Based on the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's report of 1893-94, this article includes:
- My overview of cannabis usage in the Jammu and Kashmir State of 1893-94
- The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's findings regarding the Kashmir State
- Kashmir State Memorandum
Overview
The Kashmir valley was inhabited by humans from the paleolithic age, through the neolithic age till the present. This indicates that the Dravidian culture of the Harappan and Mohenjodaro civilizations would have also inhabited this region till the migration of the Indo-Aryan tribes in the Vedic period pushed these earlier inhabitants southwards and eastwards into the Indian sub-continent. It has a history of Buddhism, Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Sikhism and Islam associated with it.
Wikipedia states that 'The Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu (as it was then called) was constituted between 1820 and 1858 and was "somewhat artificial in composition and it did not develop a fully coherent identity, partly as a result of its disparate origins and partly as a result of the autocratic rule which it experienced on the fringes of Empire." It combined disparate regions, religions, and ethnicities: to the east, Ladakh was ethnically and culturally Tibetan and its inhabitants practised Buddhism; to the south, Jammu had a mixed population of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs; in the heavily populated central Kashmir valley, the population was overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, however, there was also a small but influential Hindu minority, the Kashmiri brahmins or pandits; to the northeast, sparsely populated Baltistan had a population ethnically related to Ladakh, but which practised Shi'a Islam; to the north, also sparsely populated, Gilgit Agency, was an area of diverse, mostly Shi'a groups; and, to the west, Punch was Muslim, but of different ethnicity than the Kashmir valley.' It states that 'In 1846, the region became part of the Dogra-ruled princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, under the paramountcy (or tutelage) of the British Crown. Dogra rule lasted until 1947, when the former princely state became a disputed territory, now administered by three countries: India, Pakistan, and the People's Republic of China.' It further states that 'Despite being in a majority the Muslims were made to suffer severe oppression under Hindu rule in the form of high taxes, unpaid forced labor and discriminatory laws. Many Kashmiri Muslims migrated from the Valley to Punjab due to famine and policies of Dogra rulers. The Muslim peasantry was vast, impoverished and ruled by a Hindu elite. The Muslim peasants lacked education, awareness of rights and were chronically in debt to landlords and moneylenders, and did not organize politically until the 1930s'.
Most of the information regarding cannabis in 19th century Jammu and Kashmir was provided to the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission by the Governors of this region and Muhammad Hayat Khan. Some amount of information was gathered from Dr. Royle's 'Fibrous Plants of India', 'Punjab Products' and Dr. Watt's 'Hemp or Cannabis Sativa'. The Hemp Commission did not do a detailed study in this region like it did in the British-controlled provinces where it gathered responses from numerous witnesses through its questionnaire and survey. In that sense, the information regarding cannabis in 19th century Jammu and Kashmir was scant like the information gathered from the other native states.
The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's report of 1893-94 states that the cannabis found in Jammu and Kashmir was predominantly wild growth, with more abundant growth found in the higher altitudes of Kashmir, as compared to the lower-lying areas in Jammu. This area of abundant growth was part of the belt of wild growth that extended across the Himalayas from east to west at the time of the Hemp Commission's study. By the time of the study, it appears that wild natural growth could be found only in this Himalayan tract, whereas throughout the rest of India, as one moved from north to south to the tip of peninsular India, only cultivated cannabis was to be found, albeit quite extensively, even as the British colonists moved to stifle this cultivated growth of cannabis. The Hemp Commission reports that 'This much may be gathered, however, with tolerable certainty, that the growth in Jammu is not so abundant as in the more elevated tract of Kashmir. The tract of profuse growth in Kashmir mentioned by Muhammad Hayat Khan is Kashmir proper, extending from Baramula to Verinag and Shopayan. The country lying between Adhampur and Banhal in the Jammu province, as well as the jagirs of Bhaddarwah and Poonch, have also an abundant growth.' The Kashmir Memorandum states that 'It is abundant in Wantipora, Haripore, and Anantnag tahsils of the Anantnag district, and in the Nagam tahsil of the Srinagar District, growing on both banks of the river Jhelum and Arveni and Kaimu nallahs.' Commenting on the conditions required for wild growth to exist, and why this was found only in the Himalayan tract, and possibly only a few elevated regions in the rest of India, the Commission states that 'The plant appears to be very hardy when it is once well established, but it is clear from the distribution of the wild growth in India that the conditions of soil and climate under which it can attain full growth are limited.'
This wild growth of cannabis present in Jammu and Kashmir appears to have been abundant enough to meet the needs of the people of this region, without them having to cultivate the plant as in the rest of India. The Hemp Commission reports that 'The Governor of Kashmir and Jammu and the Member of Kashmir State Council report that the plant is not cultivated. It appears that the wild growth is abundant enough, and develops the narcotic properties in sufficient degree to satisfy the wants of the people.' The variety of cannabis found in the Jammu and Kashmir region was predominantly Cannabis Sativa, referred to as the 'female' plant in most parts of India, and Talia in Kashmir. Cannabis Sativa L., or the 'male' plant, or industrial hemp as it is known as today, and Khatiya bhang in Kashmir, was not so common. Cannabis Sativa is used mainly for its narcotic properties whereas Cannabis Sativa L. is used mainly for its fiber to create various products that have practical applications. In this sense, Jammu and Kashmir reflects the characteristics of cannabis found throughout India in the 19th century, where cannabis was predominantly cultivated for its narcotic properties and only to a much smaller extent for its fiber. This similarity in characteristics of the varieties of cannabis found in Jammu and Kashmir and the varieties of cannabis found in the rest of India makes the Hemp Commission wonder if what is called wild growth may have seen human intervention at some point in the distant past which resulted in the predominance of Cannabis Sativa over Cannabis Sativa L. in the Himalayan tract. Considering that human had been using cannabis for its narcotic properties for tens of thousands of years in this region, it is quite possible that they played an active role in the eventual predominance of the 'female' plant over the 'male' plant. Of course, it is not just humans, but numerous species of birds, insects and animals that show a preference for the narcotic Cannabis Sativa over the industrial Cannabis Sativa L., and together all these species, along with favorable growing conditions, may have shaped the cannabis landscape in a such a way that the narcotic variety predominated in the wild growth in the Himalayan tracts of the Indian sub-continent.
It appears that the people of Jammu and Kashmir used the plant for both its narcotic properties as well as extracted the fiber for creating various products, samples of which were sent to an event called the Punjab Exhibition. Regarding the production of fiber from cannabis, the Kashmir Memorandum states that 'Four hundred maunds of fibre are annually produced, but, for reasons stated above, the total quantity of fibre in Sambat 1950 amounted to 160 maunds only.' The fall in production in Sambat 1950 as mentioned in the previous statement is attributed to heavy floods which also affected the consumption of cannabis, reducing it to nearly half in that year. This Cannabis Sativa L. or industrial hemp was also used as fuel in the Kashmir region. The Kashmir Memorandum states that 'Down the city on both banks of the river Jhelam wild hemp known as Kathiya bhang does not produce gard bhang (chura charas), and it is only used for its fibre and twigs for burning.. About 600 maunds of fibre is annually produced down the river and in the Utarmachipura and Sri Pratap Singhpura tahsils and ilaqa Magan of the Pattan Tahsil and Khinhama.' From this, it appears that it was primarily Cannabis Sativa L., or Khatiya bhang or industrial hemp that was cultivated in Kashmir, with narcotic cannabis sativa, or Talia bhang, being procured from the wild.
Given the predominantly Islamic roots of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, we see that the form in which cannabis was primarily consumed there was as charas, or the cannabis resin. The leaves and flowers were exported to some extent to the Punjab Province whose natives preferred to call it bhang and consumed it primarily as a beverage.
Throughout the Hemp Commission's report we see the utter confusion that was caused by the definition of ganja, bhang and charas by Dr. Prain, the botanist from Calcutta. He defined bhang as the leaves of the cannabis plant, ganja as the flowering heads and charas as the resin. By doing this, he split the cannabis plant into three and created divisions where none existed before. Almost all the witnesses to the Hemp Commission - comprising mainly of upper caste and upper class Hindus, British personnel and orthodox Muslims - agreed with Dr. Prain's definition, cementing the chaos that would eventually lead to it being embedded in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985 in modern India, where the chaos continues to rise to new heights bewildering administrator and user. As I have stated repeatedly in numerous articles regarding cannabis in India, for the people of India who actually consumed cannabis - unlike these witnesses to the Hemp Commission who had almost no first hand knowledge or experience of cannabis but gathered their information from hearsay - the cannabis plant was just one drug which they called 'bhang', 'ganja' or 'charas' depending on their cultural and linguistic background. The people of the north-western regions of India predominantly referred to it as 'charas' given their linguistic roots in Urdu. The people of the northern and central regions of India predominantly referred to it as 'bhang' given their linguistic roots in Sanskrit. The people of the central and southern regions predominantly referred to it as 'ganja' given their linguistic roots in Tamil (or proto-Dravidian as the finicky linguists prefer to call it). The Canarese people called it 'bhangi' while people of Punjab and Sind called it 'gundia bhang'. The fact of the matter is that, irrespective of what name people called it by, what these people consumed was the narcotic Cannabis Sativa, including all three parts of the cannabis plant - its leaves, flowering heads and resin. We see all this further corroborated in the Hemp Commission's report on cannabis in Kashmir, with the Hemp Commission attributing the confusion in names to the people of Kashmir who had been using it for thousands of years, instead of understanding that the Commission itself, and Dr. Prain, were chiefly responsible for creating these divisions in the cannabis plant and the people who used it through their ignorance. In its report on Kashmir, the Hemp Commission says 'The Governor of Kashmir Kashmir gives an account in which the names of the three drugs are confused. He says first: "Almost all wild hemp, which is called talia in the Punjab, and is generally female plant in the above-mentioned tahsils, is used for the preparation of ganja locally known by name gard bhang (chura charas)." And further on— "The leaves of the hemp plant are trodden under foot, and cleaned by sieves to prepare gard bhang, and the process is continued until the leaves are reduced to powder and seed separated." This describes the preparation of bhang, pure and simple; but apparently this article is known by the three names—ganja, gard bhang, or chura charas. And "it would appear that this is the stuff which is occasionally smoked. Fakirs and a few Muhammadans and Pandits of the Srinagar city and towns smoke gard bhang (churn charas)........................ The total number of persons who do smoke ganja is, etc". Another informant says: "Charas is prepared in the capital cities and is termed garda," and he does not know if bhang is prepared. The preparation of garda is described, and finishes with the reduction of the material to a "resinous powder." The manufacture of garda or charas by the method given in the "Punjab Products" is not described by either of the only three informants. It is probable that charas is made by a further elaboration from the garda charas spoken of above which is practically bhang powdered to a state of more than common fineness, and that ganja is a name borrowed from India without any correct idea of its meaning beyond that it signifies the female plant. It may be noted that the price of garda bhang, three pice per tola, given in the Governor of Kashmir's report, is very high for simple bhang, and seems to indicate that the article is more like charas.' This confusion created by Dr. Prain, the Hemp Commission and the Indian upper castes and upper classes of Vaishnavites, orthodox Muslims, Christians, Jains and Buddhists is no trivial matter. The ignorant and imbecile Indian upper castes and upper classes used this confusion to claim that the bhang they consumed as a beverage was harmless and even beneficial while the ganja that India's majority - its lower castes and classes, indigenous communities, spiritual mendicants and the poorest sections of society consumed (smoked) - was harmful and evil. These ignorant upper castes and upper classes maligned charas as equally harmful, based on the sole reason that cannabis resin was primarily imported from Muslim countries to the north-west of India and consumed largely by Muslims. The NDPS Act states today that 'bhang' is legal, while 'ganja' and 'charas' are illegal. A large quantity of charas in one's possession can even attract the death penalty under the NDPS Act. So we see the ignorance and the caste, linguistic and religion based discrimination deeply embedded in India's drug laws itself. It is used by the ruling classes and castes as a weapon to target and oppress those who do not belong to their clique, even though the people they oppress have been around far longer than them and have used cannabis far longer than them. We do not see any such absurd confusion in modern western countries and US states where cannabis has been legalized for medical and adult recreational use. Cannabis products are simply classified as edibles, flower and resin which map directly to the bhang, ganja and charas of the Hemp Commission and NDPS Act, without any legal distinction between the three.
Reporting on the feasibility of the entire prohibition of charas in India, the Hemp Commission wrote that 'Charas is practically a foreign article. Small amounts are imported from Nepal and Gwalior, but they may be left out of the account. The bulk comes from Yarkand through the Himalayan passes, or to a much smaller degree from other parts of Central Asia through the routes on the frontier of Afghanistan. It would not be a very difficult matter to stop these imports, though the co-operation of the Kashmir Darbar would be necessary in regard to Yarkand charas. It may, therefore, be accepted that the supply of charas might be cut off without much difficulty, though, as this article forms the principal import from Yarkand, the prohibition of charas would paralyse, if not extinguish, the trade with this country.' In its report, regarding the import of charas into the Punjab Province, the Hemp Commission states that 'The charas having arrived at Leh, and having apparently passed into the hands of Indian traders, is taken to the Punjab by two routes, via Kashmir and viá Kulu. The ganja, gard bhang, or chura charas manufactured in Kashmir is all consumed locally; none is exported to the Punjab (Kashmir Governor's Memorandum). The Kashmir authorities take precautions to see that the Yarkand charas passes through with bulk unbroken, and they levy duty on any that may be sold in Srinagar. The import by this route may be roughly stated at 500 maunds. Six or seven times as much is imported direct through Kulu to Hoshiarpur, and during the last three years the amount has grown considerably. The figures for the last three years are— Maunds. 1890-91 2,201 1891-92 3,242 1892-93 3,932. The figures quoted by the Excise Commissioner from the Provincial Reports of external trade show that the Kabul route is also used for the import of charas, but no imports were apparently registered in 1890-91 and 1891-92. In discussing the value of these figures, the Excise Commissioner remarks that no drug is shewn as coming across the western frontier (from Sewestan) or the northwestern (from Bajaur) except that from Kabul, while there is undoubtedly a certain amount of import trade with the Derajat and Hazara. This implies that to the west of the Kashmir route there are several roads from Hazara round to the Sind frontier by which charas enters the Punjab.'
At the time of the Hemp Commission's study, the zamindars leased out land to cultivators who cultivated not just industrial hemp for fiber and fuel, but also seem to have exercised control over the wild hemp that grew on these lands. These lessees appear to have had monopoly over setting up of retail outlets from where both types of cannabis was sold. A limit of 5 tolas of ganja existed for sale to an individual. No price limits were fixed on sale of these articles. All this indicates regulation of cannabis, which leads me to think that these regulatory measures came into being with the British who controlled cannabis in Kashmir through the zamindars. With wild growth being present in abundance, one wonders what sort of control could have been achieved to prevent an individual from accessing this wild growth directly instead of having to go to the retail outlets to procure it. The only way to force the individual to procure his cannabis from the retail outlets would have been to eliminate the wild growth in open spaces, prosecute individuals for procuring it from anywhere other than the retail outlets and to limit this so-called wild growth to lands owned by zamindars, effectively bringing what was freely available in nature under government control. Such measures would surely have hit the poorest sections of society the hardest. Confirming that these oppressive measures had already been put in place at the time of the Hemp Commission's study in 1893-94, we see the Kashmir Memorandum stating that 'Illicit sale to, and possession of gard bhang by, consumers in excess of the maximum amount are now generally dealt with on the criminal side under the State Penal Code for disobedience of rules duly promulgated. The rules are, however, defective and make no provision for prosecuting a man manufacturing ganja without a license or destroying the wild hemp plant, or for other similar cases, or binding the lessee to keep up register of produce of the drugs and sale. Framing of the new rules as more effective preventive measures for such purposes is under consideration.' As we saw in the rest of India, when rights for sale were taken away from the general public and placed in the hands of a few licensees, these individuals became a part of the administrative preventive mechanism and turned informers for the authorities against anybody who tried to operate outside the regulatory measures since it directly ate into the revenues of the licensees. The charas that was imported from Yarkand mainly for the Punjab Province was allowed to pass through Kashmir only if it remained sealed. If the packaging was opened and part of the charas was sold in Kashmir, the excise authorities were entitled to a duty on it. The Kashmir Memorandum states that 'The drug being usually leased, lessee makes his own arrangements for prevention of the illicit sale, as he does for the control of the growth of the plant. The contractor of duty on custom and octroi also in his own interest has supervision on the Yarkand charas to see that it passes the country sealed intact, as, if sold in the city, he is entitled to duty on the same.' It is reported that whatever ganja was produced for retail sale was sold entirely indicating a high demand for it. This again indicates that much of the wild growth in open spaces had been exterminated by the administration, forcing the people to seek it in the retail outlets. Also there appears to have been no problem of smuggling of this ganja produced in Kashmir to other places. The reason cited is that it was considered inferior to the ganja available in neighboring provinces like Punjab and the North-Western provinces. I do not think there is much truth in this stated reason. My thinking is that with regulatory measures there was just not enough ganja available to meet local needs let alone smuggle it to Punjab and the North-Western Provinces where there was similar abundant local growth of ganja. Besides, the Punjab and North-Western Provinces also imported a large amount of charas from Yarkand and Nepal. In effect, with the advent of the British, cannabis was taken out of the hands of the people and placed firmly in the hands of the zamindars and their lessees, or in other words, the upper-classes and upper-castes as it had been done throughout India. The Kashmir Memorandum states that 'Higher up the river in the three tahsils of the Anantnag district and in the Nagam tahsil of the Srinagar district the hemp plant is cut by the zemindars of the neighbouring villages in the month of Kartik, lessee on behalf of the State, when hemp and manufacture of ganja are auctioned, receiving leaves of the plant in full and half of the fibre, the rest half of the fibre and the twigs going to the zemindars in lieu of their wages.'
The upper-caste and upper-class narrative that took cannabis out of the hands of the people of India can also be seen here in Kashmir. We see in the Kashmir Memorandum, the upper-caste and upper-class narrative that ganja was consumed only by the lowest classes and castes and bad characters where it states that 'The consumers are generally of low classes, Muhammadan and Hindu fakirs and a few notoriously bad characters'. We see the Kashmir Memorandum stating that 'The use of the hemp drug as a habit is doubtless injurious mentally and physically, but there are other stimulants which are in no way less injurious than these drugs. The use of bhang for drinking, which is in no way stimulant, is of course most injurious, making the consumers lazy, coward, and senseless when taken in excess.' This labeling of ganja as harmful, and of bhang as even more harmful shows that the Kashmir memorandum was written by an orthodox Muslim and not an upper-caste Hindu. The author of the Kashmir Memorandum was confident that given the small number of cannabis users in the State, they would present no political danger if it was prohibited. The total number of consumers in the entire Kashmir state were estimated to be 2500 out of a population of about than 9,50,000. This, to me, indicates a gross under-estimation of the number of cannabis consumers, as has been done throughout India in order to downplay the extent of use and the importance of it, and to thus push for its increasing regulation and eventual prohibition. In my estimate, easily around 30% of the adult male population of Kashmir would have been cannabis consumers, with the percentage being as high as 50% among the labouring classes and 75% among the spiritual mendicants. But then, the cannabis communities were voiceless and powerless during the entire Hemp Commission's study, as they remain today, and whatever false narratives were created by the upper-castes and upper-classes enabled the British to practically eliminate it without any resistance, resulting in the entire population of India - upper-castes, lower-castes, outcastes - being deprived of the divine herb.
Today, the modern state of Jammu and Kashmir has been cleaved into three union territories - Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh - by the upper caste Vaishnavites who form the ruling BJP at the federal level in India through the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in August 2019. The discrimination that these upper caste Vaishnavites practiced against the Muslims with regard to the form in which they consumed cannabis - as resin or charas - is one of the underlying factors for reducing Jammu and Kashmir from a state to union territories under the direct control of a central-government-appointed Lieutenant-Governor. Jammu and Kashmir have been for centuries the gateway through which charas was imported into India from Yarkand, mainly to be consumed in the Punjab and North-Western Provinces, while a small amount found its way into the hands of the upper classes in the rest of India, mainly Bengal, Sind and the Hyderabad State.
The splitting of these regions into union territories under direct control of the central government in 2019 was aimed at disrupting the flow of charas into India from Pakistan and Afghanistan as it had been happening for centuries. Why all this was done can be gauged from the Hemp Commission's report which states that 'The traffic in charas from Leh through Srinagar has been noticed in connection with the Punjab imports. It would seem that the goods do not ordinarily change hands or break bulk in Kashmir.' Even more importantly, it was to secure and ensure a smooth path for opium flowing into and out of India through these regions. Opium, if you are not aware, is the drug of the Indian upper-castes and upper-classes across all religions, just like it was the favorite drug of the British colonists. The production and trafficking of opium, legal and illegal, significantly finances the BJP and serves as a key raw material for the opioid industry that forms the backbone of India's synthetic pharmaceutical industry - another of the chief financers of the BJP government. India is the world's largest producer of legal opium and the world's third largest producer of illegal opium. This is the legacy that the British left for India after systematically killing its cannabis culture. The Vaishnavite upper-castes and upper-classes who worked faithfully for the British colonists and aided them in killing the spiritual herb, medicine and intoxicant of India's people, and helped the British replace it with opium and synthetic pharmaceuticals have further tightened control over things in their role of opium producers and peddlers for the elites of the world, especially the British, Russians, Americans and Europeans. Through the money gained from funding by the opioid industry and synthetic pharmaceutical industry, the BJP in recent times has gained political control over not just Jammu and Kashmir and Leh-Ladakh in the north-west but also Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Bengal in the north-east and Uttar Pradesh in the north so as to ensure that opium trade proceeds smoothly between India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and Myanmar. While the British turned the Central Provinces, the Central India Agency, the Rajputana Agency, Assam and Baroda States into opium cultivation regions in the 19th century after exterminating cannabis, the Indian upper-castes and upper-castes have, since so-called independence in 1947, continued where the British left off with the modern states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh being the primary source of opium production and Jammu, Kashmir, Leh-Ladakh, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Bengal, Gujarat and Maharashtra being the gateways for the flow of opium into and out of India. While sustaining and ramping up its opium production and trafficking, the central government also ensures that the cannabis culture does not raise its head as this is the biggest threat to its opium obsession. Of course, what the BJP is doing today is continuing what the Congress and Janata Dal governments also did from 1947, being themselves in the control of the Indian upper-castes and classes, but more blatantly and more openly. The spiel of threats from across the border - Pakistan and China - and the anti-Muslim myths and narratives through the film industry, social media, television and print - funded largely by the upper-castes who run the opium and synthetic pharmaceutical industries and also fund the BJP - keep an ignorant India hypnotized while Siva and his beloved ganja and the communities that use them remain under ever-increasing oppression. Occasionally, the government launches a few cosmetic initiatives like heroin busts in Gujarat and Mumbai and fastidious-sounding campaigns like 'Operation Trident' in the north-east, 'Drug-free India', etc. These are all most likely targeting competitors that the upper-caste opium peddlers view as a threat, and another gimmick to portray to the ignorant majority of India that the government works for the people and not the upper-castes, opium and synthetic pharmaceutical industry.
Yarkand, a predominantly Uyghur settlement today, formed part of the ancient Silk Route and was a Buddhist Kingdom for a long time. It is now part of Communist China, much like Tibet. Just as India has reduced Kashmir into a conduit for opium, the Chinese have reduced Yarkand into a conduit for opium. Together both these countries - India and China -, through their love, greed and addiction to opium, and in order to cater to the opium addiction of Britain, Europe and Russia, have killed the trade of possibly the finest charas in the world, which originated in Yarkand and replaced it with opium.
Jammu and Kashmir joined the Indian union under a treaty signed by its ruler, Raja Hari Singh, with the union government of India. It was accorded a special status along with states in the north-east like Nagaland, which enabled it to maintain a certain amount of autonomy including restrictions on the purchase of land by persons from outside the state. This offered some amount of protection for the people and the natural resources of these states from being overrun by the destructive economic development that was being unleashed across the rest of the country by the ruling Hindu upper-castes and upper-classes. In the larger context of India, the Muslim population of Jammu and Kashmir form a minority as do the tribal communities of the north-eastern states that were confronted by a similar situation. Throughout the existence of Jammu and Kashmir, the Hindu upper-castes and classes of India spun the narrative that having privileges made Jammu and Kashmir a hot-bed of anti-nationalism and terrorism. When Jammu and Kashmir's statehood was removed in 2019 and it was bifurcated into union territories, the Hindu upper castes and upper classes all over India celebrated the move by the central government. The central government lost no time in moving into the former state and acquiring land and natural resources. Terror attacks were reported that justified the entry of the army into the state and its continued presence till date. Whether these terror attacks were staged by the union government by itself or in conjunction with Pakistan's military government remains unknown. The union government uses this threat to national security to justify the presence of the army in the state. But when one looks at the picture, it can quite easily be that army is in Jammu and Kashmir to ensure that the union government of India's (and Pakistan's military government's), legal and illegal opium trade remains unaffected, and cannabis does not take roots again even as the people reel under opioid addiction. Despite the Supreme Court of India setting repeated timelines for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood, and repeated demands from the elected democratic government of Jammu and Kashmir demanding the restoration of statehood, the union government of India continues to keep it divided and keep the army in Jammu and Kashmir, creating propaganda about terrorism through its control over the media, television and the film industry, sponsored by the Vaishnavite upper-castes and upper-classes. The governments of Jammu and Kashmir are also responsible for this situation to a good extent, because when they were in power they cozied up to the right-wing BJP, enabling it to make inroads into the state. The elected democratic governments of Jammu and Kashmir have comprised of orthodox upper-caste and upper-class Muslims who think no differently from the Hindu upper-castes and upper-classes of the rest of India, as can be seen from the narrative in the Kashmir Memorandum furnished by orthodox Muslims working closely with the British, compromising the welfare of the people and the state in favor of the opium trade, extolling that cannabis is evil and harmful and forbidden by the scriptures while ensuring an environment where the legal and illegal trade of opium can thrive. The understanding that Siva and Allah are one and that, therefore, cannabis is as beloved to Allah as it is to Siva, is something that the rulers of Jammu and Kashmir refuse to acknowledge or remain ignorant of, oppressing the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially its spiritual mendicants, working classes, indigenous communities and the poorest sections of society.
At one point in time, in the not-too-distant past, Jammu and Kashmir was probably home to some of the finest landraces of cannabis found anywhere in the world. The systematic extermination of these land races starting from the time of the British have surely eliminated nearly all of them. The priceless value that these land races offered to humanity and other living species will probably remain forever unknown. We saw from the Hemp Commission's report that cannabis was used quite extensively for its fiber and as fuel. Today, while countries like China, the US and France, have invested heavily in industrial cannabis, Jammu and Kashmir remains in the doldrums. The introduction of cannabis for industrial purposes - as biofuels, textiles and fabrics, paper, footwear, construction, agricultural crop, animal feed, nutrition, etc. - is the only possible viable solution for the Kashmir region to adopt a renewable, sustainable strategy to protect its beautiful but fragile environment. The introduction of cannabis for intoxication and medicine is the only way that the people and other living beings in the state can be saved from the epidemic of opium, methamphetamine and synthetic pharmaceuticals that is wrecking humans, animals, birds, insects and nature in general in this state while fueling and financing the forces that oppress the state. This step will make Jammu and Kashmir develop sustainable tourism at levels never dreamed of before as people from all over the world will flock here to enjoy some of the finest cannabis in one of the most beautiful regions of the world. Even though control over the Kashmir region is firmly in the hands of the Indian government, they have not been able to completely kill the charas trade in India, even though they sincerely wish to do so for no other reasons than out of spite for the Muslim and in order to protect the opium trade. As with ganja in the rest of India, charas has only moved underground into the black market where it finances and strenthens the criminal organizations and terror networks that the Indian government claims to be fighting but is secretly supporting in return for funding the ruling political parties. Complete legalization of cannabis will enable India to not only restore trade with Afghanistan and possibly even Yarkand for charas, but may even enable Jammu and Kashmir to produce its own charas of high quality that could be exported to the rest of the world.Through the introduction of cannabis for industry, medicine and intoxication will bring sustainable economic development to the region, creating jobs, introducing sustainable agriculture, and raising the general well-being of the people and healing the stress and trauma that the region has endured for nearly two centuries due to the unscrupulous forces that eye Kashmir with greed and lust. Jammu and Kashmir is particularly vulnerable to the catastrophic effects of climate change, having already witnessed floods, reduced snowfall, water shortages and rising temperatures that have caused great damage to the region. According to Hindu mythology, the entire Kashmir Valley was once a lake. In the last few years, the government of Jammu and Kashmir have started exploring the feasibility of legalizing cannabis for medical and industrial purposes, most likely driven by the havoc that opium is wrecking with public health and unsustainable fossil-fuel-based industries on the environment. How the timing of these initiatives line up with the pressure exerted by the union government on the state is not known to me, but I theorize that it may have unleashed a fresh round of anti-Kashmir propaganda, staged terrorism and counter-terrorism missions and tighter control over the state from the center through the army, its criminal organizations, its media machinery and political representatives around the same time that the state announced its plans to legalize cannabis for industrial and medical purposes. For the people of Kashmir, it is most important to recognize this as proof that they are on the right path and to continue even more strongly along this path to liberate and save themselves from their oppressors... Legalized cannabis for all purposes will significantly counter and reduce nature's backlash in this region. Kashmir, often described as paradise on earth, about which Led Zeppelin sang - 'Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face, with stars to fill my dream. I am a traveler of both time and space to be where I have been. To sit with elders of a gentle race this world has seldom seen. Who talk of days for which they sit and wait. When all will be revealed...' - now stands at the brink of turning to hell through the greed of the people who have been elected by the people of the state and India to manage it. Only the divine herb of Allah offers hope for freeing its people from the shackles that they find themselves and restoring the state to its past glory... The same goes for Leh and Ladakh...
The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's findings
THE EXISTENCE, PREVALENCE, AND CHARACTER OF THE SPONTANEOUS GROWTH
82. The memorandum of the Kashmir Governor mentions two kinds of wild growth which appear to have somewhat distinct characters. The growth called talia consists of the female plant, and is found in the Anantnag district and the Nagam tahsil of the ranges. It may very well be doubted if without these aids the plant would long survive in the low country under the vicissitudes of the Indian climate and seasons. The plant appears to be very hardy when it is once well established, but it is clear from the distribution of the wild growth in India that the conditions of soil and climate under which it can attain full growth are limited.
EXTENT OF CULTIVATION, AND ITS TENDENCY TO INCREASE OR DECREASE.
148. The Governor of Kashmir and Jammu and the Member of Kashmir State Council report that the plant is not cultivated. It appears that the wild growth is abundant enough, and develops the narcotic properties in sufficient degree to satisfy the wants of the people.
METHODS OF CULTIVATION AND MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH.
PREPARATION OF THE RAW DRUGS FROM THE CULTIVATED AND WILD PLANT
This describes the preparation of bhang, pure and simple; but apparently this article is known by the three names—ganja, gard bhang, or chura charas. And "it would appear that this is the stuff which is occasionally smoked. Fakirs and a few Muhammadans and Pandits of the Srinagar city and towns smoke gard bhang (churn charas)........................ The total number of persons who do smoke ganja is, etc". Another informant says: "Charas is prepared in the capital cities and is termed garda," and he does not know if bhang is prepared. The preparation of garda is described, and finishes with the reduction of the material to a "resinous powder." The manufacture of garda or charas by the method given in the "Punjab Products" is not described by either of the only three informants. It is probable that charas is made by a further elaboration from the garda charas spoken of above which is practically bhang powdered to a state of more than common fineness, and that ganja is a name borrowed from India without any correct idea of its meaning beyond that it signifies the female plant. It may be noted that the price of garda bhang, three pice per tola, given in the Governor of Kashmir's report, is very high for simple bhang, and seems to indicate that the article is more like charas.
TRADE AND MOVEMENT OF THE HEMP DRUGS
EXTENT OF USE AND THE MANNER AND FORMS IN WHICH THE HEMP DRUGS ARE CONSUMED
SYSTEMS OF THE NATIVE STATES.
KASHMIR STATE MEMORANDUM.
1. Cultivation of hemp does not prevail in Kashmir.
2. The hemp plant, however, grows spontaneously throughout Kashmir proper.
3. It is abundant in Wantipora, Haripore, and Anantnag tahsils of the Anantnag district, and in the Nagam tahsil of the Srinagar District, growing on both banks of the river Jhelum and Arveni and Kaimu nallahs.
4. The growth of wild hemp is ordinarily dense. Almost all wild hemp which is called Talia in the Punjab, and is generally female plant in the above-mentioned tahsils, is used for the preparation of ganja locally known by name gard bhang (chura charas).
5. The total quantity of gard bhang annually manufactured in ordinary years is about 70 maunds, but in the year Sambat 1950 the total production of ganja amounted to about 35 maunds, the hemp plant having been considerably damaged by the recent flood.
6. Four hundred maunds of fibre are annually produced, but, for reasons stated above, the total quantity of fibre in Sambat 1950 amounted to 160 maunds only.
7. Down the city on both banks of the river Jhelam wild hemp known as Kathiya bhang does not produce gard bhang (chura charas), and it is only used for its fibre and twigs for burning.
8. About 600 maunds of fibre is annually produced down the river and in the Utarmachipura and Sri Pratap Singhpura tahsils and ilaqa Magan of the Pattan Tahsil and Khinhama.
9. Zamindars pay to the lessee fixed amount as duty which varies according to the extent of the growth for the fibre and twigs of the hemp plant growing down the city and in the tahsils mentioned in paragraph 8.
10. The leaves of the hemp plant are trodden under foot, and cleaned by sieve to prepare gard bhang, and this process is continued until the leaves are reduced to powder and seeds separated. This is always done by lessee in Srinagar, where the leaves are brought to undergo this process of manufacture.
11. Manufacture and sale of gard bhang (chura charas) and fibre are auctioned, and the highest bid in the current year, Sambat 1950, amounted to Rs. 3,240.
12. The monopoly of sale is practically given to the lessee, who appoints his own men for retail sale and makes his own arrangements for control of the growth of the wild hemp plant, the production of the ganja, and for its fibre.
13. The number and sites of retail shops are not fixed, and it is optional for the lessee to open retail shops at suitable places not objected to by the people according to the requirements of the consumers.
14. The maximum quantity for retail sale to, or possession by, the ordinary consumers of gard bhang is 5 tolas.
15. No minimum price is fixed for " gard bhang," but it is usually sold at 3 pice per tola.
16. Illicit sale to, and possession of gard bhang by, consumers in excess of the maximum amount are now generally dealt with on the criminal side under the State Penal Code for disobedience of rules duly promulgated. The rules are, however, defective and make no provision for prosecuting a man manufacturing ganja without a license or destroying the wild hemp plant, or for other similar cases, or binding the lessee to keep up register of produce of the drugs and sale. Framing of the new rules as more effective preventive measures for such purposes is under consideration.
17. The illicit sale of the Yarkand charas apparently prevails, but to a very small extent, as the Yarkand charas is not liked by the Kashmiris, which is the only drug passing through Kashmir for British India.
18. The drug being usually leased, lessee makes his own arrangements for prevention of the illicit sale, as he does for the control of the growth of the plant. The contractor of duty on custom and octroi also in his own interest has supervision on the Yarkand charas to see that it passes the country sealed intact, as, if sold in the city, he is entitled to duty on the same.
19. The annual consumption of the ganja or locally known gard bhang (chura charas) is about 63 maunds, or, in other words, the entire quautity thus manufactured is locally consumed.
20. The gard bhang as produced in this province is of inferior quality, and being not liked by the people in British India its smuggling is of rare occurrence, or in fact I cannot quote a single case of this nature.
21. In the present year lessee, on account of damage done to the hemp plant by the recent flood, could not produce more than 35 maunds, and he had therefore purchased the Yarkand charas passing through Kashmir to meet the local requirements by mixing the Yarkand charas with the local produce, foreign produce being not liked by the consumers, generally.
22. Green or dry leaves of bhang are not sold for drinking and smoking. Bhang is very seldom used in this province for drinking and it is not at all used for smoking, and the people drinking it, whose number can hardly be more than 200, clean the dry leaves in their houses and roast them a little. A few dry leaves are put in a koondi with some black-pepper to prepare a fluid, and sometimes sugar also is mixed to make the liquid sweet to the taste. There is no prohibition for possession of the bhang leaves in any quantity.
23. Bhang is also used in the preparation of majum, which is eaten to some extent by the Hindustanis and well-to-do Kashmiris.
24. The quantity of majum does not exceed one maund a year.
25. Majum is manufactured by slightly boiling leaves, which are taken out of water and put into hot ghi; ghi possessing narcotic properties when mixed with ata and sugar makes majum for eating, but there are no habitual eaters of majum.
26. Cultivation of hemp in this province is only impossible on the hills; and, excepting the stony lands, it can be cultivated throughout the province; but on account of the wild hemp, the growth of which is abundant throughout Kashmir proper, cultivation of the plant does not prevail at all, though not prohibited by the State.
27. Higher up the river in the three tahsils of the Anantnag district and in the Nagam tahsil of the Srinagar district the hemp plant is cut by the zemindars of the neighbouring villages in the month of Kartik, lessee on behalf of the State, when hemp and manufacture of ganja are auctioned, receiving leaves of the plant in full and half of the fibre, the rest half of the fibre and the twigs going to the zemindars in lieu of their wages.
28. Ganja does keep good with ordinary care in skins of sheep at most for two years after which it quite loses its effect, and no measure can prevent its deterioration. If not carefully kept free from wet and atmosphere, it loses its effect earlier than this.
29. Fakirs and a few Musalmans and Pandits of the Srinagar city and towns smoke gard bhang (chura charas).
30. The villagers are not accustomed to these drugs.
31. The total number of persons who do smoke ganja is in this province approximately 2,000, and including the people of British India, the servants of visitors in spring, and the fakirs visiting the country on pilgrimage, the number may fairly be taken as 2,500, and they can be classed as follows:—
Habitual excessive consumers, each consuming as an average about 1 tola per diem, costing 3 pice.... 50
Occasional moderate consumers, each consuming as an average about one masha 400 Occasional excessive consumers, each consuming about 3/4 tola, costing 2 pice and a pie.... 50
Bhang is believed to be an astringent and anti-rheumatic also.
32. The consumers are generally of low classes, Muhammadan and Hindu fakirs and a few notoriously bad characters, though well-to-do persons, mostly illiterate, idleness leading them to the practice of consuming gard bhang, and they are generally grown-up men.
33. The use of the hemp drug as a habit is doubtless injurious mentally and physically, but there are other stimulants which are in no way less injurious than these drugs. The use of bhang for drinking, which is in no way stimulant, is of course most injurious, making the consumers lazy, coward, and senseless when taken in excess.
34. Bhang is considered as digestive, but I have seen cases in which consumers being intoxicated ate much, and the result was on the contrary just the reverse, causing indigestion and leading to frenzy.
35. It is easier than opium to break off the habit of smoking ganja or gard bhang as locally known, and the habit of consuming the same is due to bad company and idleness, which may gradually develop into the excessive, though moderate in the beginning. Considering the population of the province, which, according to the recent census, is 949, 041 souls, the number of consumers of gard bhang is very email, and in case of entire prohibition, which may give rise to discontent among the habitual consumers, it cannot amount at all to a political danger in the Kashmir Province.
36. The area under the wild bhang being not measured and the lessees being not required under the rules to keep up registers, I cannot furnish information by years as asked for in the statement. I, however, give revenue on account of hemp drugs for the last twenty years. I could not get any further information for compilation of the statement, and it is impossible to prepare statement without such information as far as figures by years are concerned.
