acts of madness. I don't know
how he came to be arrested. I have never heard of any one going mad from the use of
bhang. It is considered like tobacco; but excessive use produces intoxication; it never
produces permanent insanity.
Berchi, Brahman.—I know Ram Smair. I read with him at Benares. One day
Ram Smair did not appear for the reading, and then I learnt that he had gone mad. I
learnt it one or two months afterwards. He disappeared for one or two months, and then
it came to my knowledge that he had gone mad and had been sent to the madhouse.
When Ram Smair was reading with me, I saw him every day. Occasionally he used to
take a little bhang. I can't say whether he was an excessive consumer or not. He never
took enough to make him quite senseless, though he was intoxicated. I can't say what
was the cause of his madness—whether it was bhang or some other cause. The day
before he disappeared he appeared to be intoxicated. He was very intoxicated. The
intoxication was like the intoxication produced by bhang.
Mahabir.—I know Ram Smair; he used sometimes to read with me. I was not in
Benares when he was arrested. I was at Jaunpur, and when I came back I heard that he
had gone mad. I can't say why he went mad. I don't know whether he consumed any
intoxicating drug or
not.