When the British left the Indian subcontinent in 1947, they carved out two Pakistans - East and West. East Pakistan was carved out of the Bengal Presidency which had been the first Indian territory under complete control of the British colonists. East Pakistan consisted of largely Bengali speaking Muslim communities who had been spread throughout the Bengal Presidency before partition. The culture of East Pakistan strongly resembles the culture of West Bengal, just as the culture of West Pakistan strongly resembles the culture of Jammu and Kashmir. Thus, it was logical that East Pakistan be renamed as Bangladesh when it broke away from Pakistan and became an independent country in 1970. It is ironic that the freedom that Sheikh Mujib-Ur-Rehman secured for Bangladesh was endangered by his own daughter Sheikh Hasina. Coming to power as a populist leader - like Mamta Bannerjee in West Bengal - Sheikh Hasina gradually metamorphosized into an autocratic leader who drew inspiration from her counterpart across the border, Narendra Modi. She killed or imprisoned political opponents, looted public wealth and more or less spent her time in office consolidating the position of the ruling upper classes and castes while pushing the lower classes into further poverty and suffering. When the people of Bangladesh revolted against her and installed Mohammad Yunus as their interim leader, Sheikh Hasina took asylum across the border under the wings of her hero Narendra Modi. Despite arrest warrants being issued for her in Bangladesh, she remains in India under the protection of the Indian government.
If we want to understand some of the history of cannabis usage in Bangladesh, we must study the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95 and the information that it provides regarding the Bengal Presidency, since today's Bangladesh was part of the Bengal Presidency. More or less what applies to the Bengal Presidency, applies to Bangladesh of the 19th century.
As a part of the Bengal Presidency, Bangladesh was among the first places in India where the British colonists brought about cannabis regulation in the 19th century and eventually prohibition. This was done to promote the sale of opium, tobacco, western alcohol and medicine and to get large numbers of the working and poor classes to stop the consumption of cannabis as ganja, charas and bhang which they had been doing for thousands of years. The proximity of Bangladesh to Burma (now Myanmar), as well as its importance as part of the land route for the flow of opium between Asia and Europe warranted that these parts of Bengal became cannabis-free as much as possible. The measures taken to reduce and eventually eliminate cannabis consumption were: vastly reducing the areas of cannabis cultivation; introducing licenses for cultivation and sales; increasing the cost of cannabis; reducing the number of retail outlets; promoting the sale of alcohol; creating myths such as cannabis caused insanity, cannabis users were criminals, only the lowest classes used ganja, cannabis was harmful to physical health, cannabis was more harmful than alcohol, etc.
Regarding the wild uncultivated growth of cannabis in Bangladesh, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission reports that 'The Dacca and Chittagong Divisions. 29. But there is evidence that the growth is still common south of this line and east of the Ganges and Bhagirathi, more so under the Garo Hills and along the course of the Brahmaputra than elsewhere. It is hard to realize an area of wild growth quite so large as that mentioned by Babu Abhilas Chandra Mukharji, viz., twenty square miles covered with long grass and hemp plants. Mr. Luttman-Johnson, talking of this very tract, Durgapur thana, says he saw the plant growing more or less thickly over twenty or thirty acres. Babu Abhilas Chandra Mukharji mentions many other places in Dacca and Mymensingh where the plant grows abundantly, and the Collector of Dacca corroborates his evidence regarding the south-west corner of that district. It is evident that in these districts the growth is very prevalent. Sarat Chandra Das (47) says that the growth is dense in places in the Chittagong Division, but he cannot say that it is abundant in any district.'
Regarding the cultivation of cannabis in the Bengal Presidency, and the extent of regulation that was already in place by 1880, the Hemp Commission reported in the section Extent of Cultivation, and its tendency to increase or decrease that 'Bengal. 89. In Bengal the law (section 5 of Bengal Act VII of 1878) forbids the cultivation without a license from the Collector of plants from which intoxicating drugs are produced. The cultivation of the hemp plant is accordingly confined to a compact tract having a radius of about sixteen miles, and lying in the three districts of Dinajpur, Rajshahi, and Bogra. The reasons why this tract was selected are not authoritatively stated. Cultivation was formerly carried on in the Jessore district also, but that was suppressed in 1875. The present ganja tract was probably found to be most suitable to the cultivation of the drug, and it was obviously an advantage to the excise administration to have the production confined to one area where economical and efficient arrangements could be made for supervising it. 90. There is practically no clandestine cultivation within this tract. The Excise Commissioner writes that "owing to the area in which cultivation is permitted being extremely limited, and to the close supervision there, there is every reason to believe that unlicensed cultivation has been all but suppressed." The ganja tract appears to have a tendency to further concentration. The 1st Assistant Supervisor of ganja cultivation states that it is now included within a radius of about fourteen miles, having been reduced from a radius of twenty miles since 1866, and he gives the following explanation of the change: "The gradual reduction in the extent of the tract was due to the fact that by the removal of jungles in the villages not far off Naogaon more land became generally available for cultivation, and more ganja was produced. Purchasers having ganja near Naogaon do not naturally like to go to distant villages for their supplies." The remote villages in the north, south, and east of the tract have accordingly given up the cultivation. 91. The area cultivated in 1892-93 was 3,540 bighas, an area far larger than the crop has occupied for twenty years past. But in the year 1891-92 the cultivation was the least in the same period, and doubtless the short outturn had to be made up in the following season. The cultivation of the two years together is not remarkably high. The following explanation by the Excise Commissioner must be read with the statistics of cultivation: "It will be observed that, except in the past year, there has been no material increase in the area under ganja cultivation during the last twenty years. The column shows the quantity of land in which the crop finally matured, excluding such land as was cultivated, but in which the plants failed altogether; and therefore, although it would appear that cultivation was greatly curtailed during the years 1875-76, 1878-79, 1879-80, 1885-86, and 1891-92, this was not really the case in all the years excepting 1885-86, as the plants in large areas under cultivation were destroyed in these years by heavy floods, and such lands were not taken into account. The decrease in the area cultivated in 1885-86 was due to the smaller profits of the cultivators in the preceding two years. The high price which the drug had realised in 1891-92 owing to wholesale failure of the crop in the previous year caused by inundation induced a large number of raiyats to take up lands for cultivation during the following year. Some raiyats are regular growers of ganja, and annually set apart a portion of their holdings for the purpose; others are induced to take to ganja cultivation by the high profits of one year to abandon it again when prices fall." The evidence furnishes no better account of the fluctuations than this. A bigha is about one-third of an acre in Bengal. The cultivation of 1892-93, therefore, amounted to 1,180 acres, and the average of the last five years from 1888-89 to 1892-93 is 824 acres. 92. Leaving the ganja tract, the evidence gives reason to suppose that there is a certain amount of rearing of scattered plants. This is, of course, carried on secretly, and in the places where the wild or spontaneous growth flourishes detection is more difficult. The Hon'ble Mr. Lyall thinks that the quantity of bhang that is now exported from the Bhagalpur Division shows that there must be cultivation to a considerable extent in that part of the country. He means that the bhang which is exported as wild must often be fostered, and perhaps to some extent sown and tended, by the occupants of the lands on which, or in the neighbourhood of which, it grows. Mr. Westmacott holds similar views because he has never found the wild plant in the jungle at a distance from habitations, but he does not indicate the localities to which his remarks apply. On the other hand, the Assistant to the Director of Land Records and Agriculture, who made special enquiries in the region referred to by Mr. Lyall, reports: "I could find no evidence of the hemp plant being actually cultivated in any part of Purnea and Bhagalpur. Everywhere it came up as a weed. In some places, however, where the plants did not grow in abundance, and would therefore seem to be an object of considerable value to bhang drinkers, I observed signs of its having been looked after with some degree of care." He then describes the signs of the plants having been attended to, and proceeds: "All this made me suspect that the people knew a great deal more about the bhang plant than they were willing to avow." This evidence is a partial corroboration of the high authorities named above, but it points rather to the surreptitious production of ganja in small quantity than to the cultivation on a large scale of the plant which the contractors carry away as bhang. And all the other evidence of the cultivation of the wild plant and of unlicensed cultivation generally refers more or less distinctly to the rearing of a few plants near houses, or in enclosures, or in the midst of crops, and not to operations of a more extensive kind. 93. This desultory cultivation, either from ganja seed or by rearing plants which have sprung up of themselves, occurs everywhere, though the evidence does not give the impression that it is common anywhere. It is stated in Mr. Gupta's memorandum that there were 86 arrests and 71 convictions on this account in the year 1892-93. Arrests were made in 25 districts, "but all the cases were for growing a few plants (very often a single plant) in the courtyards of houses." Babu Abhilas Chandra Mukharji says that "in almost all the districts in which cases of illicit cultivation have been detected, the plants had been grown from the seeds of the Rajshahi ganja." But Mr. Basu's report and such evidence as the first part of the following extract point rather to the nurture of self-sown plants. Babu Pran Kumar Das (43) states: "I prosecuted and also tried some cases of nourishing and promoting the growth of hemp plants. There was ample evidence of nourishment, such as soil properly prepared, watering, manuring, and otherwise taking care of, but in no case was there any evidence of cultivation. I, however, suspected that it was cultivated in a few cases. In Gaya I found plants grown in a field and being taken care of just as other crops. Generally the ganja smokers grew it in places hidden from the public view. Inside house compounds a few only are grown. The largest (sic) I saw was a field in Gaya, may be 20 or 25." 94. The Bhagalpur, Patna, Dacca, and Rajshahi Divisions appear to be those in which this illicit rearing is most prevalent, and the districts of Jessore, Cuttack, and Midnapur are also mentioned, but by only one witness in each case. It will be seen that this distribution agrees pretty closely with the prevalence of the wild growth. The quality of some of the evidence may be judged from that of a zamindar who wrote that "hemp (ganja) is said to be cultivated in certain parts of the Mymensingh district bordering the river Jamuna." The Board of Revenue ordered the Collector of Mymensingh to report on this allegation, with the result that the babu could not specify the villages in question, and that he was clearly, in the Collector's opinion, labouring under some misapprehension. The witness's statement indicated cultivation of a far more systematic kind than really existed, but it is unlikely that his information was entirely mistaken, and there is evidence in corroboration of the desultory kind of cultivation in Mymensingh. The evidence as a whole does not justify the belief that the wild plant is systematically cultivated or fostered to the extent suspected by Mr. Lyall even in the Bhagalpur and Monghyr districts, but it does show that the secret and desultory kind of cultivation is not uncommon in the divisions above named, and is rare in other parts of the province.'
In the Memorandum on Hemp Drugs in Bengal by Mr. K. G. Gupta, Commissioner of Excise, Bengal, submitted to the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-1895, it says, '1. There is a uniform system throughout the Lower Provinces. 2. Hemp drugs, of which ganja is the principal, constitute one of the chief sources of excise revenue in Bengal. 3. In excise matters there is one central controlling authority, which is vested now in the Commissioner of Excise, acting under the general control of the Board of Revenue. The excise department of each district is managed by a selected Deputy Collector under the personal supervision of the Collector, who is primarily responsible for the administration of the excise of his district. In the more important districts there is a Special Deputy Collector mainly for excise work. With the appointment of a Commissioner of Excise under section 33 of the Bengal Excise Act, VII of 1878, from the 4th April 1889 the connection of Divisional Commissioners with excise ceased, but recently (from 1st April 1893) they have again been brought into touch with the department by executive arrangement, in accordance with which annual and other reports and proposals involving any change in principle and policy pass through them. 4. The Excise Commissioner is assisted in the work of inspection by two Deputy Collectors under the designation of Inspectors of Excise. The subordinate district agency consists of Superintendents, Deputy Inspectors, Sub-Inspectors, clerks, jamadars, and peons, who are variously employed in the management of central distilleries, in the inspection of shops, in the collection of revenue, and the compilation of statistics, and in the detection and prevention of excise offences, and who are controlled by the Excise Deputy Collector acting under the orders of the Collector. The system of excise on hemp-drugs is based on the Bengal Council Act, VII of 1878, and the Regulation and Acts noted on the margin, as well as on the Board's Excise Manual and the circulars issued by the Board from time to time. 5. The following sections or parts of sections of the Bengal Excise Act relate specially to hemp-drugs:— 4, 15, 16, 35, 54, 62, and 63.
The following Board's rules have special reference to those drugs:— Sections XIX, XX, and XXI of the Board's Excise Manual, 1891. 6. The wild hemp plant is found in nearly every district, and it grows abundantly in several places. No ganja or charas is made from the wild plant, as the narcotic element, which is essential to the preparation of either drug, is entirely absent or very imperfectly developed in the uncultivated plant. But the green leaves of the wild plant are dried and, under the name of bhang, extensively consumed, especially in Bihar. The cultivation of hemp plants, except under a license, is strictly prohibited, so are unlicensed sales of hemp drugs, including bhang, and their unlicensed possession in any quantity in excess of 20 tolas. (In the case of charas and Garhjat ganja the limit is 5 tolas.) The use of untaxed bhang is general, and the facility with which bhang can be made from wild plants baffles all effort to bring it under adequate taxation. Most of the licensed shops are situated in the urban areas, but, excepting in about half a dozen districts, the townspeople also would seem to use untaxed bhang. For instance, in the Rajshahi Division not a single license is taken for the sale of the drug. It is also suspected that licensed shops do not always confine their business to the duty-paid drug. An attempt was made lately to get the wild plant extirpated with a view to bring the cultivation of bhang under proper control, if possible; but the plant grows so abundantly that the attempt was considered impracticable, and has since been abandoned under the order of Government. Although wild hemp is so very common everywhere, bhang is prepared for the market in only three districts, viz., Monghyr, Bhagalpur, and Purnea, where the plant growing luxuriantly in the alluvial char lands of the Ganges is considered to yield a superior quality of leaves. Wholesale dealers are allowed to collect the leaves under permits granted by the Collector. They next bring the drug in bags to the licensed golas, where it is weighed and stored in the presence of a responsible officer. It is then allowed to be exported to other districts or issued for retail sale under the same rules as ganja. 7. It will be seen that bhang does not really come under excise control until it is collected and stored in golas, and the rules so far are defective. But the difficulty of introducing a stricter system lies in the fact that the plant, as it stands on the ground, has very little marketable value. If it is growing on waste land, any one can have it; on the other hand, the cultivator on whose land it is found is only too glad to get any one to remove this troublesome weed, and all that the collector of the drug has to pay are wages for gathering and drying the leaves and cartage to the gola. 8. The cultivation of the hemp plant for the production of ganja is permitted under special licenses. Prior to the passing of Act II (B.C.) of 1876 persons engaged in the cultivation of ganja apparently were not required to take out licenses, though by section XXIII of Act XXI of 1856 the Board of Revenue were empowered to "place the cultivation, preparation, and store of the drugs under such supervision as may be deemed to be necessary to secure the duty leviable thereon," and by section L of the same Act the cultivators of ganja and bhang were prohibited from selling the drug to any one other than a licensed vendor or other duly authorized purchaser. Unlicensed cultivation was prohibited under section 13 of the Bengal Council Act, No. II, 1876. The same provision has been retained in section 54 of the present Act, VII (B.C.) of 1878, and every cultivator has to take out a license for which no fee is charged. 9. During the first half of the present century the district of Jessore was celebrated for its ganja, and large quantities of the drug were prepared there for the market. The cultivation in Jessore was entirely suppressed in 1875. Ganja is now cultivated in a compact tract of country with a radius of about 16 miles lying in three districts, viz., Dinajpur, Rajshahi, and Bogra. The whole tract, though situated in three districts, is for the purposes of ganja administration, placed under the jurisdiction of the Collector of Rajshahi, who is styled the Superintendent of the Ganja Mahal, the Sub-divisional Officer of Naogaon, who is in immediate charge, being designated Deputy Superintendent. The cultivation and manufacture of ganja and its sale by cultivators are regulated by clauses 3 to 27, section XX of the Excise Manual, pages 154 and 158, Clause 3, section XX, Excise Manual, Clause 4, section XX. 10. Any person who intends to cultivate the hemp plant for the purpose of making ganja must first apply in writing to the Sub-Deputy Collector at Naogaon, who is also the supervisor of the Ganja Mahal, for a license authorising him to cultivate. The license is ordinarily granted, unless there be any valid objection, and remains in force for one working season only. Clause 10, section XX. 11. In February and March the supervisor or one of his three assistants visits each manufacturing yard or chatter as often as possible to take note of the outturn, and to see that the drug as manufactured is forwarded to the public gola or stored in some secure authorized place in the premises of the cultivators, or of such wholesale dealers as purchase the standing crop and prepare their own drug. Clause 11, section XX. Clause 12, section XX. 12. The manufacturer of the drug, whether a cultivator or a wholesale goladar, is bound to give notice three days before he commences to cut his crop to the supervisor or to an assistant supervisor; the rule also requires him to send into the public gola all the ganja he manufactures, unless he has a secure private place of his own. But hitherto the rule regarding storage in the public gola has not been enforced owing to practical difficulties, and the cultivators have been permitted to keep the manufactured drug in their own houses. A cultivator has to obtain a license from the supervisor to retain ganja in his own private gola until it is disposed of to a licensed purchaser. This license shows the quantity and the kind of ganja covered by it, and has to be returned to the supervisor endorsed with the names of the purchasers to whom the ganja may subsequently be sold, and the quantity sold to each. Clause 14, section XX. Clause 25, section XX. 13. A cultivator may sell his standing crop to a duly licensed wholesale purchaser, but not without the written sanction of the supervisor of ganja cultivation. Every purchaser licensed to purchase ganja for export is bound to keep for the inspection of the supervisor, or other excise officer, a statement of his purchases and sales on pain of forfeiture of his license. 14. Owing to the area within which cultivation is permitted being extremely limited, and to the close supervision exercised there, there is every reason to believe that unlicensed cultivation has been all but suppressed. The manufacture of the drug entails a series of elaborate processes, and cannot be successfully carried on in secret, at all events to any appreciable extent, and it may be safely affirmed that the manufacture of ganja is now confined in these provinces to the very limited tract which has been specially set apart for the purpose. Isolated cases of one or two plants being grown in the inner courtyards of houses are occasionally detected, but these only show how effectually unlicensed cultivation has been put down. 15. But much remains to be done to bring the manufacture of the drug, and more especially its storage in private houses, under more effective control than is exercised at present. Manufacture begins almost simultaneously in every part of the tract, and it is physically impossible for the limited excise staff to visit the chatters or manufacturing yards with sufficient frequency and to check the outturn. 16. Again there is no Government monopoly in ganja as there is in opium, and Government is not concerned with either the wholesale or the retail trade beyond seeing that the drug pays duty before passing into consumption. The difficulty of having a public warehouse is that the ganja stored in it would consist of numerous small parcels, all belonging to different individuals, and this would lead to much confusion. Again, the drug has to be frequently aired, turned, and handled in order to keep it in good condition, and it is next to impossible to secure this periodical examination when the ganja is stored in public golas situated at a distance from the houses of the cultivators. It is mainly owing to these difficulties that cultivators have so long been allowed to keep the ganja in their own houses, but the so-called private golas are often mere open sheds, and are not the secure warehouses that the rules contemplate. A properly built gola would be beyond the means of the average cultivator. But even with suitable buildings there would be no security unless one key remained with a Government official, whose presence would then be necessary every time the gola had to be opened. 17. The present system of storage is admittedly defective, and it cannot be denied that some ganja is smuggled or otherwise illicitly disposed of. But owing to the comparatively bulky nature of the drug there is reason to think that the extent of smuggling is not large. The small number of cases detected also point to the same conclusion. The privilege of growing ganja is valued, and the cultivators, who are generally well-to-do men, are averse to doing anything that may cause forfeiture of their licenses, not to speak of other penalties; and it is the general opinion of those who have any experience of the ganja tract that the cultivators as a class honestly and faithfully carry out the engagements. 18. Garhjat ganja, as its name implies, comes from the Garhjat or Tributary States of Orissa, and is in use only in the three districts of the Orissa Division. Its cultivation and manufacture is apparently under no control. Small quantities of Garhjat ganja are imported into Puri under excise rules, but more is smuggled there as well as in the other two districts, the extended frontier and the jungly nature of the country affording great facilities for such illicit dealings and rendering detection extremely difficult. 19. The resin from which charas is manufactured is not produced in abundance in the plant in Bengal, and charas is not made here. It is obtained from Amritsar and Mirzapur, where again it is imported from Yarkand and other places in Central Asia. Charas used at one time to be imported from Nepal also, but the trade has apparently died out. 20. The importers of ganja and other hemp drugs are the wholesale dealers of those drugs. They are licensed. Excise Manual, clause 27, section XX. Clause 28, section XX. Clause 29, section XX. As regards ganja the following procedure is observed:— A licensed wholesale merchant or retailer of another district who wishes to purchase ganja from the cultivators has in the first place to apply for a pass to the Collector of his own district, which is granted on payment of a fee of Rs. 2. The pass having been granted, a duplicate of it is sent by the officer granting it by the same day's post to the Collector of Rajshahi, who on receipt of it prepares a license to purchase, and transmits it to the supervisor of the ganja cultivation at Naogaon for delivery to the purchaser. The license is granted subject to the condition that the purchaser shall, when he has made his purchases, collect the whole of the ganja in a place to be approved by the supervisor until it is ready for export. The importer on reaching the place of purchase has to give up to the supervisor the original pass granted to him by the Collector of his own district, and receives the license authorizing him to purchase. He then makes purchases and stores the ganja in the place approved by the supervisor. The ganja purchased for export is weighed, first without straw or covering, and then with the covering, and both the aggregate and net weights of each package are entered on the back of the license or permit and on the importer's original pass. The ganja is packed and sealed in bales or bags in the presence of the supervisor or one of his assistants. Clause 30, section XX. Clause 31, section XX. Clause 32, section XX. Choor ganja from which all the woody fibre has been removed is packed in bags only which are sealed on each seam and at the mouth. No small or detached twigs of ganja are inserted in the bundles of flat ganja, but any such twigs as may be detached in the process of preparation are made up into separate bales or bags and charged with the duty leviable on round ganja. When the drug purchased has thus been weighed, packed, and sealed and made ready for despatch, the supervisor returns to the exporting merchant the original pass after having endorsed on it all the particulars as regards the weight and number of bales, the name of the purchaser and of the charandar or person in whose charge and custody it is conveyed, the mode of conveyance by which the ganja is to be transported, the places, warehouses, or shops to which the transport is made and the period for which the pass is current. The supervisor at the same time sends the license or permit with the necessary entries endorsed on the back to the Collector of Rajshahi for entry of the weights on the duplicate pass, which is then forwarded to the Collector of the importing district. A report of these particulars is at the same time made by the supervisor to the Collector of Rajshahi, a duplicate of this report being forwarded by him by post to the (Clause 33, section XX.) Collector of the importing district. Any ganja found on weighment by the supervisor to be in excess of the quantity entered in the import pass is kept in the public gola and warehouse, a rent of Re. 1 per maund being charged for the first month, and 4 annas per maund for subsequent months. This quantity is not allowed to be exported without a fresh import pass, but the cultivator may sell the same to other goladars. Clause 6, section XIX. Clause 7, section XIX. Clause 8, section XIX. Siddhi or Bhang.—No person is permitted to purchase siddhi for export to another district or obtain siddhi for sale without a pass on payment of a fee of two rupees, and a license from the Collector of the district to which the siddhi is to be conveyed or in which it is to be stored. The pass and the license must be countersigned by the Collector of the district in which the siddhi is bought or obtained. Siddhi, whether obtained locally or imported from another district, must be stored in a warehouse in the same way as ganja is stored. A licensed wholesale merchant or retailer of another district who wishes to purchase siddhi in the producing district is bound to purchase it from the wholesale dealer of that district in the same manner as ganja is purchased. But when he wishes to obtain his supplies from any local fields or places where the siddhi-yielding plant grows wild, he is allowed to do so in the presence of an excise officer deputed by the Collector for the purpose. Such officer is bound to weigh the drug before it is removed, and to report to the Collector its weight, condition, quality, &c. As a matter of fact, however, wholesale dealers of other districts always obtain their supplies from the licensed golas of Monghyr and Bhagalpur.
Clause 1, section XXI. 21. Charas.—No person is allowed to import charas into Bengal excepting under a pass from the Collector of his district. No fee is required for the pass. The importing merchant on arrival presents the pass to the Collector of the exporting district, who returns it to him after endorsing on it the quantity of charas to be imported; similar entries are made by him on the back of the duplicate copy of the pass sent to him by the Collector of the importing district, and it is then returned direct by post. When charas is imported from Nepal the pass need not be endorsed except in the importing district. Clause 2, section XXI. Clause 4, section XXI. The charas, on its arrival in the district from which the pass was issued, is produced for examination and comparison with the pass before the Excise Deputy Collector. The whole consignment is liable to confiscation, and the importer is liable to other penalties of the Excise law for each of the following offences:— (1) Selling any portion of a despatch before arrival at the Collectorate from which the pass was given. (2) Being in possession of a quantity greater or less than that shown to be the quantity covered by the pass, unless the difference is fully explained and full duty paid. Clause 65, section XX. 22. Garhjat ganja.—Any licensed wholesale or retail vendor of ganja wishing to purchase Garhjat ganja from the cultivators in the Tributary Mahals has to apply to the Collector of his own district for a pass, stating the locality or localities and the Tributary State in which the ganja is to be purchased and the quantity for which the pass is required. It has lately been ordered by the Board as an experimental measure that the sources of export of Garhjat ganja should be confined to those States which are under the immediate control of Government. Board's No. 1618-B., dated 11th September 1893.
Clause 66, section XX. Clause 67, section XX. A pass is granted for any quantity not less than one maund on payment of a fee of Rs. 2. A duplicate copy of such pass is sent to the Superintendent of the Tributary Mahals, who issues instructions to such authorities as may be subordinate to him in the specified locality or localities to superintend the weighment, packing, sealing, and despatch of the drug. The local authority, on production of the pass as aforesaid, weighs the ganja, superintends its packing, and seals the bales or bags in which it is packed in such a manner that they cannot be opened without breaking the seals. Clause 68, section XX. Clause 69, section XX. When the bales are ready for despatch, the local authority returns the original pass to the importer after endorsing on it the locality in the Garhjat Mahals from which the ganja is transported, the weight and number of the bales or bags of ganja transported, the distinguishing marks by which the bales or bags may be known, the name of the purchaser and of the person in whose charge and custody it is conveyed, the mode of conveyance, the route to be taken, the point of crossing the frontier and such other particulars as he may think it desirable to note. He is required to submit at the same time a copy of the endorsement to his immediate superior. Every pass must be surrendered to the Collector of the importing district or to the sub-divisional officer (if the ganja is consigned to a sub-division) within three days of the expiration of the period of its currency. After crossing the British frontier, the importer is bound to take the consignment to the first police-station for inspection. The importer is not authorized to make sales during the journey, and any police or excise officer may challenge and examine consignments during transit. The rules as to storage and levy of duty on Rajshahi ganja apply mutatis mutandis to Garhjat ganja. Any vendor licensed to retail Rajshahi ganja may sell Garhjat ganja under the same license. Clause 71, section XX. Clauses 70 and 72, section XX.
Clause 73, section XX. Clause 74, section XX. 23. Both the wholesale and retail dealers are under control and are licensed. The wholesale licenses are granted free and the retail licenses are annually sold by auction. Clause 43, section XX, Excise Manual. Clause 51, section XX. Clauses 52 and 53, section XX. Clause 55, section XX. 24. Before ganja is allowed to be stored in a warehouse the Excise Deputy Collector of the importing district, or where the gola is situated in a sub-division, the sub-divisional officer, is required to ascertain by personal inspection of the consignment that the seals of the bales or bags are unbroken, and that the weight and sorts correspond with the weight and sorts noted on the pass given in the producing district. He opens some of the bags, and having ascertained that they contain flat, round, or choor ganja as invoiced, reseals them. He examines the general quality and the condition in which the drug is received, whether dry or damp or in process of deterioration or decay. If any of the particulars do not agree with the entries in the pass under which the ganja is imported, the circumstance is reported to the Collector. The full duty, at the rate chargeable on the sort of ganja in which the deficiency or defect is found, is at once levied on any deficiency of weight and on any broken bundles. Any bale or bag received without the original seal may, if the Collector thinks fit, be confiscated. A wholesale dealer can sell ganja only to another duly authorized wholesale dealer, or to a retail dealer duly licensed. Stock is taken annually in each ganja and siddhi warehouse between the 25th and 31st March at the head-quarters of the district by the Excise Deputy Collector, and at the sub-divisions by the sub-divisional officer. The ganja and the siddhi goladars are held responsible for any deficiency in excess of 21/2 per cent., and duty is levied on such excess on or before the 31st March of each year. Each warehouse is secured by two reliable locks, the key of one of which remains with the goladar, and that of the other with the officer in charge of the warehouse. No gola can, therefore, be opened except in the joint presence of the goladar and the officer in charge. Clause 5, section XXI. 25. Every importer of charas is bound to keep an account of the quantity received and expended, and if he wishes to dispose of the drug to the public, he must take out a separate license for retail vend. Clause 75, section XX. (Vide forms of licenses Nos. 63, 116, and 124, pages 267, 312, and 318, respectively of the Manual.) 26. Ganja and siddhi golas are liable to periodical inspection by the Collector, the Excise Deputy Collector, and the sub-divisional officer. The inspecting officer is required to test the stock in hand and to examine the ganja registers and the treasury receipts to ascertain that the duty has been properly levied on all ganja issued, and finally that the collections have been duly credited to Government. 27. Retail licensees are bound to act according to the excise law and rules, and licenses are granted to them under certain conditions, which they must observe on pain of forfeiting the license. 28. Retail shops are also liable to inspection by Excise officers. Retail vendors pay duty according to the prescribed scale at the time of obtaining their supplies from the golas, and the drug is issued in the presence of a responsible officer (generally a gazetted officer), and the consignment is protected by a pass during its transit from the gola to the licensed shop. 29. The excise revenue from ganja and other hemp drugs is levied in two ways, viz., (1) in the form of license fees, and (2) in the form of duty at af ixedr ate per seer on the quantity issued for retail vend. Excise Report, 1860-61, paragraph 39. Clause 14, section III.
30. License fees.—For some time prior to 1860, no fee was taken on licenses for the retail sale of ganja. Duty only was charged at the rate of Re. 1 per seer. During the year 1860-61 a fee was imposed on licenses for the retail vend of ganja, and licenses were issued at a fixed rate of monthly fees till the introduction of the auction system in 1876. Licenses are now put up to auction and sold to the highest bidder at or above the upset fee. The term of a license is one year, except in Calcutta, where it is three years. Clause 21, section III. Clauses 23 and 24, section XI.The Sadar Excise Deputy Collector generally presides at the annual auction sales. A shop is put up to auction at an upset price approved by the Board. In the event of the upset price not being obtained in any particular case, a lower offer may be accepted with the sanction of the Commissioner. A sum equivalent to the fee for two months is taken at the time of sale as advance fees, and one month's fee is paid on the date on which the currency of the licensecommences, and one month's fee on the first day of every succeeding month until the whole of the fee due on the license has been realized. In cases of siddhi, charas, and majum (a sweet preparation of siddhi) shops, however, only one month's fee is taken in advance. A brief account of the earlier laws and rules for regulating the sale of hemp drugs is given in Appendix A. 31. Duty.—The different rates of duty on ganja, bhang, and charas levied from time to time are given in paragraphs 36—38. No duty is levied separately on majum as duty is paid on the siddhi used in its preparation. The present rates of duty as well as those that will come into force from 1st January 1894 on different sorts of ganja and bhang and charas are shown below:—
Present. Rate per seer from 1st January 1894. Rs. A. Rs. A. Ganja, choor 8 0 9 0 " round 7 4 7 8
" flat 6 0 7 6 4 0 (small twigs). (large " ). " Garhjat 3 8 3 8 Charas 8 0 8 0 Bhang 0 8 0 8 In the Orissa Division, however, owing to the competition of Garhjat ganja, the duty on different sorts of the Rajshahi ganja is leviable at the following reduced rates:—
Present. Rate per seer from 1st January 1894. Rs. A. Rs. A. Choor 6 8 7 8 Round 6 0 6 4 Flat 4 8 4 8
Clause 39, section XX. Clause 40, section XX. Clause 60, section XX. Clause 61, section XX.
32. Exportation of ganja.—Exportation from the producing district, or from one district to another, or from one licensed warehouse to another in the same district by wholesale vendors is allowed without prepayment of duty within the Lower Provinces of Bengal or Assam, as, according to the system in force in these provinces, duty is levied on the drug as it passes into the hands of the retailers. But before the exportation of ganja is allowed to foreign territory or to any district not within the Lower Provinces of Bengal or Assam, full duty is levied in the exporting district. Ganja when exported by sea to a country beyond the boundaries of British India is not liable to duty, and rebate is allowed on proof of export. Licensed retail vendors are required to pay duty at the prescribed rate before removing the ganja from the wholesale dealer's warehouse. The duty is calculated upon the actual weight of the drug issued. Clauses 7 and 9, section XIX, Excise Manual. 33. Siddhi.—Duty is realized on siddhi in the same way as on ganja. A retailer, when he applies to supply himself locally, is required to prepay the duty on the quantity applied for. Clause 3, section XXI, Excise Manual. 34. Charas.—Duty on charas is levied at the rate of Rs. 8 per seer, of which one-half is levied at the time of taking out the pass for the importation of the drug. The payment of the second moiety is made on the arrival of the drug in the district in which it is to be sold or stored, as the case may be.
Clause 46, section XX, Excise Manual. 35. To provide against evasion of payment of duty as regards ganja and siddhi, the following precautions are taken:— (1) The warehouse must have only one door, which is secured by two locks, one of which at least is Chubb's; the key of one is kept by the owner, and that of the other, which must be Chubb's, by the excise officer in charge of the warehouse. 9
Clauses 52—55, section XX, Excise Manual. (2) No delivery of the drugs is made except in the presence of an excise officer (generally a Deputy Collector), and under an order from the Collector or from an officer duly authorized by the Collector to grant passes, and no pass is granted. until the full amount of duty has been levied, as evidenced by the treasury chalan. (3) A ticket is attached to each bale or bag showing the actual quantity contained in it, and whenever ganja is taken out of a bag, the quantity so taken out is noted on the ticket and the balance struck after each transaction. These entries are mad'3 by the officer issuing the drug and initialled by him. (4) The gola licensee is not allowed to sell any quantity of ganja by retail vend under his license. (5) The goladar is bound to give access to the store whenever required by the excise officer in charge or his official superior. Besides, as already stated, at the end of each year stock is taken of the quantity of ganja or siddhi in the gola by the Excise Deputy Collector or the sub-divisional officer, as the case may be, and duty is levied on all deficiency in excess of2 1/2p er cent. 36. Rates of duty on Rajshahi Ganja from 1853—
KINDS OF From 1853 to December 1860. From December 1859 to February
(a) From February 1861 to 1871-72.
(b) From 1872-73 to 1877-78.
(c) From 1878-79 to 1881-82.
(d) From 1st April 1862 to 31st July 1887.
(e) From 1st. August 1887 to 31st December 1887.
(f) From 1st January 1888 to 19th September 1889. (g) From 20th September 1889 to 31st March 1891.
(h) From 1st April 1891 to 21st March 1893.
(i) From 22nd March 1893 up to the present date.
Re. Rs. Rs. Rs. a. Rs. a. Rs. a. Rs. a. Rs. a. Rs. a. Rs. a. Rs. a. Rs. a. Rs. a. Rs. a. Rs. a. Rs. a. Rs. a. Choor 4 4 0 4 0 5 0 4 0 6 8 4 0 6 8 5 0 7 0 5 8 7 0 5 8 8 0 6 8 Round 3 3 0 4 0 5 0 4 0 6 4 4 0 6 4 5 0 6 4 5 0 6 4 5 0 7 4 6 0 Flat 1 2 2 2 8 3 8 4 8 3 8 4 8 3 8 4 8 3 8 4 8 3 8 5 0 3 8 6 0 4 8
NOTE.—The figures in italics show the different rates of duty sanctioned for the Orissa Division since April 1882. (a) Board's Circular Order No. 14 of May 1884. (f) Board's Circular Order No. 24 of February 1888. (b) " " No. 8 of November 1871. (g) " " No. 7 of September 1880. (c) " " No. 6 of January 1878. (h) " " No. 60-B., dated 10th December 1890. (d) " " No. 10 of ditto 1882. (i) " " No. 15 of March 1693. (e) " " No. 9 of August 1887. Duty on Garhjat Ganja. (a) Vide paragraph 130 of the Excise Report for 1876-77. Rs. A. (a) Vide paragraph 130 of the Excise Report for 1876-77. Duty before 1st January 1877 (a) ... 0 8 per seer. (b) Vide paragraph 98 of the Excise Report for 1878-79. " raised on 1st January 1S77 (a) ... 1 0 " (c) Vide Board's Circular Order No. 14 of January 1891. " raised in December 1878 (b) ... 4 0 " (d) Vide Board's Circular Order No. 7 of " fixed from 1st January 1891 (c) ... 2 8 " July 1893. " raised from 1st April 1893 (d) ... 3 8 " Garhjat ganja is not manufactured with as much care as Rajshahi ganja. It contains more leaves and seeds and less resin, and is much inferior to the Rajshahi drug in quality. A lower rate of duty is, therefore, fixed on it. It is only of one variety—flat. 37. Duty on charas.—The duty was fixed at Rs. 8 per seer under Government order, No. 3347, dated the 23th October 1880, referred to in paragraph 104 of the Excise Report for 1880-81. 38. Duty on siddhi or bhang.—It appears from paragraph 123 of the Excise Administration Report for 1874-75 that a duty of 4 annas per seer was levied in Calcutta in that year for the first time. It further appears from paragraph 82 of the Excise Report for 1879-80 that a duty of 8 annas per seer was fixed on siddhi from 1st April 1879 for the entire province. 39. The number of retail licenses for the sale of hemp-drugs is determined according to the bond fide demand of the drug at a place. This may be regarded as the guiding principle in opening a new shop. But the vast majority of the shops are of old standing, and the question in recent years has been one rather of elimination than of augmentation. In 1873-74 the number of ganja shops was 4,898, while in 1892-93 it was only 2,673. The object that the department has kept steadily in view is to do away with unnecessary places of vend. There is no fixed rule based on area or population, as the demand varies largely in different districts and in different parts of the same district. In December every year the Collector decides the number and sites of retail shops to be licensed during the next official year. As a rule no new shop is allowed to be opened unless there is a sufficient demand for the drug at the locality. An upset price is fixed as regards each license, based generally on the average fees paid in the last three years, any increase or decrease in sales being also taken into consideration. The Collector's proposals are reviewed and finally sanctioned by the Commissioner with the approval of the Board of Revenue. All the licenses are sold by public auction in March for the ensuing year. As regards sites local opinion is not formally consulted, but attention is paid to any reasonable objection raised against any particular site, though most of the sites being old ones, it is seldom that they are objected to. Moreover, shops for the sale of hemp-drugs are not considered a nuisance, and are often accommodated in the same room where other business is carried on. 41. No rate is fixed at which any of the hemp-drugs must be supplied by wholesale to retail vendors. The retail price of each of the drugs varies considerably in different districts. The average retail price of each is shown below:— Rs. A. Ganja 20 0 per seer. Siddhi 2 8 " Charas 40 0 " Majum 3 0 " 42. The retail selling price of each of the drugs in the following districts is shown below:— NAMES OF DISTRICTS. RETAIL SELLING PRICE PER SEER. NAMES OF DISTRICTS. Ganja. Siddhi. Charas. Majum. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Dacca 16 3-12 40 3 Mymensingh 16 to 25 3 Rajshahi 25 Purnea 14 to 20 Bhagalpur 12-8 to 20 1-8 Calcutta 12 to 16 1-12 to 2 35 to 40 2-8 to 4 Burdwan 20 2-4 to 2-8 36 Patna 12 1 Muzaffarpur 15 to 18 1 Lohardaga 15 5 Cuttack 12 to 16 5 to 6 Chittagong 12 to 18 3 Section 15 of Act VII (B. C.) fo 1878.
43. Yes, a maximum amount is fixed for retail sales to, and possession by, the ordinary consumer, as regards each of the articles as shown below:— Rajshahi ganja, siddhi, and majum or any preparation or admixture of the same, one quarter of a seer (20 tolas); Garhjat ganja (5 tolas experimentally); charas or any preparation or admixture of the same, 5 tolas. No minimum price is fixed for any of these drugs. 44. A statement is given below showing the number of ganja cases during 1892-93:—
NATURE OF OFFENCE. 1892-93. NATURE OF OFFENCE. NO. OF PERSONS. NATURE OF OFFENCE. Arrested. Convicted. Smuggling of ganja or siddhi 90 83 Illicit cultivation of ganja or siddhi 86 71 Unlicensed sale of ganja 154 128 Illicit possession of ganja 77 64 TOTAL 407 346
Of the 90 arrests shown under the head of smuggling, no less than 80 were made in Puri. Of the remaining 10, 5 took place in Bhagalpur, 4 in Dinajpur, and 1 in Shahabad. These figures give a fair indication of the extent of smuggling as also of the localities where it prevails. Some ganja is smuggled from Nepal into the districts bordering on that State, but the evil is not widespread, and does not appreciably affect the revenue. The drug is of inferior quality, so much so that considerable quantities of duty-paid Rajshahi ganja is annually exported to Nepal from the North Gangetic districts. Garhjat ganja, on the other hand, is largely smuggled into Orissa. The drug is in great demand with the priests of the famous shrine of Juggernath, and is affected by the attendants of other Orissa temples. It is usually brought in small quantities by pilgrims, mendicants, and others as an acceptable offering to the priests. The offence is most rife in Puri, and also prevails in Cuttack and Balasore, though no cases were reported from either district in the past year. There are thus two distinct sources of illicit supply—Nepal and the Garhjat States of Orissa. The extent of smuggling from Nepal is small, and no special measures are taken to check it; in fact none could be effectively taken, regard being had to the length of the frontier to be guarded. Various attempts have from time to time been made to stop smuggling from the Garhjat and with varying success. The chief difficulty lies in bringing the excise administration of these petty States under some sort of control. Some of them are now under the direct management of Government, owing to the minority of the Chiefs or other causes, and it is in contemplation to make a beginning with them. In 1878 cultivation of ganja was prohibited within three miles of the frontier, and this was followed by a considerable increase in the consumption of the Rajshahi drug in all the three districts. The order was withdrawn in 1889, and consumption has since decreased considerably in Cuttack, though this result is not so apparent in Balasore or Puri. At one time the importation of Garhjat ganja or siddhi was entirely forbidden (vide notification of 21st June 1882), but this is now allowed (vide notification of 23rd March 1892) under separate rules framed for the purpose, though little advantage has yet been taken of them to import the Garhjat drug. With a view specially to prevent smuggling, the limit of possession of Garhjat ganja has been experimentally reduced to 5 tolas. 45. Arrests for illicit cultivation were made in 25 districts, but all the cases were for growing a few plants (very often only a single plant) in the courtyards of houses more for the purpose of using the leaves as bhang than for manufacturing ganja, and the fact that not a single case occurred in Dinajpur, and only one in each of the districts of Rajshahi and Bogra, shows clearly that unlicensed cultivation for the manufacture of ganja is all but unknown even in the ganja tract. 46. Similarly, cases of unlicensed sale of ganja, though comparatively numerous, generally represent sales of the excised drug by petty dealers who obtained their supplies from licensed vendors, and are often the outcome of the licensed shops being too few to supply the local demand, or, in other words, these unlicensed men distribute the drug to a larger circle of consumers. This is particularly the case in the Dacca Division, where the consumption of ganja is large and where nearly a third of the arrests were made. 47. Nearly half the arrests for illicit possession were made in the Rajshahi Division, and of these all but two occurred in the three ganja-growing districts. In these cases the ganja was doubtless obtained clandestinely from the cultivators, but the quantities seized were not large. 48. It may be said generally that, except in Orissa, where there is smuggling of Garhjat ganja, in some of the north Gangetic districts, where Nepal ganja is introduced, and in the immediate neighbourhood of the ganja tract, where there is some consumption of untaxed ganja, in the rest of the province most of the drug consumed has paid duty, and that the majority of the cases of illicit cultivation and unlicensed sale do not mean any serious threat to the revenue. The police and the excise detective staff are encouraged in their efforts to put down excise offences by the grant of liberal rewards in all important cases of seizure. 49. No material modifications of the present system are actually under consideration at the present moment. The question of bringing the excise of the bordering Garhjat States in Orissa under some control so as to protect our own revenue, more especially with reference to the smuggling of Garhjat ganja, has been for some time under consideration. 50. Column 3.—Area under ganja cultivation.—It will be observed that, except in the past year, there has been no material increase in the area under ganja cultivation during the last twenty years. The column shows the quantity of land in which the crop finally matured, excluding such land as was cultivated, but in which the plants failed altogether, and therefore, although it would appear that cultivation was greatly curtailed during the years 1875-76, 1878-79, 1879-80, 1885-86, and 1891-92, this was not really the case in all the years excepting 1885-86, as the plants on large areas under cultivation were destroyed in those years by heavy floods, and such lands were not taken into account. The decrease in the area cultivated in 1885-86 was due to the smaller profits of the cultivators in the preceding two years. The high price which the drug had realized in 1891-92 owing to wholesale failure of the crop in the previous year, caused by inundation, induced a large number of raiyats to take up lands for ganja cultivation during the following year. Some raiyats are regular growers of ganja and annually set apart a portion of their holdings for the purpose; others are induced to take to ganja cultivation by the high profits of one year, to abandon it again when prices fall. 51. Columns 4, 5, 7 and 8.—These columns are blank, as no land is cultivated for the production and manufacture of bhang and charas in these provinces. 52. Column 6.—In this column the number of raiyats engaged in ganja cultivation, and not the number of licenses issued, has been shown. Cultivation did not require a license before the year 1876-77, when licenses were for the first time introduced under section 13 of Act II (B.C.) of 1876. Each cultivator has to take out a separate license. 53. Columns 9, 11 and 12.—These columns are blank except for 1878-79. Ganja and bhang are not as a rule imported from any other province. It, however, appears from the Paragraph 80, Excise Report, 1878-79. Paragraph 96, Excise Report, 1878-79. Board's Excise Administration Report for the year 1878-79, from which extracts are given below, that ganja was actually imported during that year from Bombay and the Central Provinces:— "During the year under report 10 maunds of flat choor ganja were for the first time imported into Calcutta from Bombay under a pass granted by the Excise Superintendent. The Commissioner states that the Bombay drug, though good-looking, is less narcotic than Rajshahi ganja, and has not therefore come into much repute on this side of India." As regards the Nimar ganja imported, it is stated as follows:— "In consequence of short supply of ganja from Rajshahi, 8 maunds of Nimar ganja were imported into Monghyr from the Central Provinces and 32 maunds 34 seers of the same description of ganja were brought into Shahabad by a dealer. Of the latter quantity, 17 maunds 25 seers were sold locally, and the balance at Monghyr. The ganja produced in Nimar is inferior in quality to Rajshahi ganja, and does not meet with ready sale. Its wholesale price is cheap. On importation into Bengal, it is dealt with like Rajshahi ganja, and duty on it is levied at the rate of Rs. 4 per seer." Vide paragraph 101 of the Excise Report for 1880-81. 54 Column 10.—No information as regards the quantity of charas imported can be furnished prior to the year 1880-81, when a duty of Rs. 8 per seer was for the first time imposed on this drug under Government order No. 3347, dated the 25th October 1880. Before this year charas used to be imported free, and apparently no account of the quantity imported was kept. This remark also applies to the figures in columns 33 and 43. 55. Column 13.—Complete information for this column is not available. The figures for the first four years show only exports to the North-Western Provinces, as exports to other places were not separately shown in the reports of those years. Similarly, the figures for some succeeding years represent exports to North-Western Provinces and Assam only. The figures for the last few years only represent the quantities exported to North-Western Provinces, Assam, Kuch Bihar, and Nepal. 56. Columns 14 to 16.—No information. 57. Columns 17 to 21.—Wholesale vendors who are the goladars pay no license fees, and their number is not reported. 58. Columns 22 to 26.—It will be observed that the number of licenses for the retail sale of ganja, charas, and majum has fallen off appreciably, while there has been very little fluctuation in the number of licenses issued for the retail sale of bhang. The number of ganja retail licenses issued in 1873-74 was 4,398, while 2,672 licenses only were issued in 1892-93, the average license fee being Rs. 55 and Rs. 413 respectively. The largest reduction in number was made in 1875-76: since then there have been considerable fluctuations, but the object steadily aimed at has been to keep the number down as much as possible. 59. Columns 27 to 31.—In spite of the great falling off in the number of licenses, the revenue from license fees has remarkably expanded—that from ganja licenses from 2½ lakhs of rupees to 11 lakhs, that from charas licenses from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 5,000, and that from bhang licenses from Rs. 13,000 to Rs. 33,000. The fees derived from majum licenses, however, show no improvement, but rather a slight decrease owing doubtless to a falling demand. The total license fees show an increase of nearly 9 lakhs of rupees, or 340 per cent. The great increase in ganja license fees in 1875-76 and subsequent years was due to the introduction of the auction system and to keen competition at the time of settlement. In recent years much care has been bestowed in fixing the upset fee of each shop, so as not to leave everything to the chances of auction. The sudden increase of revenue on account of license fees for charas shops in 1880-81 was owing chiefly to the better settlement of shops in Calcutta on account of an increased demand for the drug, and to the opening of 14 new shops in the district of Shahabad. It will be seen that the imposition of a duty of Rs. 8 per seer in 1880-81 seriously affected the total revenue: it decreased till the year 1884-85, from which time there was a slow, though steady, increase till 1889-90, followed by a rapid rise in the past three years. The rate of duty on ganja has been several times enhanced since the year 1873-74, and this with the augmented license fees has caused a decrease in consumption from 8,125 maunds in 1873-74 to 5,451 maunds in 1892-93; but the duty receipts have risen from Rs. 8,36,355 in 1873-74 to Rs. 12,80,631 in 1892-93. The great increase under the head of license fees has already been noticed. It is satisfactory to note that though the consumption of ganja has been reduced in 20 years by nearly one-third, the total revenue has during the same period been more than doubled. The taxation on each seer of ganja was represented in 1873-74 by license fee Rs. .7 plus duty Rs. 2.5 = Rs. 3.2, while the figures for 1892-93 are —license fee Rs. 5 plus duty Rs. 5.8 = Rs. 10.8, or a rise of more than 3½ times. In view of the above facts it may be justly claimed for the department that the administration of excise on ganja has fully realized the principle of a maximum of revenue with a minimum of consumption. The consumption of charas shows a large increase, though the quantity is still small, and it will be necessary ere long to raise the duty on it. The rate is the same as for choor ganja, while the proportion of narcotic matter is much larger in charas. The great increase in the consumption of bhang is more apparent than real, and is due to larger use of the duty-paid drug. 60. The importance of hemp-drugs in these provinces will be apparent from the fact that out of a total excise revenue of 115 lakhs in 1892-93, ganja and its congeners contributed 24 1/4 lakhs, or about 21 per cent., and occupy the second place, being next only to country spirits. Of the four varieties that are taxed, ganja, bhang, charas, and majum, ganja alone yielded more than 23 3/4 lakhs. The revenue from majum, a sweet preparation of bhang in the form of confection, is insignificant, being under Rs. 2,000. The consumption of majum is practically confined to Calcutta, Patna, and Cuttack. The revenue from charas was under Rs. 10,000. It is consumed in the urban areas of a few districts in Central and Western Bengal. The revenue from bhang exceeded half a lakh. Its consumption is general, and the quantity (1,034 maunds) that paid duty represents but a small fraction of what was illicitly consumed. 61. The cultivation and manufacture of Rajshahi ganja that not only supplies the Lower Provinces, but is also exported to Assam, Nepal, North-Western Provinces, &c., is confined to a small well-marked area. It is a paying crop, and a year of good prices usually leads to extended cultivation in the next. From the time the drug is brought to the Naogaon head office, to be weighed, packed, and despatched to the consuming districts, the safeguards against fraud provided by the existing rules appear to be ample, and it may be safely affirmed that there is little room for evasion of duty during transit or in the subsequent stages, including storage in golas, issue to retail vendors and sale to consumers. There is likewise good reason to think that there is no unlicensed cultivation, and that no ganja is made for the market outside the recognized tract. 62. The weak points of the system may be said to be all connected with the process of manufacture and the storage of the drug in private golas prior to disposal to wholesale dealers. Manufacture begins simultaneously at different places, and its progress is not watched as closely as it ought to be. The outturn is not checked then and there, but a rough estimate is subsequently made by merely counting the number of bundles of each sort, which can hardly supply the place of an accurate weighment. Then the drug is stored in private houses, in mere sheds which are sometimes open and always insecure, and there is ample opportunity for petty pilfering by outsiders, even supposing the cultivators were all above suspicion. 63. The difficulty of working a scheme of public golas without a Government monopoly has been adverted to under section (c). In the case of opium the cultivator sells his produce outright to Government at a fixed price and has no further concern with it. The entire quantity purchased from the different cultivators is dealt with as one stock. In the case of ganja, however, the drug remains the cultivator's property and in his charge until he disposes of it to a licensed purchaser. It has therefore been found impracticable to introduce public warehouses where all the drug could be stored immediately after manufacture. In view of the attacks made against the Government monopoly in opium, it is not likely that any proposal to establish a similar monopoly in ganja would be received with favour. But with a larger establishment the existing checks on manufacture might be rendered more effective. 64. Four sorts of ganja are now made, flat large twigs, flat small twigs, round, and choor, and these distinctions are observed for the levy of duty and for the purposes of the wholesale trade but no twigs or woody matter are taken by the retail purchaser, and for retail sale the other varieties are also reduced to choor by the retail vendor. It would therefore be a good plan to have only one sort and abolish flat and round. Particular localities are said to favour particular sorts, but the fact that the consumption of choor increased very largely (from 424 maunds to 1,369 maunds) during the past year owing to the discovery that it was more lightly taxed in proportion to the amount of narcotic matter present in it, would seem to show that there can be no great objection to its general adoption. To the wholesale dealer this would reduce cost of carriage and save storage room; to Government it would simplify accounts, and remove all chances of fraud to revenue for which differential rates afford some room. 65. The cost of daily average allowance of ganja is 3 to 6 pies, while the cost of liquor to the habitual consumer is much higher. The cost of liquor is almost prohibitive to the poorer classes in Eastern and Central Bengal, but even in Bihar, where liquor is cheap, the daily cost is seldom less than 9 to 12 pies. In this view ganja may be said to be insufficiently taxed. Competition, however, is annually raising the license fees, and the duty is also enhanced from time to time. 66. Under the present system the wholesale dealers (goladars) make very large profits in some districts. They pay no license fees and combine to create a monopoly. It would perhaps be a better plan to recognize the monopoly, but to obviate its evil effects by fixing a maximum price for sales to retail vendors. Government might also appropriate a portion of the profits by giving the wholesale license for a given area to the person who agreed to pay the largest amount for each seer sold, in addition to the duty. CALCUTTA; K. G. GUPTA, The 27th November 1893. Commissioner of Excise, Bengal.'
It can be said that it was in the Bengal Presidency that the British government pilot tested and fine-tuned the process of cannabis regulation and eventual prohibition. Even though the British had already managed to prohibit cannabis in Burma (present day Myanmar), the regulation and prohibition of cannabis in a nation like India, given its size and extent of cannabis usage, was an entirely different ball game. The system had to be repeatedly tested and ensured successful before propagating it through the rest of the country. Regarding the regulation, taxation and administration of cannabis in Bengal, the Hemp Commission reports as follows:
BENGAL.
Law in force.
592. The law in force in Bengal is contained chiefly in the Bengal Excise Act, VII of 1878, and rules passed thereunder. The principal provisions are as follows:— Without a license from the Collector, the manufacture of ganja, charas, and bhang, and every preparation and admixture of the same, and the cultivation of plants from which they are produced, are prohibited (section 5). No person is allowed to sell any of the above drugs or preparations or admixtures of them without a license from the Collector (section 11). Fees for licenses for retail sale of the above drugs may be fixed by the Board of Revenue, and will be payable accordingly (section 13). No license fees are leviable for the privilege of wholesale vend. The limit for retail sale is as follows: Ganja or bhang, or any preparation or admixture of the same, one quarter of a sér; charas, or any preparation or admixture of the same, 5 tolas weight. No licensed wholesale vendor is allowed to sell by retail and no licensed retail vendor is allowed to sell by wholesale, but the same person may hold a license for wholesale and retail vend. The Board may fix a larger quantity as the limit for retail sale (sections 15 and 60). No cultivator of the plants producing ganja or bhang may sell such plants, or any ganja or bhang produced therefrom, to any one other than a person duly authorized to purchase the same by pass or license from the Collector (section 16). No person, not being a licensed manufacturer or vendor or a person duly authorized to supply licensed vendors, may have in his possession a greater quantity of ganja, charas, and bhang, or any preparation or admixture of the same, than that specified above as the limit for retail sale (section 17).
The penalty attached to the breach of this provision does not apply to authorized cultivators (section 62). The Board may, with the sanction of the Local Government, declare that the possession of any foreign ganja, charas, or bhang, or any preparation or admixture of the same, is absolutely prohibited in any specified tract, or that such possession shall be limited to specified quantities, unless a license has been granted for the possession of a larger quantity of such article. The Board may fix the fee or duty payable for such license (section 17-A). Under this section the limit of legal possession of Garhjat ganja has been fixed at 5 tolas.
The Board, with the sanction of the Local Government, may frame rules for prescribing the conditions under which ganja, charas, or bhang, or any preparation or admixture of the same, manufactured in any part of British India beyond the territory to which the Act extends may be imported, and, where no duty has previously been paid on such articles, the conditions under which they may be imported and bonded within such limits (section 19-A).
The Collector may, with the sanction of the Board, let in farm the duties leviable on the abovementioned drugs, or any of them, in any district or division of a district (section 20).
The Board may prescribe rules for the invitation and acceptance of tenders for such farms, for the requisition of security for the due fulfilment of the engagements entered into by the farmers, and as to the form and conditions of the lease. The Board may regulate the form and conditions of all licenses granted under the Act (section 28).
The Board may frame rules for the grant of licenses or passes to persons purchasing, transporting, or storing ganja, charas, or bhang for the supply of the licensed vendors of those drugs, and may place the cultivation, preparation, and store of such drugs under such supervision as may be deemed necessary to secure the duty leviable thereon (section 35).
Manufacture not defined.
593. With reference to the above provisions, the Commission observe that there is no definition in the Act of "manufacture," and that, apart from the provision relating to possession, the collection of bhang from the hemp plant, which hardly comes under the designation of "manufacture," does not appear to be prohibited or controlled.
The system in Bengal: Rajshahi ganja.
594. The system which has been elaborated under these provisions of the law will now be briefly described. Though the hemp plant grows spontaneously in many districts of Bengal, this fact does not seem to affect the ganja administration to any great extent, as ganja, except of a very inferior sort, cannot be manufactured from the wild plants. Cultivation of the hemp plant for the production of ganja is only allowed in an area of about 64 square miles in the Rajshahi Division. Every cultivator has to take out a license for which no fee is charged. Within the area above mentioned, which, for the purposes of ganja administration, is placed under the jurisdiction of the Collector of Rajshahi, though it lies in the three districts of Rajshahi, Dinajpur, and Bogra, applications for licenses are granted, unless there be any valid objection, and remain in force for one working year. The average area of ganja cultivation is 2,220 bighas, equal to 740 acres. What follows is in the words of the Hon'ble D. R. Lyall, C.S.I., Member, Board of Revenue: "The cultivation is inspected by supervisors throughout the period of growth, the areas cultivated being compared with the licenses. The cultivator cuts his crop not necessarily under the supervisor's eye, nor does he require to get permission, but he gives 3 days' notice of his intention to cut. The manufacture is done by the raiyat at his own option as to time and place. The supervisors move about and supervise the manufacture as far as they can. Practically the bulk of the manufacture is not completed under the supervisor's eye. When the manufacture is complete, the raiyat carries his produce to his own store under the latter part of rule 11 of section xx of the Excise Manual, page 155, there being no public godown large enough to receive the whole crop. A license is given to the raiyat describing the quantity and kind of ganja he is allowed to store, and authorizing him to keep it until he disposes of it to a licensed purchaser. The amount is arrived at by the supervisors by inspection of the crop after manufacture and the number of bundles into which it is manufactured. The crop is made up by the raiyat into 2-sér bundles, and by long practice the measurement is wonderfully exact, though it is done by guess. The raiyats' store is generally situated close to his manufacturing ground. The wholesale dealer comes to the mahal armed with a license from the Collector of his own district giving the amount he is authorized to export. He makes his own arrangements with the raiyats, visiting any store he likes, and, as far as I know, unaccompanied by a supervisor or any excise officer. Having made his bargain, the dealer brings the ganja to the Government gola, where it is weighed, and the sale recorded on the back of the raiyat's license as well as in the Government books. No pass is required for the removal of the ganja from the raiyats' store to the Government gola. The dealer's consignment is sealed at the Government gola, and then carried by the wholesale dealer under pass to his gola at the head-quarters or sub-division of the place of import. There it is placed under double lock, one being in the possession of the dealer, and the other in the possession of the Excise Deputy Collector. The wholesale dealer sells to the retail vendor at his own price, and the retail vendor sells to the public at his own price, except in one district, where a maximum limit is imposed under the terms of the arrangement with the monopolist. This district is Cuttack. The right of retail vend is sold by auction."
Where the existing practice differs from the rules.
595. The above procedure differs in one important respect from that prescribed in the rules issued by the Board, inasmuch as these rules contemplate the storing of the ganja in a public gola, and there is an exceptional provision permitting storage in a private gola, when a cultivator can satisfy the supervisor that he has a secure private place of his own. He is then allowed to store his ganja there subject to periodical inspection by the supervisor or his assistants. There is no public gola for the storage of the crop, hence the exception has become the rule.
Garhjat ganja and illicit practices.
596. Ganja is not ordinarily imported from any other British province into Bengal, but ganja grown in the Orissa Tributary Mahals (Garhjat) is imported under passes in small quantities into the districts of the Orissa Division. The rules as to storage and levy of duty on Rajshahi ganja apply mutatis mutandis to Garhjat ganja. Any vendor licensed to retail Rajshahi ganja may sell Garhjat ganja under the same license. The Excise Commissioner states that Garhjat ganja is largely smuggled into Orissa. This subject will be again mentioned further on. With this exception, the growth and trade in ganja in Bengal is fairly under control. The cases of illicit cultivation are few. They are all of a petty description, such as the growing of a few plants (very often only a single plant) in the courtyards of houses more for the purpose of using the leaves as bhang than for manufacturing ganja. Cases of unlicensed sale of ganja, though comparatively numerous, generally represent sales of the excised drug by petty dealers who have obtained their supplies from licensed vendors, and often occur from the licensed shops being too few to supply the local demand. The system in force in the Ganja Mahal in the Rajshahi Division gives some opportunity for illicit disposal of the ganja, partly owing to the inadequacy of the supervising staff, and partly to the storage arrangements above mentioned; but the principal authorities are of opinion that very little smuggling actually occurs. Mr. Lyall, while admitting that the facility afforded for smuggling constitutes the weak part of the Bengal system, gives the following reasons for his belief that it does not exist to any extent: "One at least is that I have never come across a case of smuggled ganja, though cases of opium smuggling are not uncommon. The safeguards against illicit practices are the concentration of the area of growth and the crop estimate made by the supervisors when the crop is on the ground. The bulkiness of ganja is an additional safeguard as compared with opium. We have never within my knowledge discovered a cultivator disposing of his crop illegally. Of course, if there were collusion between the protective establishment and the cultivators, this safeguard would be of little use; but, as a fact, I believe the establishment is trustworthy."
Charas.
597. Charas is not made in Bengal. A very small amount is imported from Upper India under passes, and after paying duty is sold by licensed vendors.
Bhang.
598. There is no licensed cultivation of the hemp plant for production of bhang in Bengal. Bhang is either imported from the North-Western Provinces or collected for the market from the spontaneous growth which abounds in Bhagalpur and in districts north of the Ganges, especially Monghyr and Purnea. It has been observed above that this collection of the leaves hardly comes within the term "manufacture," and no license is, therefore, legally necessary for the process. But legal possession of bhang, except by licensed persons, is limited to 1/4 sér, hence all transactions of any importance require a license. On the other hand, there is no restriction on the use of the hemp plant in its green state. It is only when prepared to be used, stored, or sold as a narcotic or stimulant that it comes under Excise rules. Passes are required for the purchase or obtaining of bhang for export to another district, or for sale, which must be accompanied by a license from the Collector of the district into which the bhang is to be conveyed, or in which it is to be stored. The rules for storage are similar to those for ganja, and a small duty is levied when the bhang is removed from the warehouse to be taken to the shop for retail sale. The extensive growth of the plant in the districts above mentioned renders control of transactions in bhang very difficult, and it is certain that the amount brought to record and dealt with under Excise rules does not by any means represent all the bhang consumed in Bengal. "The use of untaxed bhang," says the Excise Commissioner, "is general." In January 1893 orders were issued by the Excise Commissioner with the object of extirpating the spontaneous growth of the plant, and thus bringing bhang under more efficient excise control; but the orders were cancelled by the Bengal Government in the following June on the ground that the attempt was impracticable, and likely to have no result except petty oppression. There is therefore practically little control over the production and use of bhang in Bengal; and although the revenue from excise bhang has increased considerably, this is mainly owing to the fact that the duty is very low and not worth evading on the part of the licensed vendors.
Wholesale vend.
599. The Act is almost silent on the subject of wholesale vendors. The agency by which the retail vendors are supplied has grown up from the exigencies of the case. Every wholesale vendor must rent one of the warehouses provided by Government for storing ganja, or must provide one to the satisfaction of the Collector who grants the license. Where warehouses are provided by Government, the Commissioner determines the number of private warehouses, if any, to be licensed. The number of wholesale dealers in any place must not exceed the number of Government and licensed warehouses. Where the number of applicants exceeds the number of Government warehouses, the leases of the latter are put up to auction. These middlemen reap large profits, and to a large extent control the market. They very often combine the functions of retail vendor with those of wholesale vendor. Mr. Price, Collector of Rajshahi, says of them that they superintend the manufacture of the ganja to suit their own tastes, and practically become the owners of the ganja without assuming the responsibilities that devolve on them. He says that their absence from the ganja tract would itself cause the decline of the cultivation. Out of this state of things another class has arisen in the ganja brokers. These men negotiate for the sale of the standing or manufactured crop to wholesale vendors. Forms of licenses to ganja brokers and wholesale vendors have been issued by the Board.
Retail vend.
600. For the retail vend of ganja, charas, and bhang separate licenses are issued. There is no restriction as to the price at which the drugs are to be sold to the public. The number of shops is fixed by the Collector according to the demand for the drug. The licenses are sold by public auction for one year. Notwithstanding occasional fluctuations, the number of ganja shops has been reduced in the last 20 years from 4,398 to 2,672. The number of charas shops decreased largely down to 1889-90, since when there has been an increase, but not nearly to the former figure. The number of bhang shops has been more stationary. Consumption on the premises is not prohibited. There is no restriction as to the persons to whom the drugs may be sold. Local opinion is not ordinarily consulted regarding the establishment of shops, but attention is paid to any reasonable objection raised against any particular site.
Taxation.
601. The revenue from hemp drugs in Bengal is realized in the form of direct duty and license fees for the right of retail vend at a fixed shop only. The duties per sér levied on the drugs warehoused are as follows:—
For the province generally. Ganja: Rs. A. P. Chur 9 0 0 Round 7 8 0 Flat, small twigs 7 4 0 "large" 6 0 0 Charas 8 0 0 Bhang 0 8 0
For the Orissa Division. Ganja: Rs. A. P. Chur 7 8 0 Round 6 4 0 Flat, small twigs 4 8 0 "large" 6 0 0 Charas 8 0 0 Bhang 0 8 0
The duty is levied before the drugs are removed from the wholesale dealer's warehouse. The duty is calculated on the actual weight of the drug issued, except in the case of charas, half the duty on which is levied at the time of taking out the pass for the importation of the drug.
The importance of the ganja traffic in Bengal may be gathered from the fact that in the year 1892-93 1,510 maunds were exported to other provinces and 5,451 maunds paid duty, amounting to Rs. 12,80,631. The license fees for retail sale of ganja amounted to Rs. 11,05,435 in addition. The total revenue from charas, of which only 11 maunds 26 sérs paid duty, was Rs. 9,097, and from bhang, of which 1,033 maunds paid duty, Rs. 53,558.
Ganja administration in Bengal.
640. A historical sketch of the ganja administration in Bengal from the year 1790 will be found as an appendix to the Excise Commissioner's Memorandum. From the first the object of the measures taken was "to check immoderate consumption and at the same time to augment the public revenue." Up to the year 1853 hemp drugs were taxed by means of a daily tax on their retail sale paid monthly. From 1824 to 1847 it was usual to farm out the excise revenue of entire districts. From 1853 the daily tax was abolished, and a duty of Re. 1 per sér was imposed. The retail vendor had to pay the full amount on a specified quantity in each month whether he took it all or not. In 1860-61 a fixed fee of Rs. 4 per mensem was levied for each ganja license, in addition to the duty at the prescribed rate, on all quantities passed to the shop for retail sale, the rule regarding the quantity to be taken by each shop being withdrawn. This was the beginning of the combined fixed duty and license fees system which at present exists. In 1876 the system of selling licenses by auction was introduced, and this has continued to the present time. The following table shows the operation of the action taken by the Bengal Government since the time when the auction of license fees was introduced:—
Results obtained.
641. This table shows that up to the year 1892-93 on five occasions some increase was made in the rate of fixed duty. The revenue steadily increased, until at the end of the period it was double as much as in 1876-77; notwithstanding this, the number of retail licenses after the first period of six years steadily diminished up to the year 1891-92, though in the following year there was an increase. The result is that the number of the population per retail license increased by 38 per cent. in the whole period. The increase in the total average taxation per sér of the taxed drug increased from Rs. 4-0-2 to Rs. 10-15-1. As regards the area cultivated (column 2), it has to be remembered that these figures represent the growth of the plant for consumption in Assam, the North-Western Provinces, and some Native States as well as Bengal. The figures in column 4 represent the ganja actually consumed in Bengal, which has decreased largely since the first two years, and since then has been nearly stationary. In addition to the above facts, the evidence before the Commission tends to show that, except in Orissa, where the Garhjat ganja competes with the Rajshahi ganja, smuggling does not prevail in any part of the province; also that ganja is still the cheapest form of intoxicant, and that there is no evidence to lead to the belief that it is being displaced in Bengal by more noxious stimulants. The Bengal Government seems to have kept in view with the most successful results the principles which have been enunciated in Chapter XIV, paragraph 586, of this Report as essential to an efficient excise system, and to have intervened, when occasion demanded, to restrict the use of the Rajshahi ganja by administrative control and enhanced taxation. The effect of the enhancements which have been made since the year 1892-93 cannot be gauged, but the Commission have no hesitation in saying that this part of the excise administration in Bengal is being most carefully and ably supervised.
Weak points in Bengal system.
642. The weak points in the Bengal administration are— (1) The defective arrangements for storage of the Rajshahi ganja. (2) The smuggling into Orissa of the produce of the Tributary Mahals.
Storage.
643. The Bengal Excise rules provide that the cultivator must send into the public gola all the ganja he manufactures, and private golas are only permitted in the case of a cultivator who can satisfy the supervisor that he has a secure private place of his own. It has been shown above (paragraph 595) that there is no public gola for the storage of the crop, and that all the produce is stored in private golas. The opportunity for smuggling thus afforded has not escaped the notice of the authorities. In his report on the cultivation of and trade in ganja, 1877, Babu Hem Chunder Kerr (paragraph 131) dealt with the question, and recommended the absolute prohibition of private storage and the establishment of public godowns where the drug might be warehoused in bond. He was of opinion that six storehouses 125 feet X 20 feet, three of which should be at the sadar station of Naogaon and three at three outposts, would be sufficient to warehouse the crop. The Board of Revenue did not support the proposal, remarking that it would involve a very radical change in the existing system, and would also necessitate a very considerable expenditure on the part of Government in the construction of the necessary warehouses. The absence of any evidence as to extensive smuggling was mentioned as obviating the necessity for the measure. In 1892 the Board were of opinion that the objections to public golas appeared to be insuperable. Mr. Lyall in his evidence says that the storage arrangements can be improved, but that under existing circumstances it would be impossible without enormous expenditure to have a public gola. Mr. Gupta, Excise Commissioner, says that the "difficulty of having a public warehouse is that the ganja stored in it would consist of numerous parcels, all belonging to different individuals, and this would lead to much confusion. Again, the drug has to be frequently aired, turned out, and handled in order to keep it in good condition, and it is next to impossible to secure this periodical examination when the ganja is stored in public golas situated at a distance from the houses of the cultivators." He therefore considers the scheme "impracticable," on which Mr. Lyall notes: "Rather, I would say, too costly." Mr. Price, Collector of Rajshahi, does not recommend public golas because Government servants would not take care of the ganja as the owners would. But he does not think there would be any great difficulty if there were several Government golas situated in central places, though he does not think the cultivators would view the change with favour. He concludes by saying that he sees no great objection to the plan; and adds: "You cannot have a perfect system without Government golas." Babu Hem Chunder Kerr retains his former opinion in favour of the system, which is also advocated by Ganendra Nath Pal, Sub-divisional Officer, Naogaon, and Abhilas Chandra Mukharji, Excise Inspector. The Commission have formed the opinion that the objections are not insuperable, and that the system of Government storehouses should be introduced. The example of the Central Provinces system seems to prove its practicability, and they are of opinion that it would have the effect of bringing about the speedy conclusion of bargains between the cultivator and the wholesale dealer, in which case the main difficulty would be removed. The expense of erecting several godowns should not, in their opinion, operate to prevent the measure considering the very large revenue at stake and the great desirability of removing the existing temptations to illicit dealing. The matter should, however, be left to the discretion of the Local Government.
Compared with Bengal and the Central Provinces.
659. The Bengal figure in columns 4, 5 and 6 represents nearly the whole of the revenue levied on all the ganja produced on the area given in column 2, as the Assam and Kuch Behar duties, which are not levied in Bengal, have been added. The only item which cannot be added is that portion of the North-Western Provinces license fees which is due to the sale in those provinces of Bengal ganja. If this is calculated according to the proportionate amount of such ganja, it would not materially affect the calculation. If a similar calculation is made to determine the amount of the license fees due to the sale of Khandwa ganja in the North-Western Provinces, about Rs. 1,57,000 would have to be added to columns 5 and 6 of the Central Provinces figures, and the result of this will be to raise the average revenue per acre of cultivation in column 7 from Rs. 219 to Rs. 393. Some of the Khandwa ganja also finds its way into Bombay and Berar and other tracts, and pays duty there in the form of license fees; so the average per acre of Rs. 393 is still under the mark, but in any case the taxation thus calculated is very much less than in Bengal. On the other hand, the average revenue per acre for Madras and Bombay is probably over the mark, as the amounts in column 6 represent the license fees paid for all the hemp drugs and not ganja only; and in the sales effected under these licenses is included a certain amount of ganja, at all events in Bombay, imported from other provinces. Against this, however, must be set the fact that both the presidencies export ganja,—in Madras to the extent of about one-seventh of the total produce, and in Bombay to the extent of more than onehalf. But as the bulk of these exports goes to Native States, or is exported by sea, no revenue is realized therefrom, and the figures of column 7 are therefore on the whole probably in excess of the true figures. The general conclusion is that as compared with Bengal, or even with the Central Provinces, the taxation of the ganja produced in Madras and Bombay is very light.'
We see the rise of the cannabis causes insanity myth from the Dacca Asylum in the 19th century. Dacca Asylum housed a number of inmates who were reported to have become insane through the use of cannabis. The data from the Dacca Asylum was used by its in-charge Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Crombie in the Opium Conference of 1880 to justify that cannabis was harmful and needed to be prohibited. Subsequent investigations by the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95 found that the data was erroneous regarding cannabis and its linkage with the insanity of the inmates of Dacca Asylum. It was found that police officers had wrongly entered cannabis as cause of insanity when they took into custody persons who appeared insane. This was done to escape reprimanding by the magistrate. This cause of insanity recorded by the inexperienced police office - usually a constable of low rank - was carried through into the records of the Asylum, thus bolstering the case that cannabis caused insanity and hence needed to be prohibited. When the Hemp Commission orally examined Lt. Crombie, they found that many of his statements were incorrect, and that only a very small percentage of inmates could be considered insane due to cannabis, unlike the large percentages earlier reported. But the damage was done, and these statistics enabled the British rulers and the Indian upper classes to push for cannabis prohibition throughout the Bengal Presidency and the rest of the country.
At the time that the Indian Hemp Commission was conducting its work, Burma was the only place where cannabis insanity had been stated as the justification for cannabis prohibition, based on the statistics from the Dacca Asylum. These statistics were produced and quoted by the asylum superintendent, Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Crombie, in numerous instances, including before the Opium Commission, to emphasize that cannabis was most deleterious. It is interesting to note that Burma was a vital conduit for opium trade between China and Britain, and that there were more than a few Chinese and British who viewed cannabis as a threat. The Commission states that "Although these statistics have been discussed seriously from year to year, they have not been much used as the basis of measures of ganja administration except in the case of Burma. In this case the Commission found that the measures taken in Burma were ostensibly based on the lunatic asylum returns which were quoted by more than one Chief Commissioner, special reference being made to the figures for the Dacca Asylum. This special reference to this asylum and the fact that it is situated in the most important ganja-consuming tract in India were among the reasons why the Commission summoned Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Crombie (Bengal witness No. 104) as a witness; for he had been seven years Superintendent of that asylum. Before the Opium Commission also, and in an interesting discussion on opium published as a Supplement to the Indian Medical Gazette of July 1892, Dr. Crombie had incidentally spoken strongly of the evil effects of hemp drugs as seen in his asylum experience. The Commission hoped therefore that Dr. Crombie might be found to have devoted special attention to his asylum work, and to be able to speak with exceptional authority. He informed the Commission in his written evidence that "nearly thirty per cent. of the inmates of lunatic asylums in Bengal are persons who have been ganja smokers, and in a very large proportion of these I believe ganja to be the actual and immediate cause of their insanity." On oral examination by the Commission of Dr. Crombie, who used the Dacca asylum statistics to justify cannabis as a cause for insanity, it was found that 9 of the 14 cases attributed to cannabis insanity were inaccurate, and the remaining 5 appeared doubtful. Even if one considered the 5 cases, it only constituted 9% of the total cases and not the 30% that Dr. Crombie stated in his written evidence to the Commission.
Mr. J. J. S. Drieberg, Commissioner of Excise and Inspector General of Police and Jails, Bengal, states in his written evidence before the Commission that "My own opinion is that the connection between the use of ganja and insanity is much exaggerated, and is a good deal due to the fact that the police in the case of a lunatic have to fill up a form and state the supposed cause of insanity and they give the popular reason—use of ganja." He goes on to further elaborate on this in his oral examination by the Commission that "As a rule, a lunatic is sent in (say) by a planter with a letter telling of his violence. The man is put in the jail for observation, and the police are ordered to make enquiry. They do so, and submit information in a prescribed form. The cause is a point they have to inquire into. If a man does not enter cause, I know by experience that the District Superintendent of Police gets a slip telling him to send a more experienced man, or fine this man for carelessness. The man must, therefore, look out for a cause. The readiest is ganja. There is another difficulty here, viz., that many of the lunatics are from other provinces, and nothing is known of them. The safest thing to say is "ganja." The police know that no further enquiry will be made, so they stick it down. I think also that a policeman would naturally tend to think rather of physical causes than of moral causes. If he did not see an injury to the head by a blow or otherwise, he would naturally look for something else that but a man's head wrong. I think that this consideration may also, to a certain extent, explain the popular idea. Ignorant people would look most naturally for physical causes. I think the causes assigned by the police here are generally incorrect (1) because I do not think the police have the ability required to make this enquiry, and (2) because they so seldom see people who are able to give them information. We have similarly unreliable information about vital statistics. There is no popular idea among the Assamese that ganja causes insanity. But among planters and others there is. This is due, I think, to the old official idea, which is due to custom."
At the lunatic asylum, a member of the staff, typically a jamadar or overseer, or a clerk, or a hospital assistant, would copy the content from the descriptive rolls of the form C prepared by the police, as to cause of insanity, into the asylum records for admission purposes. The evidence of one of the clerks at the Dacca Asylum, an asylum whose statistics were used by persons like Dr. Crombie or Dr. Simpson to argue that cannabis caused insanity, gives a detailed picture of what happens at the lunatic asylum, once the lunatic arrives there along with the records from the police, magistrate and police or civil surgeon. Babu Rames Chandra Sib, Overseer, Lunatic Asylum, Dacca, states in is evidence that "I am Overseer of the Dacca Asylum. I have been six years Overseer. I was before that clerk of the asylum for eleven years. I now perform both duties. I have no medical training. There is a Hospital Assistant in subordinate medical charge. The case book is the only register of patients received kept in the asylum. There is first a series of entries giving the name of the patient and certain details, including the disease and the cause. Then there are certain entries giving a history of the case before admission into the asylum. All these details and this abstract are entered by me in the register, except the name of the disease, which is entered by the Superintendent. These entries which I make are copied or abstracted by me from the descriptive rolls received with the patients. I never make any entry differing from what is contained in the descriptive roll. So far as I remember, no alteration of any entry made by me has ever been made by any Superintendent. So far as I know, the Superintendent has always desired simply that my entries should accurately represent what is entered in the descriptive rolls. It is since 1880 that these entries have been made by me. Before that they were made by the Superintendent. But they were made by him in precisely the same way. He copied or abstracted the entries of the descriptive roll received with a patient. He did this on the admission of the patient, or as soon after as was convenient. Since 1880 the work has been regularly done by me. Then this same register contains below these entries the history of the patient in the asylum. This history is, as a rule, wholly written by the Superintendent. The cause is entered in the register from the descriptive roll. The cause was not shown separately in the details at the top of the page until 1890, when I inserted a heading for the sake of convenience. Before 1890 it was shown always clearly in the first entry, copied or abstracted from the descriptive roll. When the descriptive roll showed the cause as "not known," but stated under the heading about intoxicants that the patient used ganja, the insanity was always shown in the asylum books as due to ganja. Dr. French in 1880 gave me an order to do so, and this has been the procedure ever since. I have not referred the point to other Superintendents, but simply followed this procedure. The only other kind of difference from the descriptive roll that I can recall to mind is when an entry of cause, which really means nothing (such as derangement of brain), is put down in the descriptive roll, I refer to the Superintendent as to what I should enter. He would in almost all cases tell me to enter "Not known." These are the only cases in which the register differs from the descriptive roll as to cause, so far as I remember. Cause is never entered in the register from enquiry made after the patient's admission. I know of no case of this being done. The entry made at the top of the page would never be altered. But if any enquiry which I might make showed cause not hitherto known, this fact would be entered in the history of the case. I remember such cases, and I might be able to point them out. But that entry in the history of the case would not alter the cause, as shown in Statement VII of the annual report. That statement is filled up only from the entries made in the descriptive roll as copied into our register. I would mention to the Superintendent that in conversation with the lunatic I had ascertained that he took ganja, or that he had asked me for ganja; and the Superintendent would enter that fact in the history of the case. Not even where the cause is left blank would any entry ever be made afterwards on that subject among the entries taken from the descriptive rolls. I know of no use to which the Superintendent would put the information I thus gave him, beyond the advantage of knowing more of the case. It would not be used in compiling Statement VII. I compile that statement, and have done so for seventeen years. I have spoken to the friends of lunatics about the cause of insanity. But I do not think I have ever reported to the Superintendent anything told me by friends. I have never kept friends for the Superintendent to see."
The following note on cases of insanity attributed to the use of hemp drugs admitted into the Dacca Lunatic Asylum during 1892 was submitted by Surgeon-Major Cobb to the Commission when orally examined.
1. Charan Dass.—There is no reason to suppose that ganja was the cause of this man's insanity, except the entry in his Descriptive Roll, in which it is stated that he was addicted to ganja, and a remark by Dr. Wise in 1872 that "he is a stupid fellow, who brightens up when ganja is mentioned." The history of his case is not that of a ganja maniac, and the post-mortem appearances suggest chronic degenerative changes in the central nervous system. 2. Dayal Dass Bairagi.—I have no doubt that this was a case of temporary insanity induced by smoking ganja. He is example No. 1. in the evidence which I have already given. The history of the gradual supervention of his insanity under the increasing doses of ganja and his rapid recovery when confined are instructive. The fact that his father was a ganja smoker is worthy of notice. These facts I discovered in careful personal examination of the man. 3. Baishmar Chandra Saha.—There is no evidence of his being a ganja smoker beyond the entry in his Descriptive Roll that he was addicted to ganja and spirits. The case was evidently one of simple mania. 4. Uzir Ali Sha.—The evidence of ganja-smoking in this case is very untrustworthy. It is vaguely stated in his Descriptive Roll that he was formerly addicted to ganja. The case was probably one of simple mania. 5. Swarup Kaibarta.—There is not the slightest reason for supposing ganja-smoking to have been the cause of this man's insanity other than the entry in his Descriptive Roll. On the contrary, the case presents all the characteristics of simple melancholia. 6. Sheikh Waris.—This man was found to be quite sane on admission to the Asylum. There is not a particle of evidence to support the view that ganja caused his insanity, if he ever was insane. 7. Durga Churn Chunga.—This is undoubtedly a case of recurrent mania. Beyond a vague reference of ganja-smoking in his Descriptive Roll, there is no reason to attribute his insanity to a toxic cause. 8. Madhavram Dev.—This patient's insanity is definitely attributed to the use of ganja in his Descriptive Roll, but I think it is entirely doubtful if the drug had anything to do with it. 9. Gagan Chunder Chathati.—This is a doubtful toxic case. It is stated in the Descriptive Roll that he was addicted to ganja and spirits. 10. Garua.—There is no evidence of ganja being the cause of insanity except the fact stated in the Descriptive Roll that he was addicted to ganja. 11. Narayan Das.—This man is an up-country fakir, and was known to be an excessive ganja smoker, and he does not deny the fact. The whole history of his case leads me to the conclusion that ganja was the exciting cause of his insanity. 12. Manohar Mahanta.—The entry in the Descriptive Roll and the medical certificate that the "lunatic is addicted to ganja" are the only reasons for supposing this to be a case of toxic insanity. In view of the fact as shown by the papers that this man's relatives were not known and nothing else was known of his case, the above entries are of less weight than they would otherwise have been. 13. Narayan Nawa.—This appears to be a case of insanity induced by the use of ganja. I base my opinion on the opinion of the Civil Surgeon of Cachar and on my own observation of the case. 14. Padai Ram.—This case also appears to be one of toxic insanity. I cannot at present give reasons for this view.
The report of Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Russell, Superintendent of the Dacca Lunatic Asylum, submitting further information regarding the Hemp Drug cases of 1892 is as follows:
1. Charan Das.—Report not received. 2. Dayal Dass.—In this case no further information can be gathered by the Magistrate. I have nothing to add to the facts already recorded and no means of testing the diagnosis. Nothing has been heard regarding any recurrence of insanity since his release. 3. Baishmar Chandra Saha.—Had been addicted to ganja-smoking from his youth. Had heavy business losses. A year after this was obviously insane. Not ascertainable if consumption of ganja became excessive after these troubles. His father and mother are reported to have been of weak mind. Of two sisters, one suffers from mild idiocy. This case might be diagnosed as due to "heredity," and perhaps accelerated by use of ganja. 4. Uzir Ali Sha.—The Magistrate (Backerganj) reports, that it is not known that this man ever had used ganja. It is known that he did not use it for the last three or four years immediately before he became insane. Diagnosis suggested—"disease mania, cause unknown." 5. Swarup Kaibarta.—No history of heredity. Reported to have occasionally smoked ganja without any noticeable effect. He had an improper intimacy with a neighbour's wife. This coming to the husband's ears, a violent scene occurred. Mental unsoundness was noticed for the first time in Swarup Kaibarta immediately after this scene. Case might probably be more correctly diagnosed as "emotional excitement." 6. Sheikh Waris.—This case seems to have been recorded as due to ganja on evidence of a very slight character. The history of the case shows that the man lost his house, land, and means of living; great depression followed. About this time he drew on himself the curse of a fakir of great repute for sanctity. These troubles preyed on his mind; he became peculiar and eventually insane. I should diagnose this case as due to "grief and anxiety." It is questionable whether ganja comes in as even a remote cause. No history of heredity. 7. Durga Churn Chunga.—The Magistrate (Dacca) reports (24th May 1894): "He does not appear to be in the habit of smoking ganja, and the real cause of his insanity cannot be ascertained." "Anxiety regarding his want of means may have turned him mad." The actual ascertained facts seem to justify a diagnosis—"Mania, cause not known," rather than "toxic insanity, cause ganja." 8. Madhavram Dev.—Incurred business losses which swallowed up the small economics of many years and ruined him; became morose and reckless; took to using ganja in large quantities; became gradually insane. Report says: "It was after Madhavram betrayed signs of mental aberration that his people came to know of his bad habit." That he used ganja before his troubles is not certain. Suggested diagnosis—Mania: causes (1) grief, leading to (2) excessive use of ganja. 9. Gagan Chunder Chathati.—The Magistrate (Dacca, 24th May 1894) reports; "This man was never in the habit of taking ganja." He was a school-master. A book he wrote as a text-book was rejected by the Committee. He was then unsuccessful in examination for a mukhtiarship. Depression ensued; he took to drink, and eventually became insane. No history of heredity. The facts as now recorded seem to warrant a diagnosis of toxic insanity, cause alcohol. 10. Garua alias Goberdhan.—No further information has been elicited. 11. Narayan Das.—No further information has been elicited. The case is the same as that below.—See No. 15. 12. Manohar Mahanta.—No further information obtainable. 13. Narayan Nawa.—Report not received. 14. Padai Ram.— No further information obtainable. 15. Narayan Das.—This case is the same as No. 11. E. G. RUSSELL, M.B., B.Sc., Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel, Superintendent, Lunatic Asylum, Dacca.
The findings of the Commission on examination of the alleged hemp Drug cases of 1892 are as follows:
(3) Dacca. (P. 47-53.)
In the Dacca Asylum returns for 1892 fifteen cases were ascribed to hemp drugs: of these ten must be rejected— Case No. 1—(Charan Das).—The only ground for attributing the insanity to ganja in this case is an entry in the register for 1864, that the man "is addicted to ganja." He had then been nine years insane. Dr. Cobb very reasonably rejects this case. Case No. 4—(Uzir Ali Sha).—The alleged connection of the insanity with ganja is disproved in the further inquiry. It is found that this man was never known to have used ganja, and certainly had not used it for years before he became insane. Case No. 5—(Swarup Kaibarta).—The further inquiry shows that the insanity was due to "emotional" excitement, not to ganja. The man is reported to have occasionally smoked ganja without noticeable effect. But his insanity is distinctly connected with a "violent scene" arising from his improper intimacy with a married woman. Case No. 6—(Sheikh Waris).—The further inquiry shows that the insanity was due to "grief and anxiety," not to ganja. The previous papers had shown "not a particle of evidence" to connect the alleged insanity with hemp drugs, as Dr. Cobb says; and the further inquiry has fully accounted for it on quite other grounds. Case No. 7—(Durga C. Chunga).—The ganja habit is disproved in the further inquiry. The further inquiry fully confirms Dr. Cobb's previous opinion. Case No. 8—(Madhavram Dev).—Ruin from business losses led to mental aberration. There is nothing to show that the man used ganja before this mental aberration began. The habit was not known till afterwards.
The Hemp Commission summarized on the cannabis causes insanity myth that originated from the Dacca Asylum as follows:
Dacca Asylum no exception.
519. Although these statistics have been discussed seriously from year to year, they have not been much used as the basis of measures of ganja administration except in the case of Burma. In this case the Commission found that the measures taken in Burma were ostensibly based on the lunatic asylum returns which were quoted by more than one Chief Commissioner, special reference being made to the figures for the Dacca Asylum. This special reference to this asylum and the fact that it is situated in the most important ganja-consuming tract in India were among the reasons why the Commission summoned SurgeonLieutenant-Colonel Crombie (Bengal witness No. 104) as a witness; for he had been seven years Superintendent of that asylum. Before the Opium Commission also, and in an interesting discussion on opium published as a Supplement to the Indian Medical Gazette of July 1892, Dr. Crombie had incidentally spoken strongly of the evil effects of hemp drugs as seen in his asylum experience. The Commission hoped therefore that Dr. Crombie might be found to have devoted special attention to his asylum work, and to be able to speak with exceptional authority. He informed the Commission in his written evidence that "nearly thirty per cent. of the inmates of lunatic asylums in Bengal are persons who have been ganja smokers, and in a very large proportion of these I believe ganja to be the actual and immediate cause of their insanity. But though I am not prepared to say that the moderate use of ganja is never the cause of insanity, it is most frequently the result of long excessive use, and especially of occasional debauches with the drug. It has the same relationship to insanity in India that alcohol has in Europe, and may be the cause of fierce maniacal excitement of short duration (as in delirium tremens) or of a chronic cheerful mania which is the characteristic insanity of Indian asylums. It has not the same tendency to lead to dementia, the result of tissue changes in the brain, as alcohol has. Like alcohol, it will especially lead to insanity in persons of deficient self-control who take to the drug as a relief from mental trouble. Both forms of ganja insanity, the acute and chronic, are distinguishable by the symptoms. (See separate memorandum.)" These views, which are stated in greater detail in a separate memorandum, are based entirely on his experience as Superintendent of the Dacca Asylum and as visitor to other asylums; for Dr. Crombie says: "In my practice outside of lunatic asylums my experience is confined to very few cases, only two or three in the whole course of my service, of ganja intoxication brought to hospital." The Commission were anxious to ascertain how far these views might be regarded as having authority. They accordingly examined the registers and case books of the Dacca Asylum for all the years during which Dr. Crombie had been Superintendent, and perused his reports. They were unable to find in these records any ground for thinking that Dr. Crombie's practice differed from that of other Asylum Superintendents, or gave him special opportunities of knowledge. They took the registers for these years and also the papers for all the hemp drug cases of 1887 (Dr. Crombie's last year at Dacca) to Calcutta to discuss them with Dr. Crombie. That discussion is contained in the record of his oral evidence. First, as to procedure, Dr. Crombie told the Commission that the descriptive roll is "by no means trustworthy," but that "subsequent discoveries" were made in the asylum by examination of friends or of the lunatic on recovery and by other means, and that the entries in the asylum books would be altered accordingly. "This," he said, "was my practice." The Commission had found no trace of this practice in the asylum records; and they showed Dr. Crombie the registers and asked him to point out any such alterations. He then withdrew his statement, and accepted as accurate the statement of Rames Chandra Sib, Overseer of the Dacca Asylum, who has made the entries in the registers and compiled Statement No. VII ever since 1880. His statement is: "The cause is entered in the register from the descriptive roll..................... Cause is never entered in the register from enquiry made after the patient's admission. I know of no case of this being done. The entry made at the top of the page would never be altered. But if any enquiry which I might make showed cause not hitherto known, this fact would be entered in the history of the case. I remember such cases, and I might be able to point them out. But that entry in the history of the case would not alter the cause as shown in Statement VII of the annual report. That statement is filled up only from the entries made in the descriptive roll as copied into our register." Dr. Crombie's procedure then differed in no respect from the most mechanical and unintelligent record of causation in any asylum in India, for it was left entirely as clerical work to a subordinate. And the only statistics on which Dr. Crombie bases his views regarding insanity rest on the descriptive rolls, of which he strongly declares his distrust. Secondly, in regard to Dr. Crombie's attention to the special matter of causation of insanity, it appears that "there was no discussion of cause in any annual report written by him from Dacca, nor any formal discussion in writing." Like other Superintendents, he seems not to have felt that his duty required special attention to this subject. Thirdly, the Commission discussed with Dr. Crombie the cases of 1887, and the results of this discussion of them are recorded in his oral examination. They afford clear proof of the fact that even a careful examination of the papers received with the lunatics on their admission would have prevented five out of the fourteen cases being recorded as hemp drug cases (viz., the first, fourth, tenth, thirteenth, and probably also the twelfth), and would have led to two more being recorded as mixed or doubtful cases (viz., the second and fourteenth). The history in the asylum should have prevented the fifth case being retained as a ganja case; for the true cause (peripheral irritation) was clearly established, and insanity was cured on removal of that cause. It should also have led to the rejection of the eighth case, or at least to its being recorded as a mixed case. Thus nine out of the fourteen hemp drug cases of 1887 at Dacca are found to have been erroneously entered as such. There remain only five true hemp drug cases. Dr. Crombie says: "Taking my whole asylum experience, I think that this may probably be accepted as fairly representative of the real state of the case." The total admissions in 1887 to the Dacca Asylum were 55. Of these Dr. Crombie now accepts only 5 (or 9 per cent.) as due to hemp drugs. And he states that this may be accepted as fairly representative of the real state of the case, so far as his experience enables him to judge. Fourthly, as to Dr. Crombie's conclusions. As there were fifty-five admissions into the asylum in 1887, the number of cases (five) which may reasonably be attributed to ganja turns out to be only nine per cent. As Dr. Crombie says that the "chronic cheerful mania" which he describes is only found in a portion (or, as his separate memorandum shows, in a minority) of the admissions, and as he admits that it "may be due in part to difference of character" and not to the drug, there does not seem to be much, if any, ground for associating this chairomania with hemp. And in view of the small proportion of true hemp drug cases and the large proportion (nearly 2 to 1) of error in the cases accepted and recorded as hemp drug cases in Dr. Crombie's time too much weight should not be attached to his views regarding the clinical features of hemp drug insanity. The results of a careful analysis and examination of his cases corresponds on the whole pretty accurately with the examination of the cases of 1892 for all India made by the Commission. Looking back at his work in Dacca from his present point of view, Dr. Crombie seems to have thought that he had had some experience of special value, but the impression appears on examination to be due to a mistake of memory. There is practically nothing that differentiates his experience or the practice of the Dacca Asylum from that of other Superintendents and other asylums in India.'
Sheikh Hasina's government has been carrying out a 'war on drugs' for some time now. Under the guise of the war, her government most probably consolidated the positions of the opium and methamphetamine cartels that operate between India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar, China, the US and the UK. She would have done this to silence dangerous opponents and please her hero, Narendra Modi in India. Bangladesh has been in the news recently for its crackdown on drugs with a significant number of people having been shot and killed by law enforcement. This government action has brought the attention of human rights groups around the world. Reuters reported that 'Bangladesh is the newest frontline in state-backed drug crackdowns in Asia, and Islam is one of more than 200 people shot dead by police in Bangladesh since May, when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the campaign'. Bangladesh, a small country with a huge population, surrounded on all sides by other Asian countries, surely forms a part of the drug movement route between international borders. Its proximity to India, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the countries of East Asia mean that heroin and methamphetamine flow easily into Bangladesh. This means that there are a significant number of users of heroin, methamphetamine and pharmaceutical drug abusers besides the users of the legal drugs alcohol and tobacco within Bangladesh. Government measures of trying to use force to reduce the drug usage is something that no country has ever succeeded in. In fact, the war on drugs has been universally recognized as a failure, the most evident example being the US which initiated and funded the war world wide all these years. For Bangladesh, a country already vastly stressed by overpopulation, diminishing agricultural land and the effects of climate change, the way to approach this needs to be more realistic.
Cannabis, which has been a part of the Bangladesh people's culture and tradition for thousands of years, needs to be re-introduced back into the mainstream way of life. Anybody who thinks recreation is not one of the most important necessities of human society is living in a bubble. Cannabis growth will provide agriculture with a additional crop that is better suited to handle the vagaries of climate change. It is an ideal crop for the small farmer. It will provide new environment friendly industries with hundreds of industrial applications of cannabis. It will provide jobs. It will provide the people of Bangladesh with a healthy, safe medicinal and recreational alternative to the vast amounts of harmful pharmaceutical drugs, heroin, novel psychotropic substances, methamphetamine, synthetic cannabis, tobacco and alcohol that are surely being pumped into the country and through it. If indigenous varieties of cannabis can be documented, researched and revived, this can form an additional valuable commodity for trade, industry, agriculture, medicine, business, tourism and the economy in Bangladesh..
Mohammad Yunus, the current caretaker Prime Minister of Bangladesh, after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, became popular through his microfinancing initiatives that touched the lives of millions of Bangladeshis from the poor working classes. If he wishes to seek to strengthen the Bangladesh economy in sustainable ways that will also reduce the wealth gap between the rich and the poor, he must legalize cannabis for all purposes and return to cannabis policies as they were before the 19th century i.e. minimum regulation and control over all aspects of cannabis. The importance of cannabis as a revenue source for the state can be gauged from the Bengal Memorandum submitted before the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission which states that "Hemp drugs, of which ganja is the principal, constitute one of the chief sources of excise revenue in Bengal. The importance of hemp-drugs in these provinces will be apparent from the fact that out of a total excise revenue of 115 lakhs in 1892-93, ganja and its congeners contributed 24 1/4 lakhs, or about 21 per cent., and occupy the second place, being next only to country spirits. It is satisfactory to note that though the consumption of ganja has been reduced in 20 years by nearly one-third, the total revenue has during the same period been more than doubled." In terms of revenue, the Bengal Memorandum states that "1892-93 1,510 maunds were exported to other provinces and 5,451 maunds paid duty, amounting to Rs. 12,80,631. The license fees for retail sale of ganja amounted to Rs. 11,05,435 in addition. The total revenue from charas, of which only 11 maunds 26 sérs paid duty, was Rs. 9,097, and from bhang, of which 1,033 maunds paid duty, Rs. 53,558." In terms of profitable livelihood and sustainable income for the poor farmer, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission estimates an average annual revenue in Bengal of Rs 3,326 per acre of ganja cultivated, which to me appears to be a handsome amount in today's terms.
Overall, the introduction of legal recreational cannabis for social usage is the ideal medicine for a country stressed with overpopulation and climate change damage, a medicine that will calm the nerves of the people and help them to think creatively and inventively towards sustainability. It will also help the government to think more wisely and make much more effective decisions that have the people in mind.
In December 2020, the UN voted to remove cannabis from its most restricted Schedule IV category of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It does however still remain in Schedule I, which is the least restrictive. This one move by the UN itself should be sufficient to bring about the recreational legalization of cannabis in every nation and an overhaul of national drug laws.
Related articles
'Bangladesh is the newest frontline in state-backed drug crackdowns in Asia, and Islam is one of more than 200 people shot dead by police in Bangladesh since May, when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the campaign'
No comments:
Post a Comment