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subject himself to indicate supernatural possession. By smoking, on the other
hand, the same class induce a state of intoxication in which their minds can be
fixed intently on holy thoughts. The depraved use it in the same way to
enable them to fix their mind on thoughts of a different nature.
Frenzy has also been deliberately induced, in order to enable the subject
to carry out enterprises of difficulty and danger, either deliberately thought over
beforehand, or only decided upon in a general manner. This has usually hap-
pened in the case of religious fanatics of the Muhammadan faith. A condition
much short of this is also sometimes induced by criminals in order to en-
able them to keep up their courage while committing an offence. Though
different in degree, the two uses are the same in kind. But the murder that
may result in the first case, or the robbery in the second, are not inspired by the
hemp. The illogical conclusion has been not infrequently drawn that hemp
incites to crime, and some authors are even careful to point out that, in their
belief, while the use of bhang, that is, hemp-drinking, is harmless, the use of
gánjá, that is, hemp-smoking, is pernicious, and that they base their aversion to
gánjá on the fact that it has led to the excesses mentioned above. The most
commonly cited case is that of the assassins, to the history of whose terrible
deeds much of the Western aversion to gánjá is due. Waiving the question of
the point of view from which such an historical fact is considered (Geneva
conventions did not regulate eleventh century warfare, and the Crusader's right
to be in Syria was less evident to the Saracen than to himself), it is necessary
to point out that the conclusion involves an anachronism. Gánjá is a substance
that is only smoked, and a substance that was probably not prepared till after
the habit of smoking was imported ; in the days of the assassins hemp-prepara-
tions were of necessity always taken internally, and corresponded therefore to
bhang. If there is one thing more certain than another, it is that gánjá has
practically nothing to do with the acts of violence that sometimes are associated
with hemp. It has been stated that a frenzied condition may arise from the use
of it by smoking. I have not seen a case and have not heard of one that has the
slightest pretence to authenticity, or is supported by evidence that would be
admitted in a court of law. The frenzied state it seems only possible to induce
by the cumulative effect of repeated doses taken internally. Of course, if g á n j á
were taken internally, it would produce the effect even more rapidly than bhang
does, but not more certainly, and internal use is not the use to which gánjá is put.
The use of gánjá in the less extreme form, not to excite frenzy, but only to sus-
tain resolution, is perhaps possible, but even for this purpose bhang is what is
generally taken. This use is akin to the use of the stimulant effect of alcohol
for the same purpose,—the ‘Dutch courage' of popular speech.
In the assertions that have been made regarding the connection of crime with
gánjá more has to be recollected than that, though the crime may have been
committed while the man was intoxicated by the drug, this intoxication was not
the cause of the crime. The sentiment of disrepute that is associated with the
use of hemp has tended to confine its use to the poorer and lower classes—a section
of the population that of necessity includes the major portion of the criminal
population, whose members may be, and indeed usually are, gánjá-smokers or
siddhi -drinkers by habit. But they form after all only a small proportion of
those who use hemp ; their number is small as compared with that of those who
smoke gánjá, but do not commit crime.
Nor should too much stress be laid on the fact that six centuries ago an
Egyptian ruler had forcibly to stop the use of hemp. India is not Egypt; and
though doubtless she has her own share of depravity to deal with, her various
nationalities are comparatively free from the extraordinary inherited tendencies
in this direction which have characterised the races in the Levantine region
from the days of Sodom and of Tyre, at least to those of the Saracens and
Mamelukes.
The connection of gánjá with insanity—at first sight a close one—is found
on examination to be as slight as is its connection with crime. This statement
may appear hardly to accord with the fact that the asylum records of Bengal
credit in some years 30 per cent. of the admissions of insanity to gá njá alone.
But, like the criminal statistics, these are once more an instance of a half-truth,
the real character of which is well known. Although I have not chanced to
meet with an instance of insanity resulting from the abuse of either bhang or