the only genuine cases, so far as can be ascertained, of insanity induced by
hemp.
A man has domestic troubles of the usual Indian kind, and as a result he
indulges in bhang ; so far as I can ascertain, gánjá is rarely used as the intoxicant,
never by those unaccustomed to hemp, though sometimes by those who are
g á i n j á
s m o k e r s t h a t i s w h o u s e
g á n j á
b u t n o t a s a n i n t o x i c a n t . T h e m a n ' s m i n d
was full of his wrong when he took the dose, and it would be hard to say
whether the object of taking it was to drown his cares or to concentrate his mind
on them ; whatever the purpose, his mind does dwell on them ; the result of his
brooding is the development of a homicidal tendency. This appears to be in-
variable, though the remarkable feature that it presents is that it is not a general
tendency to slay ; it is something quite unlike the feeling which makes the sub-
ject run amok. The man moves about muttering a threat to kill some
one. It is not improbable that if the guilty person is known, or even
only suspected, he is at once made the object of attack, and the crime is not
then distinguishable from ordinary cases of the sort where human passion is
itself a sufficient stimulus to prompt the criminal act. But in this case the
peculiar effect of the drug again comes in, and, perverting the sense of relativity,
leads the subject of intoxication to attempt to compass the death of any one
individual, no matter who, in revenge for the wrong that has been endured.
Here, again, it is a question, though one savouring of casuistry, whether the
crime, if committed, which fortunately it rarely appears to be, can be said to be
due to the drug.
In the other class of cases the usual cause is a sudden infatuation leading
the subject day after day to a house of ill-fame. The excessive use of gánjá in
this case arises from specific motives ; being unaccustomed to hemp, the subject
comes completely under the influence of the drug. This appears to be a very
common cause of temporary excessive use of the drug—a continued debauch so
to speak—leading only too often to a dementia of a less temporary nature than
the foregoing. This latter circumstance is a suspicious one, and shows that the
dementia is probably far less due to gánjá than to the medicaments that accom-
pany it. Cases of this kind are less common than the foregoing.
It is also when this use is made of hemp that the rare cases of poisoning by
it are met with. That very large doses may cause poisonous symptoms has long
been known. They are described with considerable accuracy in the Makzan-al-
Adwiya, and the treatment proper for such a case is there detailed. But they are
very uncommon, and I have heard of only one authentically determined case;
the subject became narcotised by a large dose of bhang ; was treated and re-
covered only to return to the bazar and repeat his folly ; the second time with
fatal results. The physical effects of the substance consumed on the digestive
organs appeared to have more to do with the fatal result than the nervous effects,
and though siddhi had certainly been used, it was not absolutely certain that
nothing else had accompanied it.
We have now to consider the uses of hemp as an intoxicant, where the
intoxication does not pass beyond control.
Hemp-preparations are freely used as aphrodisiacs. This is doubtless the
most baneful of all the uses of the drug for a reason already several times insisted
on. The drug per se has no power whatever; taken as it is to assist in the
performance of a predetermined act, its indirect effect can be understood.
Beyond this it has no power ; still its use is persisted in, and it forms, as we
have seen, the vehicle for all sorts of dangerous drugs. This is apparently the
most fertile source of the cases of insanity that are attributed to gánjá, and
there is nothing more certain than that the real causes of the insanity are the
nux vomica, cantharides and other powerful substances with which the hemp
preparations are medicated. Smoking for this purpose is very rarely resorted to,
the usual forms of administration being as siddhi or as majun. This, indeed, is
the usual motive for majun consumption.
Sometimes gánjá is purposely smoked to the extent of producing a state of
h a l f - d a z e d i n t o x i c a t i o n . T h e h o w e v e r , o n l y p r e v a i l s a m o n g i d l e r s i n t h e
bazars, and is unknown among respectable people in country districts. It is not,
however, used in precisely the manner that siddhi is used, but rather marks a step
in the progress of the habit from a slighter to a greater stage. Whereas among
siddhi consumers it is usual to find representatives of the ‘free-drinking' class,