The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-10-06
BY NED BROOKS
Times Special Writer

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6.-The an
Gent Egyptians punished users Of
hemp drugs by extracting their
teeth. Today finds modern law
makers still enacting penalties, less
violent but still lettering. against
those who traffic in marihuana. the
American name for bhang or has
heesh.
One Of the oldest narcotics. this
plant which has gone society"
traces its history as far back as the
sacred books Of the Brahmans. writ
ten before the year A. D. In the
fourteenth century, records were
found in Egypt revealing the dire
penalties of the year 70 Of the He
gira (about TOO A. d..
Oriental history is speckled with
crusades against the drug and its
resultant crime, degeneracy and in
sanity. Experts say cannabin, the
hemp-derived drug. is now used in
some form in all Oriental countries
and its devotees number countless
millions.
Grown for Cloth
Indian hemp. best known here as
marihuana, is not native Of Amer
lean soil. Early cultivation here was
Of the small European variety which
was grown in the New England
colonies for fiber in making home
spun. It also was grown in Virginia
and PENNSYLVANIA colonies and was
cultivated in the early settlements
of Kentucky, from whence it spread
to Missouri.
The European variety was sup
planted by the larger Chinese plant
about 1857 and has been grown at
various times in Illinois, in the Kan
kakee river valley of Indiana, IN
southeastern Pennsylvania and in
Nebraska, Iowa and California.
Today it grows in either a wild
or cultivated state At one time
40. 900 acres in this country were de-
voted to it; today the acreage cul-
tivated for legitimate uses is hardly
over 300, according to agriculture
department estimates. But 1t is
abundant as a wild plant in the
west and southwest and this growth,
along with that cultivated for mar
cotic uses, furnishes state and fed
eral authorities with their present
problem of control.
Smoked in Cigarets
The name "marihuana" is Mexi-
can in origin. but the plant and
drug are known by wide variety
of names in foreign countries. Many
of them are of Indian and Persian
derivation. In Turkey it is hasheesh,
in India it is bhang, elsewhere it
is guja, ganja, charas, siddi, subj,
putt, momeka and gangjah. The
Y. S. narcotics bureau describes 1t
officially as "a potent aphrodisiac,
provocative of crimes of singular
atrocity." 1t is used most in cigar
cts.
The plant, known botanically as
cannabis saliva, has an angular
stem, bears palmately-compound
leaves and may attain a height OF
ten feet. It is the same 'loco-weed"
that produces madness in grazing
horses.
For narcotic uses, the Towering
top of the pistillate or male plant
is gathered just before pollination.
The female plant also has drug con-
tent. but in weaker form. The flow
ers lose their strength rather rap
idly and after a year or two are
practically harmless.
Also in the HoOkah
Although thirty-four states forbid
its sale, the cigarets are bootleggef
widely by peddlers at from a nickel
to a quarter a piece.
In Oriental countries, particularly
India, the weed is smoked in the
hookah. or waterpipe, or in the
chilum-the ordinary tobacco pipe
Frequently it is diluted with tobacco
and, because of its offensive smell, is
sometimes mixed with herbs.
While the plant, according to
government experts, can be grown
in almost any soil, it produces the
greatest drug content in tropical
climates. In cold sections. it re-
mains a fiber containing little of
the drug cannabin.
Its medical usage has dwindled
greatly. II relieves neuralgia pain,
encourages sleep and soothes rest
lessness, but it has been largely re-
placed by other drugs.
Mexican laborers Of the southwest.
the narcotics bureau has found,
often plant the drug producing
hemp between rows of corn and
harvest it for their own use or sale.
In recent years the practice has
spread eastward. Several years ago
a large field was found under cul-