The opium-eater's wife is a widow
The drunkard is a Brahmini bull (i.e., brutal and uncontrollable)'
- Bengali proverb published by Dr. Morison of Rajshahi
Overview
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| 19th Century Political Map of India |
After the British experimented with, and successfully implemented, cannabis prohibition in Burma, they turned their attention to Bengal in the 19th century. By as early as the end of the 18th century, regulations were being introduced with regard to cannabis, particularly with regard to taxing retail sales. Gradually, Excise Acts were introduced to regulate all aspects of cannabis culture - cultivation, transport, sales, possession and consumption. With the injunction from British Parliament to study the cannabis culture of India in order to bring about prohibition, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission was set up in 1893. The Commission was essentially based out of Bengal, and it is from here that the study expanded to the rest of the country. A large number of witnesses - 251 out of 1193 or nearly 1/4th - were from the Bengal Presidency. These included civil officers, medical officers, private medical practitioners, zamindars, professional men, missionaries, associations and persons of high social standing.
The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission report is most detailed with regard to Bengal as compared to the other parts of India. We see, at the time of the Hemp Commission's report in 1894-95, that Bengal had already been severely affected by the measures taken to regulate and prohibit cannabis. Despite this, we see from the report how cannabis was still a significant part of the life of the people of Bengal.
Cannabis grew spontaneously in abundance across the Patna, Bhagalpur, Dacca, Chittagong and Rajshahi divisions. There are reports of areas of 20-30 square miles that had abundant spontaneous growth. This growth is said to have been sufficient to meet many people's needs despite the growing restrictions on retail sales. Due to the requirement of licenses from the District Collector for cultivating cannabis as per the Bengal Excise Act of 1878, the cultivated areas of cannabis had been drastically reduced and 'confined to a compact tract having a radius of about sixteen miles, and lying in the three districts of Dinajpur, Rajshahi, and Bogra' by 1894, according to the Hemp Commission, mainly to enable the administration to supervise cultivation. People still grew small quantities in their homes, but this was gradually stifled through legal action. The Hemp Commission reports that '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." '
In 19th century India, Bengal was famous for its Rajshahi and Baluchar ganja that was exported and sold to many neighbouring states and even exported to Europe. We see that the elite classes of society consumed ganja but looked down upon it. We see that charas was imported and used almost exclusively by the upper classes. We see from the report that the erroneous definition of cannabis - that the leaves were essentially bhang and the flowers ganja - was put forward by Dr. Prain of the Calcutta Herbarium, and subsequently widely accepted by a large number of people who formed the policy makers regarding cannabis. He said "Ganja consists of the dried flowering tops of cultivated female hemp plants which have become coated with resin in consequence of having been unable to set seeds freely." "Charas is the name applied to the resinous matter which forms the active principle when collected separately." "Siddhi, bhang, subzi, or patti are different names applied to the dry leaves of the hemp plant, whether male or female, and whether cultivated or uncultivated." This definition served to create further confusion, especially given that most people in North India regarded bhang as the beverage from cannabis leaves and flowers crushed together with other ingredients such as spices, nuts, milk, etc., and ganja as the leaves and flowers smoked. This erroneous definition was carried forward to become the basis of the 1961 UN Single Convention Treaty on Narcotic Drugs that stated that the leaves and seeds of the cannabis plant were legal, whereas the flowers and resin were to be considered illegal. When we see that the upper classes and castes of India consumed cannabis mainly as the beverage bhang (which included the flowers and leaves) and the lower classes and castes smoked cannabis as ganja (which also included the same flowers and leaves), the definitions in the drug laws that the leaves are legal while the flowers are illegal, appears to be nothing but an attempt to protect the interests of the upper classes and castes, and to harm the interests of the lower classes and castes.
The Hemp Commission considered the agricultural practices for ganja cultivation of the Ganja Mahal region of Bengal to be the most superior in India. It therefore gives a detailed description of these practices in its report. It stated in the section regarding methods of cultivation that 'It is proposed now to describe the skilled cultivation of the Ganja Mahal, where the agricultural processes for the growth and preparation of ganja have undoubtedly been brought to greater perfection than in any other part of India, and, as far as information will allow, the more homely practices prevailing outside that tract.' One of the witnesses, Babu Hem Chunder Kerr, reports return on investments for a ganja farmer to have been in the range of 50 -100%. The report states that 'Babu Hem Chunder Kerr entered fully into the details of cost of cultivation and the profits of the cultivator. He estimated the former at Rs. 50 to Rs. 60 and the latter at Rs. 25 to Rs. 50 per bigha.'
The excise administration of Bengal was said to be so good that the statistics of sales to retail vendors is considered to be accurate by the Hemp Commission. It states that 'On this subject a statement appears in the Excise Report for 1892-93: "Its consumption is largest in Calcutta, and next in Mymensingh and Dacca; it is also considerable in the 24-Parganas, Rangpur, Patnam Tippera, Cuttack, Puri, and the districts of Behar"; Calcutta represented a unique picture, with its vast populations from the working classes as well as elite upper classes, both of which consumed ganja freely. Overall, for Bengal, in terms of the amount of consumption and the typical expenditure on an average, the Commission states that 'But Mr. Gupta reports, and he is corroborated by the great bulk of the witnesses, that the average allowance is higher than this, lying between 1/4 anna and 1/2 anna per diem. Accepting this opinion, the daily cost to the moderate consumer may be put at 4 1/2 pies, and the yearly allowance at 35 tolas.' Most consumers were regular moderate consumers, with the excessive consumers being estimated as less than 5%. The Commission states that 'The excessive consumers then must be regarded as bearing but a small proportion to the moderate—certainly not more than 5 per cent., or 1 to 20. And this accords with reason, for the bulk of the consumers of ganja are poor and cannot afford over-indulgence in a luxury which, in Bengal at all events, is not cheap.' The use of charas was limited and mostly confined to the upper classes, primarily due to its cost. Most of it was imported from Nepal. The Commission reports that 'Charas is an expensive luxury, and its use in Bengal is very limited. The total consumption in the city of Calcutta and the district of Murshidabad is only 11 maunds. The Excise Commissioner reports that the average price of charas is Rs. 40 a sér, or double that of ganja.' Many people in Bengal considered charas to be weaker than ganja. Some experts attributed this to the adulteration of charas procured from Nepal.
We see that the retail prices of ganja and charas in Bengal was amongst the highest in the country. We see that forms of ganja packaging - round, flat and chur - were peculiar to Bengal, often leading to confusion among many witnesses who mistook these for different varieties of ganja.
Durga Puja was a key festival associated with the use of cannabis. The Commission reports that 'The custom of offering an infusion of the leaves of the hemp plant to every guest and member of the family on the Bijoya Dasami, or last day of the Durga Puja, is common in Bengal, and may almost be said to be universal.'
The eminent British physician William Shaugnessey practiced in Calcutta and used cannabis for the treatment of various diseases like tetanus and cholera. Most medical experts from Bengal examined by the Commission stated that the moderate regular use of ganja was not harmful, and that it might even be beneficial.
The physiological analysis of Dr. Evans of samples of various kinds of bhang, charas and ganja through his experiments with cats give an indication of the varieties of cannabis that were predominant at the time. Even though the latest scientific findings reveal that cats may not be the ideal subjects to gain an understanding of the effects of cannabis on humans - given their high sensitivity to cannabis (mice are much better subjects) - we, nevertheless, get information about the cannabis varieties and their supposed relative potency in comparison with each other. The varieties of cannabis listed are:
- Ganja: Sholapur ganja; Khandesh ganja; Ahmednagar ganja No. 1; Ahmednagar ganja No. 3; Bijapur ganja; Nimar District ganja; Satara ganja No. 1; Satara ganja 2; Ahmednagar ganja No. 2; Bangalore ganja; Kistna ganja; Madras local market ganja; Ghazipur illicit ganja...
- Bhang: Amballa bhang; Khandesh bhang; Sholapur bhang; Rajshahi bhang (cultivated); Satara bhang; Bhagalpur bhang; Assam bhang (wild)...
- Charas: Amritsar charas; Amritsar mashak no 1; Delhi District charas; Gurhwal charas, No. 1; Gurhwal charas No. 2; Amritsar charas bhara; Delhi District charas dust 2nd class; Bombay charas; Kumaon charas (wild); Gwalior charas; Kumaon charas (cultivated); Nepal charas A; Nepal charas B; Nepal charas (Shahjahani)...
Licenses had to be procured for cultivation, wholesale vend and retail sales. All transactions were only permitted between license holders. The wholesaler typically bought the harvest from the cultivator and stored it in government warehouses or golas, from where it was sold by the wholesaler to the retailer. The retailer sold the cannabis procured to the consumer and was free, on the most part, to fix the price. The wholesaler and the cultivator did not need to pay fees for their licenses. The wholesaler, however, was required to pay rent for the use of the government warehouses for storage of cannabis procured from the cultivator. The shortage of government warehouses for storage meant that the number of wholesale licenses that were issued were limited by the number of warehouses. There was monopoly and price manipulation in many cases where the wholesale vendor also possessed retail licenses. Retail licenses were auctioned. The number of retail outlets were gradually regulated and reduced. The Commission reports that '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 entire administration process of cannabis as per the Excise Acts of Bengal is explained in detail in the Bengal Memorandum submitted to the Hemp Commission by Mr. K.G. Gupta, Commissioner of Excise which has been included in this article.
Revenue was realized for the state from duty and license sales for the retailer. The retailer had to pay duty on the ganja purchased from the wholesaler and annual fees for the retail license. The Commission reports that '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.' The duty on purchase by the retailer from the wholesaler started as early as 1790 in Bengal. Over the hundred years or so till the Hemp Commission's report, the rules were modified multiple times. The Commission reports that '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.' Despite the regulatory measures taken, revenue continued to increase until 1892-93. The Commission reports that '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.' K.G. Gupta, Commissioner of Excise, states in the Bengal Memorandum submitted to the Hemp Commission that 'Hemp drugs, of which ganja is the principal, constitute one of the chief sources of excise revenue in Bengal.' He stated in the Memorandum that '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.' He further stated that '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.'
Two weak points with regard to the Bengal system of ganja administration that the Commission reports are that the storage facilities in Rajshahi were poor, and that there was the persistent problem of inward smuggling of ganja from the neighbouring Garjhat region of the Orissa Tributary States.
In addition to the final recommendations made by the Hemp Commission regarding separate licenses for different drugs, prevention of possession of both wholesale and retail licenses by a single person, limits on possession and allowing consumption at the premises of retail outlets, the Commission also recommended that the storage facilities be improved in Bengal's government warehouses and that the rest of the country - especially the British controlled regions - adopt the Bengal system of administration to as to bring about uniformity and harmony across India. The Commission stated in its recommendations that 'With a view to bringing the systems in different parts of India into harmony with these conclusions and generally improving the administration, the Commission have made the following suggestions:- (a) That in Bengal Government warehouses for the storage of ganja should be constructed in Rajshahi (Chapter XVI, paragraph 643). (b) That, subject to this addition, the Bengal system of ganja administration should be generally followed in the Central Provinces, Madras, Bombay, Berar, and possibly in Ajmere and Coorg (Chapter XVI, paragraphs 656, 671, 672, and 673).'
Bengal was the place where the 'ganja causes insanity' myth originated, specifically in the Dacca Asylum. Based on erroneous reports, the insanity of nearly half the inmates in the Dacca Asylum was attributed to ganja. We see that Bengal had four lunatic asylums - Dacca, Dullund, Cuttack and Behrampore - and the asylum statistics from these asylums formed the core basis of myths perpetrated by persons such as Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel A. Crombie, M.D., Surgeon Superintendent, General Hospital, Calcutta (Bengal witness no. 104) that ganja caused insanity. He used these erroneous statistics to speak and write against ganja, including at the Opium Conference.
Dr. Crombie equates cannabis with alcohol, stating that around 30% of the cases of insanity in Bengal's lunatic asylums are due to ganja. He seems to draw from his experience of alcohol related insanity in Europe and juxtaposes this on the ganja-using people of India. He states that delirious tremens, violent mania and dementia - three conditions that have strongly linked to alcohol - are caused by ganja. He states in his evidence that 'Much of the violent assaults and all the cases of "amok" that came under my notice in connection with insanity were committed by ganja-smokers. And most often as the result of a single excessive debauch even in those accustomed to the moderate use of the drug. In these cases the crime was unpremeditated and the criminal subsequently appeared to be oblivious of the circumstances. I have known many cases of temporary homicidal frenzy produced in these ways.' In his written statement given along with his evidence, Dr. Crombie speaks in favor of opium, stating that 'Certainly with regard to opium it may be said with every confidence that the figures given are merely statistics of the number of inmates who are known to have been addicted more or less to the habitual use of opium previous to their confinement in a lunatic asylum; and the number of these is so small taking into consideration the great prevalence of the opium habit (it may be said without fear of contradiction that probably 1 per cent. of the entire population of India are opium-eaters), and as they exhibit no signs by which they can be distinguished from other inmates, either by their physique or the character or type of insanity they exhibit, that the use of opium in no way favours the development of insanity among the population.' He further lists out fourteen cases and states 'The admissions for the year 1887 were fifty-five, of which these fourteen were attributed to ganja." In its note appended to Dr. Crombie's evidence, the Commission states 'Dr. Crombie in the last sentence of the Appendix to his written evidence says: "I have, however, clearly in my mind one case of a Bengali Babu, who, as the result of a single debauch, in an attack of ganja mania, slew seven of his nearest relatives in bed during the night, made a rapid recovery, and never again exhibited signs of insanity during the ten years he was under observation." Before the Opium Commission, Dr. Crombie was reported to have alluded to the same case in the following terms:- "I have never known a case of 'running amok' produced by opium. In my experience it has invariably been caused by ganja. I know the case of a young Bengali who indulged in a single debauch with ganja. He went round the house at night and slew seven of his relatives in their bed." On investigating the evidence, the Commission found that this person had lost his wife previously, and his mother on the night of the incident. It was found that this person had on both occasions behaved erratically. The Commission states that 'The judge who oversaw the case did not refer to ganja at all as the cause of insanity, or as in any way connected with the crime.' Dr. Crombie's love of opium and his hyping up of the ganja causes insanity myth, especially at platforms like the Opium Conference, where significant numbers of cases of insanity were attributed to ganja, was one of the primary drivers of the regulation and prohibition of ganja not just in India but all over the world. Misinformation and fake news have been around a long time, but the damage done by this particular misinformation is what I would rate as the most extensive in human history. The Hemp Commission states that "Over and over again the statistics of Indian asylums have been referred to in official documents or scientific treatises not only in this country, but also in other countries where the use of these drugs has demanded attention. Other alleged effects of the drugs have attracted but little attention compared with their alleged connection with insanity." For the British who loved their opium and wanted to promote it at any costs, ganja was the hurdle, and this distortion of facts enabled the prohibition of cannabis.
Regarding the statistics of ganja-induced insanity from the lunatic asylums of Bengal, the Commission stated that 'A reference to Chapter XII of this Report will show how untrustworthy these records are in regard to the production of insanity by the use of the drugs—an aspect of the question which is of the utmost importance, and has formed the basis of nearly all the official opinion heretofore recorded against such use. And, after availing themselves fully of every opportunity of consulting the official literature on the subject, the Commission have arrived at the conclusion that it shows little originality, and that a very limited amount of personal observation has been made to do duty as the basis of large conclusions.'
Out of 251 witnesses from Bengal, only a handful - 14 to be precise - were in favour of cannabis prohibition. The Commission reports that 'The Bengal witnesses in favour of prohibition of ganja consist of a Sub Deputy Collector, an Assistant Surgeon, two Medical Practitioners, an Honorary Magistrate, two zamindars, two pleaders, a delegate from the Indian Relief Society, Calcutta, the Secretary to the Band of Hope, Faridpur, the Secretary to the Bogra Medical Society, and two Missionaries.' The arguments that they put forward in favour of ganja prohibition included: ganja cultivation is loss making for the farmer; ganja is an extremely dangerous drug; ganja causes insanity; ganja incites crime; enlightened societies do not consume ganja; ganja is more harmful than alcohol or tobacco which are better substitutes; the ganja using communities are too docile to protest prohibition; etc.
The number of witnesses against cannabis prohibition were overwhelming, and many of these witnesses were medical experts, leading police and excise officers, collectors, commissioners, and persons of high social standing. According to the Hemp Commission, 'It is impossible to quote the mass of opinion against prohibition of ganja, but the following analysis of some of the most important opinions will give an idea of the strength of these opinions:—
(1) Prohibition impossible or unnecessary, or could not be enforced without a large preventive establishment. (1) Hon'ble D. R. Lyall, C.S.I., Member, Board of Revenue. (2) Mr. Westmacott, Commissioner. (9) Mr. Price, Collector. (11) Mr. Skrine, Collector. (21) Mr. Jenkins, Collector. (17) Mr. Gupta, Commissioner of Excise. (46) Ganendra Nath Pal, Deputy Collector. (197) Mr. H. M. Weatherall, Manager, Nawab's Estates, Tippera.
(2) Prohibition would be strongly resented by religious mendicants, or would be regarded as an interference with religion, or would be likely to become a political danger. (1) Hon'ble D. R. Lyall, C.S.I., Member, Board of Revenue. (3) Mr. Westmacott, Commissioner. (19) Mr. Manisty, Collector. (18) Mr. Hare, Collector. (16) Mr. Marindin, Collector. (32) Mr. Bedford, Deputy Commissioner. (63) Abhilas Chandra Mukharji, Deputy Collector. (62) Kanti Bhushan Sen, Deputy Collector of Excise. (163) Maharaja Bahadur Sir Jotendra Mohan Tagore, K.C.S.I. (174) Radhika Churn Sen, Zamindar. (175) Raghonandan Parsad, Zamindar. (185) Jogendra Krishna Rai Chaudhri. (207) Purnendu Narayan Sinha. (208) Mahendra Chandra Mitra, Chairman, Naihati Municipality. (92) Mr. Ricketts, Manager, Nilgiri State. (217) Biprodas Banarji, Pleader, Newspaper Editor, and Chairman, Baraset Municipality. (250) District Board, Monghyr. (228) Jadubans Sahai, Vice-Chairman, Arrah Municipality.
(3) Prohibition might lead to the use of dhatura or other intoxicants worse than ganja. (21) Mr. Jenkins, Collector. (46) Ganendra Nath Pal, Deputy Collector. (62) Kanti Bhushan Sen, Deputy Collector of Excise. (161) Maharaja Girijnath, Roy Bahadur. (164) Raja Surja Kanta Acharjya, Bahadur. (167) Radha Balav Chaudhri, Rai Bahadur. (233) Secretary, Rajshahi Association. (217) Biprodas Banarji, Pleader, &c.'
Today, the state of Bengal has been under the rule of the Communist Party and its spinoff - the Trinamool Congress - for decades now. As Dr. B.R. Ambedkar stated in his Annihilation of Caste speech in 1937, 'The Social Conference was a body which mainly concerned itself with the reform of the high-caste Hindu family. It consisted mostly of enlightened high-caste Hindus who did not feel the necessity for agitating for the abolition of caste, or had not the courage to agitate for it. They felt quite naturally a greater urge to remove such evils as enforced widowhood, child marriages, etc. - evils which prevailed among them and which were personally felt by them. They did not stand up for the reform of Hindu society. The battle that was fought centred around the question of the reform of the family. It did not relate to social reform in the sense of the break-up of the caste system. It was never put in issue by the reformers. That is the reason why the 'social reform party' lost.' What Ambedkar said in 1937 still holds good today. It was the high-caste Hindus of Bengal who essentially worked with the British to create the divisions between bhang and ganja, essentially calling the same cannabis plant different names - bhang when drunk as a beverage by upper castes and ganja when smoked by lower castes - and then fostering the myths that bhang was medicinal and ganja harmful. Today, we see that the same upper castes rule the state under the guise of being a socialist party when, in fact, all political parties in Bengal (and the rest of India for that matter) aim to ensure that the upper castes and classes do not lose their hold over the people. Bihar, which was a part of the Bengal Presidency, is one of the poorest and most under developed states in India today. The country of Bangladesh has seen decades of corruption by the ruling political elites. In all these places, the upper classes and upper castes have continued where the British left off. That is why cannabis - the herb of the poorest people in Bengal - who form the working classes, religious mendicants, indigenous communities, etc., remains prohibited while the political leaders of Bengal continue to promote and protect their own interests and the interests of their former colonial masters, the British.
Cannabis legalization, completely without any regulations and controls, offers a way out for the states of Bengal and Bihar, and the country of Bangladesh to achieve sustainable economic prosperity, sustainable livelihoods, universal healthcare, reduce the gap between the rich and the poor and heal the wounds of the past inflicted by the British administration and Indian upper classes and caste elites. Can Bengal today become the benchmark for India in terms of cannabis policy that other states desire to emulate or will it sink deeper into the mire due to its selfish and inept leaders?
In the following article, I have extracted content specific to the Bengal Presidency from the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report of 1894-95. This includes:
- the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's findings
- the Bengal Memorandum submitted to the Commission
- reports from the lunatic asylums of Bengal
- notes from experts
- list of Bengal witnesses who deposed before the Hemp Commission
- individual witness statements of the 251 witnesses from Bengal.
The Hemp Commission's findings
Areas of wild growth and cultivation
25. The Commissioner of Excise, Bengal, says in his memorandum that "the wild plant is found in nearly every district, and it grows abundantly in several places." The evidence enables the facts to be stated more definitely; and it will be seen that over a large part of the province the spontaneous growth is not so common or abundant that it can with any propriety be called wild.
Extent of cultivation, and its tendency to increase or decrease.
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.
155. In Bengal the hemp plant is grown solely for the production of ganja in the area of regular and licensed cultivation. The illicit cultivation which is to be found in insignificant quantity all over the province, and the character of which has been described, yields for the most part bhang and not ganja fit for smoking. Ganja of inferior quality is produced in the Tributary States of Orissa in considerable quantity. In the Tributary States of the Chota Nagpur Division ganja of the same quality is produced, but in less quantity. The cultivated product of Hill Tippera appears to be still lower in the scale as regards quality, and very little in quantity. It is proposed now to describe the skilled cultivation of the Ganja Mahal, where the agricultural processes for the growth and preparation of ganja have undoubtedly been brought to greater perfection than in any other part of India, and, as far as information will allow, the more homely practices prevailing outside that tract. Babu Hem Chunder Kerr's report contains a detailed account of the Rajshahi cultivation; Dr. Prain has given a brief outline of the mode of culture; and Mr. Price, Collector of the district of Rajshahi, has submitted a sketch of the cultivators' business during each month of the year. Babu Hem Chunder Kerr's report is the basis of the information furnished by most witnesses. Endeavour will be made to compile a succinct account from these materials.
The seedlings prefer high and dry soil.
159. It is necessary to again quote verbatim from Babu Hem Chunder Kerr for the same reason as before: "The number of ploughings is regulated by the nature of the soil, khear or clayey lands, in which hemp is occasionally, grown, requiring more frequent ploughing than fields of poli soil or light, sandy loam, which form the majority of the ganja beds. The seedlings at the time of transplantation are from four to five weeks old and from six to twelve inches high. The smaller ones are collected for higher and drier fields, in which they are enabled to throw out their roots much quicker and easier, and grow up much faster than in low fields, the soil of which is somewhat heavy owing to the existence in it of a greater amount of moisture, which retards the growth of very tender plants ................ If rain falls within three or four days after the transplantation, it proves injurious to the young plants, the roots of which, not having taken any hold upon the soil, rot and die away."
The Bengal cultivator misnames the sexes. The khasia plant not discovered outside Bengal. The Bengal cultivator does not grow a seed-crop.
163. There are one or two matters in which the ways of the Bengal cultivator are different from those of the people of other provinces. They talk of the ganja-bearing plant as the male and the pollen-bearing plant as the female. In the Central Provinces and the west of India the cultivator seems to have learnt more of the principles of fructification in plants, and generally calls them by their true sexes. The existence of the khasia (emasculated) plant, which Babu Hem Chunder Kerr calls hermaphrodite, and Dr. Prain describes as "functionally defective," "useless but innocent," and "collated, as its name implies, with the sex to which it really belongs," has apparently no parallel at Khandwa in the Central Provinces. The plant is left standing at harvest, or rejected from the heap if it has been gathered by mistake. The Bengal cultivator does not grow a crop specially for seed as is done at Khandwa. He uses the grains that fall from his ganja in the processes of manufacture, which are very numerous, notwithstanding all the pains that have been taken to eradicate the male plants.
185. The average rainfall of the tract in which ganja is cultivated is 33 inches. The soils which are considered most suitable to the crop are— Pandhar, or white soil—land near the village site which is largely mixed with ashes and sweepings from the village; Mand—a light yellow alluvium pervious to moisture; Kali—black soil or regur. The first two are the best; the last is too stiff if the season happens to be very wet. The seed is specially cultivated in fields apart from the ganja, and in this the practice differs from that of Bengal, where the seeds which fall from the ganja in the process of preparation are kept for sowing. The seed of Dhakalgaon, a village in Indore territory, is considered the best, and fetches double the price of other seed. It gives a stouter and more branching plant than the local seed. The same fields are used year after year for hemp cultivation, and it is thought sufficient to manure heavily once in three years. Here again the practice differs essentially from that of Bengal, where the land will only grow hemp every three years, and heavy manuring is required each time it is sown. The manure used in Khandwa consists of household refuse, cow-dung, and ashes, and is given to the land at the rate of sixteen to twenty cartloads per acre. The crop is sown about fifteen days after the first good fall of the south-west monsoon, i.e., in June or July. If the field is not under any crop, it is ploughed in January or February, and in any circumstances it is thoroughly worked up in April or May. The latter is the season for manuring if it is the turn of the field to be manured, and two ploughings and two applications of the bakhar—an instrument which serves the purpose of a harrow—are considered necessary between this time and the sowing. The seed is sown on a sunny day by means of a bamboo drill (sarta), which is used in combination with the bakhar. The seed germinates within a week, and in twenty days the plants have reached the height of about nine inches. The spaces between the furrows are then cleaned with the bullock hoe (kolpa), and between the plants in each row with the gardening hand-implement called khurpi, the plants being thinned out at the same time, so that they shall stand six or nine inches apart. The weeding process goes on for a month, and during it the lower leaves of the plants are removed. There is no transplantation at any time.
Preparation of the raw drugs from the cultivated and wild plant
220. The preparation of the finest sort of ganja is a somewhat laborious process, and requires skill and knowledge. For a full description of the preparation of flat, round, and chur ganja in the Ganja Mahal, the reader is referred to Babu Hem Chunder Kerr's report. Dr. Prain has given a shorter account of it. It must be remembered that the terms 'flat,' 'round,' and 'chur' are peculiar to the Bengal manufacture and excise system. Their exact meaning is rarely understood outside the province. The more important details of the processes may be briefly noticed. Bright sunny weather is essential to the best manufacture. The crop does not all come to maturity at the same time, and the plants must be manipulated within three or four days of maturity, or they become useless. These conditions have to be borne in mind in arranging for the manufacture, and it would seem that the plants have sometimes to be gathered before they are full ripe. The plants are cut in batches, as many as can be handled, by the available labour and means in three days. The Khasia plants are left standing, or, if gathered by mistake, are rejected in selecting the portions of the plant to be worked up.
Extent of use and the manner and forms in which the hemp drugs are consumed
335. In endeavouring to measure the extent to which the hemp drugs are used, it will be best to deal with them in their simplest forms of ganja, bhang and charas. The excise administration of the hemp drugs in Bengal is so systematic that the statistics of registered sale to retail vendors may be accepted as correct; and with regard to ganja and charas, they will be found to afford a very good indication of the actual consumption. With bhang the case is different, for most of this drug which is consumed outside the bbig cities escapes excise altogether. And the cities in which it can with any approach to truth be said that unexcised bhang is not consumed are very few.
Ganja is the most important of the three drugs; it contributes nearly the whole of the hemp drug revenue, and is consumed in all parts of the province, In the case of Bengal it is possible to perform with the help of the statistics a fairly accurate idea of the extent to which the use of it prevails in the various divisions and districts. On this subject a statement appears in the Excise Report for 1892-93: "Its consumption is largest in Calcutta, and next in Mymensingh and Dacca; it is also considerable in the 24-Parganas, Rangpur, Patnam Tippera, Cuttack, Puri, and the districts of Behar";
Consumption of ganja in the districts.
337. The circumstances in Calcutta are of course altogether abnormal. It contains a vast number of coolies and day labourers, and workers in boats and on the river-side, besides a large foreign population, many of whom, such as domestic servants, porters, and watchmen attached to Government offices, to houses of business, and to private persons, and the followers of wealthy people, are notoriously addicted to the hemp drugs in one for or the other. There are also present in the city all the conditions which tend to luxury and excess. The evidence shows that the use of ganja by some of the well-to-do classes is by no means rare, and the probability is that with people who have acquired the taste and can afford to gratify it freely the indulgence is not stinted either to themselves of their friends. Calcutta, therefore, not only contains amongst its population an unusually high proportion of consumers, but the consumers also take considerably more than the average individual allowance.
338. The districts where the consumption is highest come far behind the city of Calcutta. The favour in which the drug is held in the 24-Parganas is probably due in great measure to the neighbourhood of Calcutta; but it is also in evidence that the inhabitants of low and swampy tracts and the river population are specially addicted to it. Similar reasons, Dacca being a large city, may account for the high consumption of the districts of Dacca and Mymensingh. The shops in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Shahabad, Monghyr, Bhagalpur, and Purnea very probably get a good deal of their custom, besides the recorded export, from beyond the frontiers of Bengal. Puri is a great resort of religious mendicants and similar people who are the most determined consumers of ganja. In other directions it is difficult to account for the great difference in the rate of consumption, as shown by the retail sales, in districts which adjoin one another, and in which very similar physical and economic conditions apparently prevail. Why, for instance, should Dinajpur be abstemious, lying as it does in the midst of districts which all show a full average consumption? It may be due to the absence of large rivers and of riverside population. But this explanation will not apply to Noakhali, which shows the smallest sale in the whole province, and is situated between Tippera and Chittagong, the former of which the Excise Commissioner regards as a district of heavy consumption, and the latter being not very exceptional in this respect. The consumption of opium and liquor is also very low in Noakhali. The witness quoted does not make special mention in this place of the religious classes. He states elsewhere (answer 20) that the number of a special class of them in his district is about 1 in 100 souls, which is not a small proportion. The addition of the other classes of religious ascetics and mendicants will give a considerably higher ratio, and the district will then have a full average proportion of these people. They have probably therefore entered into the enquiries and calculations of the witness which may be accepted as fairly representative of all classes of consumers, including that which is notorious for excessive use of the hemp drugs
342. The Excise Commissioner reports that the average retail price of ganja is Rs. 20 per sér. It ranges from Rs. 12 in Calcutta, Patna, Cuttack, and Chittagong to above Rs. 30 in Mymensingh, or from 2 1/2 annas to more than 6 annas per tola, the average being 4 annas. It appears from the evidence that 1/16th of a tola is the smallest quantity that will suffice for one chillum, and that more is required if more than two or three smokers have to partake of it. That quantity apparently affords one smoke to two persons, and the refreshment seems to be generally taken twice a day. For the most moderate habitual smokers, therefore, 1/16th of a tola may be taken as the daily allowance. This represents an expenditure of 1/4 anna a day and a yearly allowance of 23 tolas. But Mr. Gupta reports, and he is corroborated by the great bulk of the witnesses, that the average allowance is higher than this, lying between 1/4 anna and 1/2 anna per diem. Accepting this opinion, the daily cost to the moderate consumer may be put at 4 1/2 pies, and the yearly allowance at 35 tolas. In order to frame an estimate of the total number of consumers who are supplied by the yearly sale of excised ganja, the excess allowance of excessive consumers has to be added to this figure.
347. The evidence shows that the occasional use of bhang in the form of drink is almost universal with Hindus, and that its regular use is uncommon among the inhabitants of Lower Bengal, but very prevalent among the people of Upper India. The habit is accordingly found to increase towards the frontier of the North-Western Provinces. All that the statistics can be held to show is that there is no sale for the excised drug where the wild growth is abundant. They are no guide as to the comparative prevalence of the habit in various parts of the province. Such deductions as can be made in the districts where the wild growth is absent or rare confirm the evidence that the habit of bhang drinking is uncommon with the Bengalis. Under these circumstances it is not worth while, even in these districts, to attempt to measure the prevalence of the habit with more exactness.
415. Ganja issues from the Ganja Mahal of Bengal in three forms - flat, round and chur. Their relative value arises from the fact that round ganja is more free of useless stick and leaf than flat ganja, and chur is even more pure than round ganja. The first two kinds are reduced to chur or fragments as a necessary preliminary to smoking, but it is possible that a small amount of leaf aways adheres to the lumps of compressed flowers even when thay have been detached from the stick. Nevertheless in this reduced from the three kinds are practically the same, and many persons have no preference in regard to them. The evidence on this point is not, however, unanimous, and in Calcutta, the 24-Parganas, Nadia, and the Burdwan and Orissa Divisions round ganja alone is sold, while the flat kind is consumed throughout the rest of the province. It is doubtful if this distribution is caused by any choice of the consumers. The explanation is probably to be found in the convenience and profit of the dealers in respect of avoidance of waste and economy of carriage. The recent sudden increase in the consumption of chur tends to confirm this view, for Mr. Gupta explains that it was caused by the discovery that this lind was more lightly taxed in proportion to the amount of narcotic matter present in it. As regards their general use, therefore, these three kinds of ganja do not need to be distinguished, and the names even are not current outside Bengal. It may be said that every presidency, province, and almost every Native State outside Bengal, has a certain amount - it may be very small - of home-grown ganja. This drug is of various qualities, from the produce of the wild plant in certain parts to that of the skilled and regular cultivation. There are local names for the drug, but it is essentially the same everywhere, varying in strength and flavour. Bengal ganja holds the first place in public favour. In Assam it is distinguished by the epithet "mohini". Only a small quantity of it goes out of Bengal to the North-Western Provinces and the peninsula of India, but the fame of it is carried all over the country by the religious wanderers, and its name "baluchar" is very widely known.
Social and religious customs
431. In the instructions issued to the Commission by the Government of India, reference is made to the use of hemp drugs among fakirs and ascetics who are held in veneration by large classes of the people, and to the custom, which is believed to obtain to a large extent in Bengal, of offering an infusion of bhang to every guest and member of the family on the last day of the Durga Puja. The Commission were instructed to ascertain to what extent these and similar customs prevail in Bengal and other parts of India, and how far the use of hemp drugs forms a part of social, or possibly religious, ceremonial or observance. Questions 32 and 33 of the Commission's questions were intended to elicit information on these points.
432. In Bengal there is a considerable body of evidence dealing with these customs, and more particularly with the custom of offering an infusion of bhang on the last day of the Durga Puja. Some few witnesses, it is true, state either that no social or religious custom with which hemp drugs are connected exists, or that they are unaware of any such custom; but the great majority of the witnesses either give an account of them more or less full, or allude to them briefly as matters of common notoriety.
Effects
Physical effects
453...In Bengal, on the other hand, a majority (two to one) of those who discriminate [between ganja and charas] regard ganja as the stronger. Even in these provinces, however, the evidence cannot be accepted with confidence, for it is not usual for ganja and charas to be smoked by the same person. The evidence clearly shows that there is no essential difference between charas and ganja, but that the former takes in the Punjab and in parts of the North-Western Provinces the place among intoxicants which is taken by ganja in other parts of India. The only difference in regard to their effects apparent from the evidence is that some witnesses assert one form to be stronger than the other. There are, however, differences of opinion among the witnesses as to which is the stronger. The importance of these differences of opinion perhaps lies mainly in the necessity for explaining them. There are two general reasons why some of the witnesses might erroneously regard charas as weaker than ganja - viz., (a) tha the effect of each smoke depends on the amount of the drug used, and difference of experience as to this has admittedly let to difference of view regarding the drugs; and (b) that the consumers of charas in Bengal are of the higher class, and would naturally speak in favour of their own drug. There are also two reasons why charas may actually compare less favourably with ganja in Bengal and elsewhere - viz., (a) that charas undoubtedly deteriorates on keeping, and also appears to be largely adulterated for the market; and (b) that the Bengal ganja, being more highly cultivated and more carefullly prepared, reaches the market a better article than the ganja of any other province. There is no evidence of any other difference bewteen these two form of hemp drugs except one degree: and this difference of degree does not appear to be at all a certainty everywhere. The experiments conducted by Dr. Evans and Mr. Hooper are reported in Vol. III Appendices. They indicate that charas from various sources contain from 44.5 to 18.45 per cent. resin soluble in alcohol, while Bengal round ganja affords 21.6 per cent. The physiological value of the alcoholic extracts is not, however, the same in all samples of charas compared with that obtained from Bengal ganja. In only one sample of charas were the effects produced comparable to those produced by a similar does of the alcoholic extract of the "standard" ganja. The resin extracted from the other samples of charas was much weaker, doses varying from 1/100,000 to 1/5,000 part of the body weight being required to produce certain physiological effects, while in three samples of Nepal charas doses equal to 1/2,500 part of thr body weight were inactive. These startling figures seem to indicate not only natural deterioration, but also extensive adulteration of charas.
500. In Bengal eight commissioned medical officers were examined on the effects of the moderate use of the drugs. Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel Russell (witness No. 105), 20 years in civil employ in Bengal and Assam, a witness whose evidence has frequently been quoted by the Commission, stated that the use of the drug does not cause bronchitis, dysentery, or asthma, and that scarcely any other noxious effects are induced. Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Russick Lall Dutt (witness No. 107), an officer of over 20 years' experience, stated: "Very moderate smoking of ganja or charas or moderate drinking of siddhi in infusion do not produce any appreciable effects but these moderate cases are seldom long-lived. There is in them a slow and insidious undermining process going on in their digestive, respiratory, and nervous systems, which predispose them to acute diseases and cut their lives short." Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Price (witness No. 108), of 21 years' service, who had frequently come across consumers of hemp drugs, was unable to answer the question regarding effects. Surgeon-Captain Prain (witness No. 113) stated: "I do not believe that the habitual moderate use of any of these drugs produces any noxious effects—physical, mental, or moral. I think that perhaps the use of bhang does injure the digestion and impair appetite even when used moderately, but I am convinced that it neither causes dysentery, bronchitis, or asthma." Surgeon-Major Cobb (witness No. 110) stated that the drugs did not cause asthma, bronchitis, or dysentery; and in cross-examination he stated: "I have no experience that the excessive use of the drug produces dysentery and bowel-complaints." Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Flood Murray (witness No. 102), five years in military service and nineteen years in civil employ, quoted the opinion of a pandit whom he consulted regarding the ill effects of the drugs. In cross-examination he stated: "The general statement as contained in my written answer is a statement made to me by this hakim and others to whom I applied for information. My own experience in no way corroborates it." "Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Bovill (witness No. 109), of 21 years' service, stated that the habitual moderate use of bhang does not produce any ill effects, and in many cases that of ganja is equally harmless. He added: "I know of no case where it has caused bronchitis, dysentery, or asthma, but I have noted hoarseness of the voice probably due to some laryngeal irritation among ganja smokers." SurgeonLieutenant-Colonel Crombie (witness No. 104), of over 20 years' service, is not aware of any ill effects being produced by the moderate use of the drugs; but he added: "If any were produced, the use would no longer be moderate, but excessive:" In cross-examination Dr. Crombie stated: "I have had no experience of any diseases attributable to ganja. My experience has been chiefly in Eastern Bengal, where ganja is largely consumed."
Twenty-three assistant surgeons were examined. Assistant Surgeon Devendranath Roy (witness No. 123), of over 20 years' service, and who has had service in Rajputana, the North-Western Provinces, Behar, and Bengal, where hemp drugs are used by a large portion of the people, is of opinion that those who smoke ganja not more than twice or thrice a day do not suffer in general health; bhang does not impair the digestion, whereas ganja does. "Those of my patients," he remarks, "who admitted having been habitual ganja smokers suffered from dysentery or diarrhœa, but they have been exposed to conditions which produce these ailments. Hence I do not draw any conclusion as to ganja being a primary cause of those diseases." Assistant Surgeon Preonath Bose (witness No. 122), Teacher of Materia Medica and Pharmacy in the Dacca Medical School, clearly has no personal knowledge of the effects, as he remarked: "Evidence on these points is conflicting. Some of the consumers maintain, others deny, that evil effects are produced." Another teacher at the same school (witness No. 121) stated: "Evidence on these points is conflicting. The general consensus of opinion is that the habitual moderate use of bhang and ganja does not impair the constitution." Assistant Surgeon Soorjee Narain Singh, of 28 years' service, now Teacher of Materia Medica, Patna Medical School (witness No. 125), stated that "habitual moderate consumers of bhang, ganja, or charas do not apparently suffer from any injurious effects." Assistant Surgeon Narendra Nath Gupta (witness No. 120) as Deputy Superintendent of Vaccination and as a Deputy Sanitary Commissioner and as Civil Medical Officer has had considerable opportunities for noting the effects of the drugs. His opinion is that the moderate use of ganja and bhang does not produce any noxious effects. Durga Dass Lahiri,L.M.S. (witness No. 132),a private medical practitioner, said: "I have not seen any evil results mentioned when taken moderately, but it is very difficult to keep to moderation." Assistant Surgeon Taraprosanna Roy (witness No. 116) is Chemical Examiner to the Government of Bengal. He stated that the habitual moderate use of the three drugs is not known to produce any noxious effects. Assistant Surgeon Bosonto Kumar Sen (witness No . 119) has had service in ganja producing districts. He stated that the use of ganja and bhang produces noxious effects, and "generally produce dysentery, asthma, and bronchitis." The cross-examination of this witness is of interest. "I have seen more than one person, about half a dozen, in my village suffering from dysentery, bronchitis, and asthma who were also ganja smokers. They were all excessive smokers. These effects do not follow the moderate, but the excessive, use. It is a mistake to have put them under the moderate use The fact that they were ganja smokers led me to believe that these effects were due to ganja I have no recollection of ever treating any case of dysentery, bronchitis, or asthma caused by ganja. These cases are the basis of my remarks. I do not remember any case of dysentery, bronchitis, or asthma in a ganja smoker which I attributed to any other cause. In other words, when I saw ganja smokers suffering from these diseases, I attributed them to ganja. This was twenty years ago, before I was a medical student." Pyari Sankar Dass Gupta, L.M.S. (witness No. 134), is a private medical practitioner, Secretary to the Bogra Medical Society of ten members, and a member of a temperance association founded by the late Keshub Chunder Sen. The witness is pledged against the use of all intoxicants. This witness submitted three papers to the Commission which seem to illustrate the development of tradition into opinion. In one paper the witness states: "The smokers of ganja often suffer from hoarseness of voice produced by the continual inhalation of its fumes, giving rise to sore-throat, bronchitis, and carbonaceous phthisis It has long been a tradition in our country that the ganja-khors always die of dysentery, their intestines gradually sloughing away." In his second paper the witness states: "Ganja smokers generally die of bloody dysentery, asthma and phthisis, and hæmoptysis." And in his last paper he says: "It produces bloody dysentery and chest diseases, bloodspitting, bronchitis, asthma, and phthisis." Kailas Chundra Bose, L.M.S. (witness No. 135), is a private medical practitioner in Calcutta with an extensive practice. He states that no ill effects are produced by the moderate use, and that, instead of causing bronchitis, dysentery, or asthma, it relieves these affections. The witness, however, states in his oral examination: "My experience is not to any large extent what I have gathered in my practice, but rather what I have learnt from smokers." Assistant Surgeon Akbar Khan (witness No. 124) is another Teacher in the Patna Medical School. He states the habitual moderate use of any of the drugs does not produce noxious effects, but that charas and ganja cause dysentery, bronchitis, and asthma if the consumers are not well fed. Witnesses Nos. 126 and 138 consider that no ill effects are produced. Assistant Surgeon Upendra Nath Sen (witness No. 118) states that bronchitis and asthma are common complaints of ganja smokers. Madhab Krishna Dass, L.M.S. (witness No. 158), a private practitioner in Calcutta, considers that smoking may cause dysentery, bronchitis, or asthma. Assistant Surgeon Durga Nath Chakravarti (witness No. 150) considers that "ganja causes dysentery after a long run." Annoda Prasanna Ghatak, M.B. (witness No. 148), a private medical practitioner, considers that digestive complaints are caused when good food is not procurable. Rakhal Das Ghosh, L.M.S. (witness No. 149), a private practitioner in Calcutta, had apparently seen no ill effects caused by the drug. The remaining witnesses in this class clearly failed to discriminate between the moderate and excessive use, and their evidence has not been considered.
Three hospital assistants were examined. One gave no reply regarding moderate use. The other stated: "The habitual moderate use of ganja or charas does not produce any noxious effects-physical, mental, or moral; but the use of ganja impairs the constitution in some way or other and has a tendency towards bronchitis and asthma." Witness No. 145 is a vernacular class hospital assistant, but not now in Government employ. According to this witness, moderate use of ganja leads to excessive use. "The habitual moderate consumers, as well as the excessive consumers, suffer in their lungs and become insane No intoxicant can be taken in moderation except when administered medicinally."
Fifteen native practitioners were examined. Bijoya Ratna Sen (witness No. 151), a kabiraj practising in Calcutta, considers that the habitual moderate use of ganja or charas, but not siddhi, may in some cases cause bronchitis, dysentery, or asthma. Witness No. 152, also of Calcutta, gives the same reply couched in the same language. Witness No. 126, of Nattore, in the Rajshahi district, and witness No. 153, of Calcutta, both consider the moderate use harmless. Piyari Mohan (witness No. 154), a kabiraj, states: "I know it causes dysentery, and I believe owing to its heating power it can cause bronchitis and asthma." Kedareswar Acharjya (witness No. 137) remarks: "Those ganja smokers who cannot command abundant wholesome food suffer from dysentery, but it is difficult to determine how far it is due to ganja or to improper food. As to asthma, I have not seen any typical case originating from ganja smoking. I know that a chronic catarrhal condition of the air passages with a certain amount of spasm is the misfortune of many old ganja smokers. I know a friend who suffered from chronic bronchitis, and in whom asthmatic fits were induced by attempts to smoke ganja." The witness refers also to another case in which a habitual ganja smoker had an asthmatic attack "which subsided on breaking off the habit and reappeared on resuming it." This witness lays stress on personal idiosyncrasy as modifying the effects of the drugs, and on the importance of a diet rich in fat. Witness No. 155, another kabiraj, states that, while no ill effects are produced, occasionally it causes dysentery, bronchitis, and asthma. Witness No. 128, also a kabiraj, states that, according to the Aurveda Shastra, smoking these drugs causes bronchitis and asthma, and in his opinion "even the moderate use of any of these drugs, not according to the rules of Shastra, is injurious in its effects." This witness does not appear to have any personal knowledge of ill effects, but to base his views on the teachings of the Shastras. Witness No. 139 states: "Certainly they produce noxious effects on the moral and physical constitution;" but as the witness is silent as to the effects of excessive use, probably he has not discriminated between the two uses of the drugs. Witness No. 157, a vaid, considers that even the habitual moderate use of these drugs produces noxious effects. This is the pandit who was consulted by Dr. Flood Murray (witness No. 102), and who produced two cases of hemp drug asthma and weakened heart for Dr. Murray's inspection. These seem to have been the only cases in any way connected with hemp drugs that he had. Witness No. 146 is a zamindar and medical practitioner, and does not reply as to effects. Witness No. 147 studied two and a half years at the Calcutta Medical College, but took no degree. He states that no noxious effects are produced without giving details.
Mental effects
550... The next witness is Dr. Crombie, who is a member of the Committee for advising Government about criminal lunatics. He stated that he was unable, however, to give specific cases but had one case clearly in his mind. This case he had also quoted before the Opium Commission as a case of running amok from ganja. He stated the case thus: "A Bengali babu, as the result of a single debauch, in an attack of ganja mania slew seven of his nearest relatives in bed during the night. A perusal of the records indicates that this statement of the case as wholly inaccurate. There is indeed mention of the man having used both ganja and opium. But there is no mention of a debauch, and there is mention of habit. So that teh conception of "a single debauch" is quite opposed to the history contained in the records. The judicial record shows that the man had been for years peculiar in his behavior; that about six years before he had become quite mad for a time on his wife's death; that on the present occasion a similar outbreak of madness had occurred on his mother's death; that he "did not take ganja during this time;" that the murders were committed on the night of his mother's "Shradh", about which there had been "a commotion" during the day; and that the motive seemed to be mere insane despair as to how these members of the family could be cared for in the future. The asylum papers indeed mention "his mother's death as well as addiction to ganja and opium" as the cause of insanity. But the papers afford no clue as to the origin of Dr. Crombie's view of the case.
The policy of hemp drug administration
556. Again, there are a certain number of persons whose evidence before the Commission points to the assumption that the case for prohibition of the hemp drugs has already been established in the records of the Government, and that further enquiry implies a wilful blindness to what has been abundantly proved by such records. A reference to Chapter XII of this Report will show how untrustworthy these records are in regard to the production of insanity by the use of the drugs—an aspect of the question which is of the utmost importance, and has formed the basis of nearly all the official opinion heretofore recorded against such use. And, after availing themselves fully of every opportunity of consulting the official literature on the subject, the Commission have arrived at the conclusion that it shows little originality, and that a very limited amount of personal observation has been made to do duty as the basis of large conclusions. The want of reliable data has been compensated by annual reiteration until the stamp of antiquity has secured for the opinions so expressed a large amount of acquiescence among officials who had neither the time nor the opportunity to examine the matter for themselves. So far, therefore, as the effects of the hemp drugs are concerned, the Commission have had to approach the subject as almost a tabula rasa, and, while availing themselves of the imperfect data previously collected, have endeavoured to avoid accepting any conclusions without a substantial foundation of well ascertained facts. The attitude, however, of the Government in regard to the question may be briefly described. So far back as 1798 an inquiry was made in Bengal regarding the quality of ten intoxicating articles—"opium, madak, ganja, subzi, bhang, majum, banker, charas, tobacco, and toddy—" with a view to determining whether it might not be advisable to prohibit altogether the sale of any of them. The conclusion arrived at, which was stated in a letter of the Board to the Governor General in Council, No. 22, dated 29th May 1798, was to the following effect: "It appears that the original productions are as follows: Tobacco, opium, ganja, subzi or bhang, banker, and toddy, and that the three remaining articles are for the most part compositions of those here recited, as above mentioned. With respect to the drugs specified in the foregoing schedule, they are not for the most part represented as producing any very violent or dangerous effects of intoxication except when taken to excess; and, although the operation of them may be more powerful in their compound state, we apprehend it would be difficult to sanction the sale of the original productions, and to prohibit with effect the use of compositions of which they are susceptible; to which may be added that most of these articles, both as original productions and as artificial combinations, appear to be useful either in medicine or otherwise; for these reasons we do not deem it necessary to recommend that the sale of any of them be altogether prohibited, but shall proceed to state what appear to us the best means of restraining the use of them, and improving the revenue by the imposition of such taxes as are best adapted to the nature of the case." A complete inquiry was made in 1871 from all provinces as to the effects of the several preparations of hemp; and if the result should call for any action in the direction of restricting them by enhancement of the duty or of limiting, or even prohibiting, the cultivation of the plant, the advice of the Local Governments was invited as to the expediency and practicability of such measures. The result is contained in the Resolution of the Government of India, Finance Department, No. 3773, dated 17th December 1873. The following passage shows the conclusion arrived at: "Upon a consideration of all the opinions thus collected, it does not appear to the Governor-General in Council to be specially proved that hemp incites to crime more than other drugs or than spirits. And there is some evidence to show that on rare occasions this drug, usually so noxious, may be usefully taken. There can, however, be no doubt that its habitual use does tend to produce insanity. The total number of cases of insanity is small in proportion to the population, and not large even in proportion to the number of ganja smokers; but of the cases of insanity produced by the excessive use of drugs or spirits, by far the largest number must be attributed to the abuse of hemp. In Lower Bengal the circumstances have admitted of a system under which the consumption of ganja has been reduced one-half, while the amount of duty levied on it has been doubled. It would be very desirable to control the cultivation and preparation of ganja and bhang elsewhere in the same way. But it is believed that this would not be easy; indeed, it would probably be impracticable. Moreover, with the exception of the Chief Commissioners of British Burma and the Central Provinces, the Local Governments are not in favour of altering existing arrangements. His Excellency in Council, however, trusts that the various Local Governments and Administrations will endeavour, wherever it may be possible, to discourage the consumption of ganja and bhang by placing restrictions on their cultivation, preparation, and retail, and imposing on their use as high a rate of duty as can be levied without inducing illicit practices. As regards British Burma, the Chief Commissioner has already been informed that the Governor-General in Council concurs with him in thinking that the cultivation and consumption of ganja should be absolutely prohibited, and it has been prohibited from the beginning of the year 1873-74." In 1877 the Bengal Government appointed a special officer, Babu Hem Chunder Kerr, to make a full inquiry into the details of the cultivation of ganja, the sufficiency or otherwise of the present safeguards, and the reforms which it might be advisable to introduce. Sir Ashley Eden's conclusions on this officer's report in regard to the effects of ganja and policy to be followed were as follows: "The Lieutenant-Governor has himself no doubt that the use of ganja in any form is injurious to the consumer, and that it is the duty of Government to make the tax on this article as high as it can possibly bear. Unfortunately it is habitually used by large numbers of the lower classes of the population, who would, if deprived of it altogether, apparently find in the leaves of the wild hemp plant and in other drugs narcotics and stimulants of equally deleterious character. It does not seem possible, therefore, to stop the cultivation altogether. The policy of Government must be to limit its production and sale by a high rate of duty without placing the drug entirely beyond the reach of those who will insist upon having it." The last important utterance on the subject previous to the appointment of the Commission is contained in the letter of the Government of India, Finance Department, to Her Majesty's Secretary of State, No. 212, dated 9th August 1892, in which the following remarks occur: "We are inclined to believe that ganja is the most noxious of all intoxicants now commonly used in India. But even if the absolute prohibition of the use of the drug could be enforced, the result might be to induce the use of still more noxious drugs. India abounds with plants growing wild from which drugs can be procured which are more deleterious in their effects than ganja. One such plant is the dhatura (Stramonium), the seeds of which are already used to intensify the narcotic effects of bhang, a liquid preparation of hemp leaves; and we apprehend that if the use of ganja were suppressed altogether, dhatura might be largely resorted to by the poorer classes as a means of satisfying their craving for stimulants. Apart, however, from the objections just mentioned, we believe that it would be impossible to enforce in India a prohibition of the use of ganja. That drug is produced in Native States, and the difficulties in the way of preventing its import from them, if the supply in British India were cut off, would be immense. It would not, moreover, be possible to suppress the supply in British India. The hemp plant grows readily in India, in many places wild without cultivation of any kind, and it would be easy for any one addicted to the use of ganja to grow a plant or two in the enclosure of his own house and in nooks and corners which would be safe from observation and from the risk of detection. The question in the House of Commons suggests that as the possession and sale of ganja has been prohibited for many years in Burma, it is desirable that the same prohibition should be extended to other provinces of British India. The analogy of Burma does not, however, apply to India. When the prohibition was enforced in Burma, the drug was very little used by the Native Burmese, its consumption being almost entirely confined to coolies and other immigrants from India; and the cultivation of the plant in Burma, which had never been extensive, had virtually ceased, the consumers being dependent on importations for their supplies. In India, on the other hand, the practice of ganja smoking has existed from time immemorial, and among certain sects of Hindus, ascetics, and religious mendicants hemp intoxication is habitually indulged in; and, as explained in the preceding paragraph, it would be impossible to suppress the growth of the plant. But, although we consider it impracticable to enforce the absolute prohibition of the use of ganja, we fully recognise it as our duty to restrict its consumption as far as practicable, and we have distinctly laid down the policy to be pursued in respect of this drug in our Resolution of the 17th December 1873 already quoted. The annual reports of Excise Administration show that the subject has since been continually before Local Governments, who are making every possible endeavour to minimise the evils and discourage the use of the drug wherever it is a source of danger to consumers." Thus "restraining the use and improving the revenue by the imposition of suitable taxation," "discouraging the consumption by placing restrictions on the cultivation, preparation, and retail, and imposing on their use as high a rate of duty as can be levied without inducing illicit practices," "limiting the production and sale by a high rate of duty without placing the drug entirely beyond the reach of those who will insist upon having it," "restricting consumption as far as practicable, minimising the evils, and discouraging the use of the drug wherever it is a source of danger to consumers" have from time to time been the watch-words of the Government in the matter of the hemp drugs, a policy only once definitely abandoned, viz., in the case of Burma, where total prohibition was introduced in 1873.
589. The Commission have considered the question of adopting in respect of ganja, and possibly also of charas, a system of Government monopoly similar to the opium excise system. The Bengal Government considered this question both in 1877 and in 1887, and declined to entertain the proposal. In this province there are now several advocates of the system, viz.:- (1) Hon'ble D. R. Lyall, C.S.I., Member, Board of Revenue, (17) Mr. K. G. Gupta, Excise Commissioner, (13) Mr. H. C. Williams, Collector, (12) Mr. A. C. Tute, Collector, (11) Mr. F. H. B. Skrine, Collector, (33) Mr. R. H. Renny, Deputy Commissioner, (30) Mr. A. E. Harward, Officiating Collector, and seven other official and non-official witnesses. And Mr. Nolan, Commissioner, (7), though he is averse to the idea of a Government monopoly, advocates the establishment of a single centre for the whole of India from which the sypply of ganja should be issued, its production being prohibited in all other place; and adds that the wants of all India could be supplied from Naogaon. It is almost needless to say that if such a proposal were entertained, the monopoly of supply must rest with the Government, and the Commission are by no means inclined to think that the arrangement would be a good one.
Existing systems described
Systems of excise in the various provinces.
591. The various systems of excise administration obtaining in the different provinces have been described in the memoranda which are published in Vol. III Appendices. A brief notice of these systems will be reproduced here, and the question how far they fulfil the conditions of the policy above noted will then be discussed.
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).
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.
The figure given as the maximum for ganja in the Central Provinces is not the true maximum. It is "the average retail price in most districts for small quantities of ganja." The maximum must, therefore, be higher. In Jubbulpore, the Commission found that in some shops ganja was selling at Rs. 12 per sér. The maximum for the province is not available. A maximum quotation of 4 annas per tola, equal to Rs. 20 per sér, is given for Ganjam in Madras: this may be Rajshahi ganja. Bhang is said to reach a maximum price of Rs. 10 per sér in the same district. In Malabar, Vellore ganja is said to reach 4 annas per tola, but the maximum price in North Arcot is 4 pies. Wynaad ganja in the same district is said to reach a maximum price of 2 annas per tola. With these exceptions, no district shows a higher maximum price than that given in the statement. It is evident that if the systematic treatment advocated by the Commission is to be applied, some means must be taken, especially in regard to ganja, of removing the extraordinary inequalities disclosed by this comparison. Up to year 1892-93, notwithstanding the high price of Rajshahi ganja, the cost of the daily average allowance of liquor to the habitual consumer in Bengal is, according to the memorandum, much higher than in the case of ganja. Judged by this test, there is room even in Bengal for increased taxation. A fortiori is this the case in other provinces except Assam. No doubt the quality of the drug varies in different provinces, but there is nothing in the analysis of the different kinds of ganja which points to such marked discrepancies in the price. And the general conclusion which must be drawn from these figures is that in all the provinces, except Bengal and Assam, taxation is totally inadequate to the due restriction of consumption. The same may be said of charas. As regards bhang, many witnesses are of opinion that there is no need to impose the same restrictions upon its consumption as in the case of ganja and charas, and the difficulty of doing so in the Himalayan region is considerable. But the Commission concur with the majority of the witnesses in thinking that the same general principles apply, and that, so far as may be possible, this product of the hemp plant should be brought under more efficient control and taxation.
In Bengal the limit fixed by Bengal Act VII of 1878 is as follows:— Ganja or bhang, or any preparation or admixture of the same 1/4 sér. Charas, or any preparation or admixture of the same 5 tolas. There are several witnesses who recommend the reduction of the maximum for ganja to 5 tolas; and, though the subject has not been noticed by any very high authority, the majority of these witnesses are men of special experience in excise matters. As regards ganja imported from the Orissa Tributary Mahals, the Bengal Government has authority under the Act to fix a lower maximum, and it has accordingly fixed 5 tolas.
Per cent. 1860 to 1867 45.4 1868 to 1870 34.7 It has been said that some ganja has been grown lately in this province. The cultivation should be at once checked." A copy of these remarks, together with the opinions of local officers, civil and medical, was sent to the Government of India in reply to the enquiry. There is very little in the opinions which goes to establish the injuriousness of the drugs, and it may therefore be taken that Sir Ashley Eden's strong expression of opinion embodies the reasons for which the Government of India concurred in absolute prohibition which was enforced from the beginning of the year 1873-74. Apparently Sir Ashley Eden relied largely upon the statistics of the Dacca Lunatic Asylum for his opinion. The arguments to be derived from these statistics have been considerably modified by the Commission's investigations.
732...In 1889 the Bengal Government finally concluded that the experiment of entirely prohibiting cultivation must be abandoned as useless and inefficacious, and that the only way to prevent smuggling was to legalise importation under suitable regulations. Doubts were also entertained as to the real nature of Garhjat ganja. It was suggested that Garhjat ganja in a particular form was looked upon as an absolute necessary of life with certain influential classes in Puri, and that injury might be done by encouraging the use of the strong Rajshahi drug in place of the milder local article. The Government after some hesitation arrived at the distinct conclusion that Garhjat ganja was taken as a drink and not smoked, and that it was "on a different footing altogether from the well known deleterious drug imported from Rajshahi." It was accordingly proposed to legalise the importation of Garhjat ganja at a duty of eight annas a sér (the rate prevailing in Bengal for bhang), and at the same time the orders prohibiting cultivation, whether within the three miles limit or not, were withdrawn.
In 1890, after further consideration and with fuller information on the subject, the Bengal Government altered the opinion they had formed that Garhjat ganja was merely a form of bhang, and arrived at the contrary conclusion, viz., that Garhjat ganja is a true ganja like the Rajshahi article, but inferior, and that it is used for smoking exactly as that drug is. The Government of India were accordingly requested to sanction a duty of Rs. 2-8-0 a sér on Garhjat ganja, which was done.
Summary
741....With a view to bringing the systems in different parts of India into harmony with these conclusions and generally improving the administration, the Commission have made the following suggestions:-
(a) That in Bengal Government warehouses for the storage of ganja should be constructed in Rajshahi (Chapter XVI, paragraph 643).
(b) That, subject to this addition, the Bengal system of ganja administration should be generally followed in the Central Provinces, Madras, Bombay, Berar, and possibly in Ajmere and Coorg (Chapter XVI, paragraphs 656, 671, 672, and 673).
Memorandum on hemp drugs in Bengal, by Mr. K. G. Gupta, Commissioner of Excise, Bengal.
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.
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:
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:—
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.
Appendix A.
(see paragraph 30 of Memorandum)
Brief historical sketch of the modes of taxation of ganja.
It is noteworthy that the manufacture and vend of "charas" (as well as that of madak) were prohibited by section 8 of this Regulation as "being of a most noxious quality." Unlicensed sale of intoxicating drugs was again prohibited by section 17 of Regulation X of 1813, and vendors were enjoined to pay a daily tax for their licenses. The sale of charas was again prohibited.
5. From the beginning of British rule up to the year 1853, hemp-drugs were taxed by means of a daily rate on its retail sale, and it appears from section 4 of Regulation VI of 1800 that it was paid monthly and on the last day of each month of the Bengali (ir fasli) year. With the introduction of the farming system in 1821, it was usual to farm out the excuse revenue of entire districts. This continued till 1847.
(Settlements - Ganja - clauses 16 to 20.)
"17. Retail vendors will pay their tax at such fixed intervals, not exceeding twice a month, as the Collector may determine, under passes or delivery orders which will be granted by the Collector to the extent specified in their pattahs."
"18. If any extra quantity be required, a pass or order for such extra quantity will be granted on payment of duty at the rate of one rupee per seer."
"19. No tax oe fee in excess of the one rupee per seer will be required from retail vendors. The settlement of the ganja mahal will thus be on the same principle as that of the spirit mahal under the sadar distillery suystem, the license specifying the quantity of ganja to which the retail vendor is entitled at the rate of one rupee per seer, with the privilege of taking further supplies under extra passes on payment of extra duty."
"20. Ganja vendors who are unable to dispose, within the month, of the whole quantity of ganja to which thier jama entitle them, may be permitted to draw the balance in the succeeding month without further payment of duty."
7. The fixed duty contimued up to 1860-61, or for about seven years, when a fixed fee of Rs. 4 per mensem was prescribed for each ganja license in addition to the duty at the prescribed rate on all quantities passed to the shop for retail sale, the previous rule regarding the quantity to be taken by each shop being at the same time withdrawn. A revised form of ganja license, necessitated by these changes, was issued with the Board's circular order No. 26 of 1st June 1860.
FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION ON EXAMINATION OF THE ALLEGED HEMP DRUG INSANITY CASES OF 1892.
(1) Dallunda. (p. 22-39.)
I.—Bengal.—Taking the information collected in the asylums, supplemented by that collected in the further inquiries, it will be well to consider for each asylum how many cases there are in which hemp drugs in any form may be reasonably accepted as the sole cause, or at least a contributing cause, of the insanity. We take first the asylums of Bengal. In the returns of 1892 for the Dallunda Asylum, i.e., the Calcutta Native Asylum, there were eighteen cases attributed to hemp drugs in 1892; of these ten cases must be rejected. These may be first considered. Case No. 1—(Matabadai Goala).—In this case the Superintendent is of opinion that the man "was always of weak mind and probably of melancholic habit." There is no evidence that the man began to use the drug before he was insane. The history shows that he began to use the drug at the same time as he showed signs of insanity. This fact, though noted in the history, has been overlooked by the Superintendent. Case No. 2— (Rudra N. Bhattacharjee).—We have here a history of progressive mental deterioration, beginning before he began to use ganja and continued steadily in his history both before admission to the asylum and since. The Superintendent accordingly rejects this case. Case No. 3—(Uttam Singh).—The Superintendent says, "I do not think that this was a case of ganja insanity, but one of recurrent mania: cause unknown." There is no evidence that hemp drugs had anything to do with causing the first attack in May 1892; and that drug had certainly nothing to do with the similar attack in August. Case No. 5—(Ramlall Goala).—The Superintendent says, "I consider this to be a case of recurrent mania which has now become continuous and chronic. I do not think that ganja had anything to do with this man's mental disease." The man had apparently no friends, and the asylum papers indicate that the entry in the descriptive roll regarding the alleged ganja habit was based on the fact that the lunatic said "he took ganja." Nothing further has been learned about him; but the Superintendent merely quotes the old opinion regarding his habits in explanation of the entry of ganja as the cause in the asylum registers. This opinion, as already pointed out, was based on a statement made by the man while yet insane. Case No. 10—(Lallji Das).—The further inquiry shows that this was practically a readmission. The man had previously been admitted into the asylum on three occasions before 1892. The evidence regarding the connection between hemp drugs and this particular outbreak of insanity is conflicting and unsatisfactory. It is not the evidence of any one who knew the man well. On the other hand, there are at least two outbreaks with which these drugs could have had no connection. It does not appear why Lallji (if now sane) was not examined as to his own history. Case No. 12—(Balak Chutar).—There is nothing to connect this case with ganja except an entry in the descriptive roll. The man is still demented. The Superintendent says, "I cannot think that this man's insanity was in any way caused by hemp drugs. It appears to me to be the result of imperfect development." No further information could be obtained about him. His relatives cannot be traced. Case No. 15—(Chotu alias Motee).—There is no evidence that this man ever indulged in hemp drugs, but clear evidence to the contrary. The Superintendent, who had formerly accepted the police view, rejects it now on further inquiry. Case No. 16—(Nizamuddin).—There is no evidence of any one at all that this man ever took a single dose of hemp, and he himself denies it. The Commission cannot accept the Superintendent's view as to probability for which no ground is assigned. Case No. 17—(Poran Patro).—The evidence collected in the further inquiry shows that this man was "not a ganja smoker." His father was a lunatic, so that there was hereditary predisposition. "Sudden grief," which is now assigned as the exciting cause, would be quite an adequate cause in such a case. The Superintendent's suggestion of the possibility of the man's having "taken to ganja or other stimulant to assuage his grief" is unsupported by any evidence. Case No. 18—(Mahadeo Chamar).—This man was arrested on 22nd December 1892. He was sane when admitted to the asylum on the 26th idem. The papers disclose no sign of insanity after an act of violence on the 23rd idem. There is therefore no proof of mental alienation lasting over 24 hours. The Superintendent's view that this was a case of intoxication, and not insanity, is therefore accepted. There are three cases in which the abuse of hemp drugs, though one of the possible causes, is not the sole cause of insanity. These cases may be taken as "mixed" cases— Case No. 7—(Mihir Lal Dey).—This man was addicted to liquor as well as ganja. The Superintendent's opinion is that "this man's insanity was due more to excess of alcohol than anything else." Case No. 8—(Nafir Chandra Dey).—In this case we have an indication of heredity in the fact that his "younger sister and cousin are insane." We have also clear proof of the liquor habit and of sexual excess as well as of the abuse of ganja. Case No. 14—(Hari Mohan Chatterji).—The father of this young man stated that he "is constantly smoking ganja and drinking wine, brandy and bhang." There remain five cases which may be accepted as being, so far as is known, due to hemp drugs alone— Case No. 4—(Shama Charan Kar).—This man was not insane when admitted into the asylum. But further inquiry into his previous history affords sufficient ground for attributing this attack, as well as a previous attack, of temporary insanity to the abuse of ganja. Case No. 6—(Guru Parshad).—This man was quite sane in the asylum. There can be no doubt that he habitually used ganja; and as there is no other apparent cause, this has been accepted as the cause of his temporary insanity on this as well as on a previous occasion. Case No. 9—(Ramkissen Panda).—The statement of the descriptive roll that the man was addicted to ganja and siddhi is corroborated by his own statement after he recovered his reason. This is a reasonably probable cause of his temporary insanity. Case No. 11—(Mongla alias Mahomed Syad).—In this case we have a history of opium (not in the form of "chandu" as stated by the Superintendent) and ganja, and no other apparent cause for the insanity. Ill-health may have rendered the man more susceptible to the effects of ganja. Case No. 13—(Fatteh Ram Singh).—In this case there is a clear history of ganja and no other established cause. Thus in the Dallunda Asylum out of the eighteen cases shown as hemp drug cases in 1892, we have ten which are rejected, three that are "mixed" cases, and five that seem due to hemp. These conclusions are based on a consideration of the information collected in the asylum and in the further enquiry and of Dr. Walsh's evidence before the Commission.
(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.
Reports from Dacca Lunatic Asylum.
NOTE ON CASES OF INSANITY ATTRIBUTED TO THE USE OF HEMP DRUGS ADMITTED INTO THE DACCA LUNATIC ASYLUM DURING 1892.
(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.
Report of Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Russell, Superintendent of the Dacca Lunatic Asylum, submitting further information regarding the Hemp Drug cases of 1892.
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.
Reports from Berhampore Lunatic Asylum.
CASE NO. 7. Copy of a letter No. 208 Crl., dated Nawadah, the 21st May 1894, from the SubDivisional Officer, Nawadah, to the Magistrate of Gya. WITH reference to your Memo. No. 1051, dated the 4th May 1894, directing an enquiry to be made in regard to the cause of insanity of one Hari Das, lunatic, I have the honour to submit the following result of my enquiry about the matter. 1. Sardari Koiri, aged 35 years. 2. Somer Koiri, aged 40 years. 3. Gango Sonar, aged 45 years. 2. I had sent for the relatives of the alleged lunatic at first, but it was reported that there were none alive among them in the village, so I had to send for a few of his next-door neighbours who appeared before me to-day and gave the following accounts of his habits. Their names are noted in the margin. They appear to be intelligent and reliable. 3. They say that the lunatic Hari Das was formerly called Dhamri Dhanook and was by caste a Dhanook. His parents had died long before he became insane. He first became insane about 15 years ago and was sent to the lunatic asylum by name of Damri. He returned from the asylum on his recovery after two years' confinement, and lived at his native village for about 7 years in sound health and mind. During these seven years he passed for a sadhu and designated himself as Hari Das. It is also alleged that when residing at his village during this period of seven years, he once committed theft and was imprisoned for two years. On his return from the jail he returned to his house and again passed for a sadhu and lived on begging. It is about six years that they saw that he went with his younger son, Sheo Charn, to Sahibganj, Kajrote, in Bhagalpur, where the latter was married and that they heard nothing of him since then. 4. They state further that before Hari Das went mad, he used to smoke ganja only once a day, but on his return from the lunatic asylum he began to smoke twice a day, and that he never used bhang. They further state that the alleged lunatic Hari Das was not insane in reality, but that he pretended to be so in order to cover his misdoings. According to them, the use of hemp drugs was not the real cause of his insanity as he used them very moderately, neither was he subjected to any sad affliction, which might have been the cause of his insanity. 5. As stated above, his father died some 25 years ago; his mother died two years later, and his wife died some ten years ago; his first son, named Shankar Dhanook, was punished for theft, and it is not known where he is at present. It appears that Hari Das has been confined in the Lunatic Asylum for a second time and was sent there by the Magistrate of Bhagalpur. 6. The form annexed with your letter under reply is returned herewith. Case No. 11. The record in the Sessions case, Empress vs. Purna Chandra Rishi, has been perused. Seven witnesses speak to the madness of the prisoner since Asar; but not one mentions ganja or bhang. The prisoner's mother (whom he had wounded) said: "Purna's two sons had died before the occurrence. He also lost his son-in-law. Since Asar Purna had become like a mad man." His cousin (son of the woman he killed) said: "I cannot say why he became mad. He had two sons, one of whom died. He never had any son-in-law." No other witness was asked about the cause of insanity, and the Judge does not refer to it. The Civil Surgeon of Jessore said: "I had the prisoner under observation for some time, and observed his mental condition during the time, and I came to the conclusion that he was a weak-minded and somewhat demented individual. He seemed perfectly harmless. But on hearing that he had committed such great crimes, I am of opinion that he is not harmless, and that he has probably temporary fits of mania." He said nothing about the cause of insanity.
Reports from Cuttack Lunatic Asylum
Notes from experts
MEMO. BY BRIGADE-SURGEON-LIEUTENANT-COLONEL G. KING, M.B., L.L.D., F.R.S., C.I.E., DIRECTOR OF BOTANICAL SURVEY OF INDIA.
1. The plant familiarly known as Indian hemp (Cannabis sativa, L.) is really wild in no part of British India. But in all parts of India, and also in Upper Burma, plants of it may be found growing without cultivation near villages and gardens where hemp is at present, or has in former times been cultivated. In botanical phraseology, hemp is found in India, not as an indigenous plant, but as an escape from cultivation. 2. By physical conditions, I understand soil and climate. As regards soil, the drug yielding variety is (as I am informed by Dr. Prain) grown on a large scale, and as a regular crop, only in Rajshahve, in some parts of the tributary mehals of Orissa, and in some parts of Central India. The soils of the tracts where it is so grown have not, so far as I am aware, been analysed chemically; physically they are known to be friable and well drained. Soil, however, does not appear to be a matter of much importance in the growth of the resin yielding hemp. For, with careful cultivation, it can, I understand, be grown as a garden crop in any part of India. At elevations below 2,000 feet, the difficulty of cultivation is very slight; from 2,000 to probably 9,000 feet there is no difficulty whatever. At higher elevations than the latter it does not appear to be much grown. As regards climate there is little to be said beyond that a period of continuous dry weather, extending over three or four months of the year, is essential, and that temperatures like those prevailing in the middle zone of elevation in the North-Western Himalaya appear to be the most favourable for the development of the drug.
REPORTS BY MR. B. C. BASU, ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND RECORDS AND AGRICULTURE, BENGAL, ON THE SPONTANEOUS GROWTH OF THE WILD HEMP PLANT IN THE DISTRICTS OF BHAGALPUR AND PURNEA.
With reference to your letter No. 333, dated 29th ultimo, I have the honour, in the absence of Mr. W. C. Macpherson, Officiating Director of Land Records and Agriculture, on tour, to submit the following report on the spontaneous growth of the wild hemp plant in the districts of Bhagalpur and Purnea. The statements contained in this report are based on my personal observations and enquiries conducted in different parts of these districts. For this purpose I visited a large number of villages in Purnea and north Bhagalpur. I was informed by the Excise Deputy Collector of Bhagalpur and other gentlemen whom I had the opportunity of consulting on the subject that the bhang plant grows rarely on the hard reddish soil of the South Gangetic division of the Bhagalpur district, and for this reason, and also on account of the extremely short time within which I was required to submit my report, I was obliged to leave this tract of country out of the scope of my enquiries. 2. The prevailing soil of north Bhagalpur and of Purnea is of a more or less sandy character and of a light grey colour; loamy soils are occasionally found in the low rice lands, and clay soils are practically unknown. The different parts of these districts suffer unequally from floods. Some tracts enjoy complete immunity from floods; some are inundated only during short periods when the rivers rise very high, and even then a considerable area of each village remains above water, while in others the villages are completely inundated by water on all sides during the entire rainy season, the houses alone with little bits of elevated land adjoining thereto remaining above water. I tried to extend my enquiries to every typical tract of country in north Bhagalpur and Purnea, and I trust that what I have said below with regard to the spontaneous growth of the bhang plant will apply equally to the whole of these districts. 3. There appears to be some confusion about the right use of the terms "alluvial lands," "dearah" and " chur lands." "Alluvial land" is a very general term which applies equally to all lands that have been formed by the silting action of water. In fact, it includes almost the whole of Bengal proper and Bihar. By "dearah" or "chur" (which terms are synonymous) is meant land that is still in course of formation by fresh deposits of silt from a river which actually flows over it during the rains. It is unlike land which is inundated with the spill water of a river carrying with it little or no silt, and thus derives little addition or benefit from the inundation. In course of time, dearah lands may be sufficiently raised to get beyond the reach of ordinary floods; villages are settled on them, and gradually they lose their destructive character and merge into old alluvial lands. 4. The points on which the Commission have desired for information are: (1) The circumstances under which the hemp plant grows wild in those districts ? (2) If it grows on land that is submerged, for how long a period is such land submerged ? 5. To the second question I may reply at once that the plant will never grow in land that remains submerged under water during the rains. The floods of the Kosi come with sudden violence, so that it occasionally happens that the waters have reached the angiuas or quadrangles of the houses, and people have to wade through water in moving from one house to another. But this state of things ordinarily lasts for a day or two, and seldom for so long a period as seven days. The same is true of the floods of the Ganges, though they do not occur or subside with such suddenness as those of the Kosi. Bhang may grow on lands which undergo such short submersions, but I am satisfied that it will never grow on land that remains longer under water. The plant is essentially a weed of high and dry land. 6. I am not surprised that the evidence laid before the Commission was discrepant as to the question whether wild hemp grows on submerged lands or on the higher lands above the reach of floods. Very few of the villagers whom I questioned seemed to have any definite idea on the subject, some averring that hemp seed remaining in the soil retains its vitality for an indefinite time even when submerged under water, and that it sprouts as soon as the soil has become sufficiently dry after the subsidence of the flood, while others allege that the seed is bound to lose its germinating power under prolonged submersion. The following facts which I observed would, however, appear to lend support to what I have said above:— First.-The class of land on which the hemp plant grows in Purnea and Bhagalpur, as will appear later on, precludes entirely the possibility of long submersion under water. Secondly.—The plant is very often found to grow on the upper edges of deep ditches and other hollows which remain more or less full of water during the rains, but in no single instance could I discover a hemp plant growing on their bottoms and slopes which were nevertheless crowded with numerous weeds characteristic of a water-logged soil. The fact that the bhang plant grows in the greatest profusion and with the greatest luxuriance in those villages which suffer most from floods has doubtless given rise to the impression that it grows on land that remains under water for a long time. 7. The range of the plant being confined to the higher lands of villages above the ordinary flood level, it must not be imagined that it grows on every description of such lands. In fact the conditions under which it grows appear to me to be extremely simple. As a rule, it is confined to land in the immediate vicinity of the raiyats' homesteads. Such land is usually called dihisar in Purnea and Bhagalpur, and is naturally the richest in the village. It receives the dropping of the raiyats' cattle, which are kept tethered on it, as well as all kinds of house refuse and sweepings. It is almost invariably cropped with mustard and tobacco crops, which never flourish except on rich soil. In those villages, however, which suffer most from floods, the extent of such land is limited, and what little there is of it is seldom cultivated, but is used as standing room for the raiyats' cattle during the rains, and is left bare during the rest of the year. It would thus appear that a rich soil is essentially necessary for the growth of the hemp plant, and such soil is never found at a distance from the village site; the plant is practically confined to the immediate neighbourhood of the raiyats' homesteads. 8. I have said that wild hemp is generally associated with tobacco and mustard. The cultivation of these crops seems to afford conditions which are eminently favourable to the growth of bhang, and which are not afforded by the cultivation of any other crops grown in those districts. In the first place, the soils on which tobacco and mustard are grown are rich in manure, while the outlying fields, which grow different kinds of bhadoi and rabi crops (e.g., paddy, marua, indigo, rahar, etc., during the rains and kurthi, barley, gram, lentils, etc., during the cold weather), are never manured. In the second place, dihisar lands which bear tobacco or mustard are left wihout tillage till May or June, by which time the hemp plants have dried up and shed their seeds; these lands are invariably kept fallow during the rains for the benefit of the succeeding tobacco or mustard crop, and the raiyats being too busy with the cultivation and sowing of indigo, bhadoi, paddy and other rain crops, have no time to attend to the tillage of the dihisar lands until May or June. The outlying fields are, however, broken up after the first shower in Magh (January-February), and the hemp plant, even if it could once find a footing on such lands, would be eradicated before it had a chance of shedding its seeds. I have also noticed that the hemp plant grows at its best in the higher parts of sloping fields. On deserted house sites, a most favourable resort of this weed, it grows more luxuriantly over the top of the mounds than on the sides, and better over the sides than at the bottom. These facts would show that the plant affects well-drained soil and cannot bear a soil which remains over-charged with water for a long time. This may also account for the absence of bhang from outlying fields from which water does not flow off so readily as from homestead lands. 9. I found bhang growing most luxuriantly in those villages which are reduced to the state of little islands during the rainy season. These villages contain large areas of waste land which afford pasturage to enormous herds of buffaloes and cows during the cold and hot weather; and cattle-breeding is a regular profession with the villagers. The dihisar lands are used as buthan, or standing ground for the cattle, and thus get abundantly manured with cattle dung. The washings from these lands flow over the alleys and ditches in the village, and as there is little or no cultivation at any time of the year, every bit of bare ground, which is otherwise suited, is covered with a luxuriant mass of wild hemp as soon as the cold weather has set in. 10. The soil on which the bhang plant grows in Purnea and North Bhagalpur is invariably of a sandy character; in fact, as I have said before, there is little else but sandy soil in these districts in particular on the higher lands which form the village site. The hemp plant is known to require a loose sandy soil and a moist climate, both of which conditions are offered by the district of Purnea and the northern half of the Bhagalpur District. I cannot also help believing that the negligent character of the prevalent system of cultivation encourages the growth and spread of bhang. Thus I found that although tobacco is very largely grown in Purnea, very little care is bestowed on keeping the crop free from weeds. The young seedlings are transplanted early in Kartik, and after two or three weeks, that is, about the end of Kartik, the soil is lightly stirred up with a hoe, and bhang and all other. weeds are removed. Beyond this single cleaning, few cultivators would attempt to check the fresh growth of weeds. A fresh crop of bhang comes up in a short time and overspreads the field. It is in fact said that bhang comes up anew after each weeding during the cold weather, the roots throw up fresh shoots, and there are always some seeds in the soil ready for germination at any time during the cold weather as soon as circumstances permit. In North Bengal and in parts of Central Bengal, where tobacco forms a staple crop, the raiyat would never allow a single weed to appear in his tobacco field until the crop is actually reaped, and however favourable the conditions of soil and climate may be, it is certain that the bhang plant can never obtain a footing on land so carefully cultivated. 11. I have so far dealt with the circumstances under which the wild hemp plant grows spontaneously in Purnea and Bhagalpur. It is clear that the plant is never found on land that remains long under water, that it is as a rule found on homestead lands, such as are either cropped with mustard and tobacco, or are used as bathan for cattle. 12. There can be no doubt that Government is now foregoing what may prove to be an important source of excise revenue owing to the free use of bhang in those districts where the hemp plant grows in a state of nature, and, what is more serious is that no attempt is made to check the use of this noxious drug. The working man often stands in need of ganja, but bhang is the beverage of the comparatively well-to-do and lazy classes, and it is only reasonable that they should be called on to pay their share of taxation instead of altogether escaping from it, as is the case at present in many of the districts of North Behar. I have considered the possibility of exterminating the wild bhang plant, and if this can be done, as I believe it can, bhang may be grown under the same restrictions as ganja is at present cultivated in Rajshahi. I have said that the plant grows very seldom at a distance from the raiyats' houses, so that if the responsibility for eradicating the plant is thrown upon the immediate occupier of lands, I have little doubt that the weed can beexterminated in the course of a few years. If the plant grow like many other weeds in all circumstances of soil and situations, its extermination would be a work of great difficulty; but, confined as it is to lands immediately adjoining the raiyats' homesteads, its eradication need not entail undue hardship on the cultivators. The plant comes up in November and occupies the soil till May, and although each weeding causes fresh plants to come up, yet two or three weedings given in succession cannot fail to free the land for the year from this noxious weed. The point to be insisted upon is that the. plants should never be allowed to flower and seed. The seeds of the plant are easily carried from place to place; they are easily transported by wind and water, and cattle and goats, which occasionally browse on bhang, may drop seeds with their excrements in fields that may be previously free from the pest. The total extermination of the plant may therefore require several years of determined and continued effort. Efforts have been made from time to time to exterminate wild hemp in several police circles through the agency of village chowkidars, but they were of an extremely desultory character and consequently failed to produce the desired effect. In case it be decided to have the plant exterminated, I may suggest that an experiment may be made in a small isolated tract of country for two or three years in order to see if the plant can be wholly destroyed by a continued course of eradication.
In continuation of my letter No. 1258-A., dated the 18th instant, I have the honour to submit, for the information of the Commission, the following facts which came to my notice in the course of my enquiries with regard to the spontaneous growth of the wild hemp plant in Purnea and North Bhagalpur. 2. 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 plant 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. As a rule, the people of these districts could not distinguish between male and female plants, the leaves of both being used as bhang, but one man pointed out to me a plant which was a female and said that this class of plants produced the best drug. It is not uncommon to see a few selected plants, mostly females, left on the ground; these acquire a nice bushy appearance, not unlike that of the ganja-bearing plant. All this made me suspect that the people knew a great deal more about the bhang plant than they were willing to avow. 3. I was told by several persons, among them a European gentleman who has long resided in North Bhagalpur, that bhang is often used to adulterate ganja. I am unable to vouch for the accuracy of the statement, but if it be true it will furnish a strong argument in favour of the extermination of the hemp plant from those districts in which it grows spontaneously at present. 4. Besides yielding the intoxicant drug the wild hemp plant is used in Purnea and North Bhagalpur as fuel, and occasionally, though seldom, the green plants are twisted in the absence of other materials at hand into a rough sort of rope for binding bundles of wheat and barley and carrying them from the field to the threshing-floor.
NOTE BY MR. G. A. GRIERSON, C.I.E., MAGISTRATE AND COLLECTOR,. HOWRAH, ON REFERENCES TO THE HEMP PLANT OCCURRING IN SANSKRIT AND HINDI LITERATURE.
I have the honour to state that I have searched through all the Sanskrit and Hindi books accessible to me, and to forward the accompanying note on the references to the hemp plant occurring in the literatures of those languages. I have met the hemp plant in Sanskrit and Hindi literature under various names. The principal are— (1) Bhanga. (2) Indraçana. (3)Vijaya or Jaya. The earliest mention of the word ganja which I have noted is dated about the year 1300 A.D. Whenever the word vijaya is used, it is doubtful whether the hemp plant is meant, or the yellow myrobolan, as the word means both. The name bhanga occurs in the Atharvaveda (say, B.C. 1400). The hemp plant is there mentioned simply as a sacred grass. Panini (say, B.C. 300) mentions the pollen of the hemp flower( bhanga). In the commencement of the sixth century we find the first mention of vijaya which I have noted. It is a sacred grass, and probably means here the hemp plant. The first mention of bhanga as a medicine which I have noted is in the work of Suçruta (before the eighth century A.D.), where it is called an antiphlegmatic. During the next four centuries bhanga (feminine) frequently occurs in native Sanskrit dictionaries in the sense of hemp-plant. In the tenth century the intoxicating nature of bhang seems to have been known: and the name Indraçana, Indra's food, first appears, so far as I know, in literature. Its intoxicating power was certainly known in the beginning of the fourteenth century. In a play written in the beginning of the sixteenth century, it is mentioned as being consumed by jogis (Çaiva mendicants). It is there named "Indra's food." In later medical works it is frequently mentioned under various names. I append a more detailed account of the passages in which I have noted the uses of the Indian hemp. I may add that I have not traced in literature any difference between the uses of the word ganja and of the word bhanga, though modern kavirajas tell me that they are distinct plants. Cir. B.C. 1400. In the Atharraveda (cir. 1400 B. C.) the bhang plant is mentioned (11, 6, 15) once:— "We tell of the five kingdoms of herbs headed by Soma; may it and kuça grass, and bhanga and barley, and the herb saha release us from anxiety." Here reference is evidently made to the offering of these herbs in oblations. Cir. B. C. 300. The grammarian Panini (5,2 ,2 9) mentions bhangakata, the pollen of the hemp flower, as one of his examples. The fact that the pollen of this special flower was quoted is worth noting. A. D. 504. Varahamihira in his Brihatsamhita (XLVIII, 39) mentions vijaya as used with other grasses in the rites of the Pusya, bathing festival. Vijaya in this passage certainly means some plant or other. The word may mean either the Indian hemp-plant or be a synonym of haritaki (the yellow myrobolan). Dr. Hœrnle informs me that in the oldest medical works the word is explained by commentators in the latter sense. It is doubtful what meaning we are to adopt here. The word may mean the hemp-plant bhanga. In the passage from the Atharvaveda, already quoted, amongst the five plants special honoured as oblations, bhanga is closely connected with the herb saha. So also in the Brihatsamhita, vijaya is mentioned as one of a long list of plants to be used in the offering, and the very next plant mentioned is saha, which is apparently the same as saha. This would encourage the theory that the vijaya of the Brihatsamhita was more probably the same as the bhanga of the Atharvaveda. Before the eighth century. In Suçruta (Ut. XI, 3) Bhanga is recommended together with a number of other drugs as an antiphlegmatic. Vijaya is mentioned in the same work as a remedy for catarrh accompanied by diarrhœa (Ut. XXIV, 20, and Ut. 39, page 415, 20), as an ingredient in a prescription for fever arising from an excess of bile and phlegm. In these two passages, however, vijaya is probably an equivalent of haritaki, the yellow myrobolan, and does not mean hemp. Cir. A. D. 500. Tenth or eleventh century. Twelfth century. In the various kosas, or dictionaries, bhanga is frequently mentioned as meaning the hemp plant. Thus,— (1) Amarakosa, 2, 9, 20. (2) Trikandaçesa, 3, 364. (3) Hemacandra's Anekarthakosa, 2, 37. (4) Hemakandra's Abhidhanacintamani, 1179. Twelfth century. The Sarasundari (date not known to me), a commentary on the Amarakosa mentioned above, by Mathureça, and quoted in the Çabdakalpadruma, mentions that the seed of the bhanga plant is the size of that of millet (kalaya). Cir. 1050 A.D. Cakrapanidatta is said to have flourished under Nayapala, a prince who reigned in the eleventh century A.D. In his Çabdacandrika, a medical vocabulary, he gives the following Sanskrit names for bhang:— (1) Vijaya (victorious), (2) Trailokyavijaya (victorious in the three worlds), (3) bhanga, (4) Indraçana (Indra's food), (5) Jaya (victorious). These names seem to show that its use as an intoxicant was then known. A.D. 1300. The Rajanighantu of Narahari Pandita adds the following names to those given by Cakrapanidatta in the Çabdacandrika, above mentioned:— (6) Virapattra (hero-leaved or the leaf of heroes), (7) Ganja, (8) Capala (the light-hearted), (9) Ajaya (the unconquered), (10) Ánanda, (the joyful), (11) Harsini (the rejoicer), and adds that the plant possesses the following qualities:— (1) Katutva (acridity); (2) kasayatra (astringency); (3) Usnatva (heat); (4) tiktatva (pungency); (5) vatakaphapahatva (removing wind and phlegm); (6) samgrahitva (astringency); (7) vakpradatva (speech-giving); (8) balyatva (strengthgiving); (9) medhakaritva (inspiring of mental power); (10) çresthadipanatva (the property of a most excellent excitant). Say A.D. 1500. The Çarngadhrasamhita, a medical work by Çarngadhara, the date of which is unknown, but which must have been compiled during the Muhammadan period of Indian History, specially mentions (1,4,19)1 bhanga as an excitant (vyavayin). In the same passage it mentions opium. A. D. 1500. The Dhurtasamagama, or "Rogues' Congress," is the name of an amusing if coarsely written farce of about the year 1500 A.D., the author of which was one Jyotiriça. In the second act two Çaiva mendicants came before an unjust judge, and demand a decision on a quarrel which they have about a nymph of the bazar. The judge demands payment of a deposit before he will give any opinion. One of the litigants says— "Here is my ganja bag; let it be accepted as a deposit." THE JUDGE (taking it pompously, and then smelling it greedily):—"Let me try what it is like (takes a pinch). Ah! I have just now got by the merest chance some ganja which is I quote the MS. in the Library of the A. S. B. soporific and corrects derangements of the humours, which produces a healthy appetite, sharpens the wits, and acts as an aphrodisiac." The word used for ganja in the above is Indraçana (Indra's food). Cir. A.D. 1600. The Bhavaprakaça, another medical work written by Bhavadevamiçra (cir. A.D. 1600),1 has as follows:— Bhanga gañja matulani madini vijaya jaya | Bhanga kaphahari tikta grahini pacani laghuh | Tiksosna pittala moka- -mada-vag-vahni-vardhini || "Bhanga is also called gañja, matulani, madini( the intoxicating), vjjaya (the victorious) and jaya (the victorious). It is antiphlegmatic, pungent, astringent, digestive, easy of digestion, acid, bile-affecting; and increases infatuation, intoxication, the power of the voice, and the digestive faculty." 17th century. "The Rajavallabha, a materia medica, by Narayanadasa kaviraja, the date of which I do not know, but which is quoted in the Çabdakalpadruma, and is believed to be ancient, has the following:— Çakra-'çanam tu tiksno-'snam moha-krit kustha-naçanam | Bala-medha-'gni-krit-çlesma- -dosa-hari rasayanam || Jata mandara-manthanaj jala-nidhaup iyusa-rupap ura| Trailokye vijaya-prade 'ti vijaya çri-devaraja-priya || Lokanam hita-kamyayak siti-tale-praptan araihk amada| Sarva-"t anka-vinaça-harsa-jananiy aihs evitas arvada. || "Indra's food (i.e., ganja) is acid, produces infatuation, and destroys leprosy. It creates vital energy, the mental powers, and internal heat, corrects irregularities of the phlegmatic humour, and is an elixir vitæ. It was originally produced, like nectar, from the ocean by the churning with Mount Mandara,2 and inasmuch as it gives victory in the three worlds, it, the delight of the king of the gods, is called vijaya, the victorious. This desire-fulfilling drug was obtained by men on the earth, through desire for the welfare of all people. To those who regularly use it it begets joy and destroys every anxiety." ?Date. The Rasapradhipa, a work, the date of which is unknown to me, and which is quoted in the Çabdakalpadruma mentions jaya, as a remedy for indigestion:— Ksaratrayam sutagandhou pancakolam idamç ubham| Sarvais tulya jaya bhrista tad-ardha çigruja jata || Natron, saltpetre and borax, mercury and sulphur, and the prosperous five spices (long pepper, its root, piper chaba, another pepper, and dry ginger). To these add an equal amount of parched jaya and half of that amount of horse-radish (moringa) and jata.3 It is not certain whether jaya here means bhang or Haritaki (yellow myrobolan). The word has both significations. The latter, perhaps, suits the formula best. ?Date. In the Rasaratna-samuccaya, a work written in the south of India, jaya is classified as a semi-poison,— Langoli visamustiç ca karaviro jaya tatha | Tilakahk anako' rkaçc a vargo hy upavisatmakah.|| Langali4 (Vanguiera spinosa), the root of the Nerium odorum, jaya( Symplocos racemosa) kanaka 5 and ak( a kind of Euphorbia), are semi-poisonous. 1According to Dutt "not before 1535 A.D." 2Nectar was produced in this fashion. 3The name of several plants; I do not know which is meant here. 4The name of several plants,—Jussisæa Repens, Hemionitis cordifolia, Rubia munjista, Hedysarum Lagopodioide. 5Said by a kaviraja to mean dhatura. 1400 A.D. Bhang is frequently mentioned by vernacular poets. The oldest instance with which I am acquainted is the well-known hymn by Vidyapati Thakur (1400 A.D.), in which he calls Çiva "Digambara bhanga," in reference to his habit of consuming that drug. According to an old Hindu poem, on which I cannot now lay my hands, Çiva himself brought down the bhang plant from the Himalayas and gave it to mankind. Jogis are well-known consumers of bhang and ganja, and they are worshippers of Çiva. In folk-songs, ganja or bhang (with or without opium) is the invariable drink of heroes before performing any great feat. At the village of Bauri in Gaya there is a huge hollow stone, which is said to be the bowl in which the famous hero Lorik mixed his ganja. Lorik was a very valiant general, and is the hero of numerous folk-songs. The epic poem of Alha and Rudal, of uncertain date, but undoubtedly based on very old materials (the heroes lived in the twelfth century A.D.), contains numerous references to ganja as a drink of warriors. For instance, the commencement of the canto dealing with Alha's marriage, describes the pestle and mortar with which the ganja was prepared, the amount of the intoxicating drink prepared from it (it is called sabzi) and the amount of opium (an absurdly exaggerated quantity) given to each warrior in his court. That the consumption of bhang is not considered disreputable among Rajputs may be gathered from the fact that Ajabes, who was court poet to the well-known Maharaja Bishwanath Singh of Riwa, wrote a poem praising bhang and comparing siddhi to the "success" which attends the worshipper of "Hari." Here there is an elaborate series of puns. The word siddhi means literally 'success,' and hari means not only the god Hari, but also bhang.
NOTE BY BABU ABHILAS CHANDRA MUKERJI, SECOND INSPECTOR OF EXCISE, BENGAL, ON THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF TRINATH WORSHIP IN EASTERN BENGAL.
Date of origin.—In 1867 Babu Ananda Chandra Kali or Kailai, of Dhamrai, a village in thana Sabhar of the Dacca district, first started the worship at the house of his father-inlaw at Fattehpur in the Atia pargana of the Mymensingh district (sub-division Tangail). Antecedents of the originator.—Dhamrai is an important village in the Dacca district noted for its car festival, which is annually held in honour of a local idol named Madhab Thakur, and which is witnessed by a large gathering of people. Ananda Chandra received education at the Dacca Normal School. After leaving school he served for some time as a pundit (schoolmaster), and then entered the Police Department, but was there only a short time. He is a Barendra Brahman and belongs to a respectable family. He learnt to smoke ganja when he was only a boy. His present age is 60 years, He has the reputation of being a versifier. He smokes two pice worth of ganja every day. He married at Fattehpur in the Mymensingh district. There he introduced Trinath worship 27 years ago. A panchali (poem) reciting the praises and exploits of Trinath was first published at Dacca in 1871 and the first edition (1,000 copies) was sold in a few months. The circumstances under which the worship wasf irsts tarted.—Ananda Chandra Kali was at the time living in the house of his father-in-law. He was thinking of introducing the worship of a common god, who might be worshipped by all classes, rich and poor, Brahman and Chandal, and by all creeds, Saktas, Baishnavas, and Shaivas, and the idea occurred to him of having the present worship at which ordinary and inexpensive things, such as ganja, oil, and betel-leaf, were alone to be used. Trinath (from Sanskrit Tri, three, and Nath, lord) is represented to be Brahma, Bishnu and Shiva, the Hindu Trinity in one. Being a ganja-smoker himself Ananda Kali may have also thought that by introducing the worship he would be able to save the ganja-smokers from disrepute, as then ganja could be consumed in the name of a god and under colour of doing a religious or pious act. Religious aspect of the worship.—The following translation of the Introduction to the Trinath Mela Panchali gives some idea of the subject:— "The universe consists of the earth, the heaven, and the nether world, and Trinath is the lord of these three worlds. "There was an incarnation of God in the form of Gour (Chaitanya), who delivered the sinners by preaching the name of Hari, but the Lord was not satisfied with this, and became concerned for the created, and soon he became incarnate again. Brahma, Bishnu and Shiva, gods in three forms, manifested themselves in one form. The one God, the Lord of the universe, seeing the miseries of mankind, came to their deliverance. Ananda (Ananda Chandra Kali, the originator) declares that the true and sincere worshippers of Trinath are sure to obtain salvation. Brahma, Bishnu, and Shiva met together and expressed their desire to come to this world in one form to receive worship. "He is a truly pious man who worships Trinath, and blessings are showered on the worshipper. "The worship should be made in a form in which the rich and the poor may equally join and may perform it easily. "Only three things, each worth one pice, are required for this puja (form of worship). The things which please all must be selected. The offering should consist of siddhi (ganja), pan (betel-leaf), and oil, each worth one pice. "The votaries should assemble at night and worship with flowers. The ganja should be washed in the manner in which people wash ganja for smoking. The worshipper must fill three chillums with equal quantities of ganja, observing due awe and reverence. When all the worshippers are assembled the lamp should be lit with three wicks, and the praises of Trinath should be sung. As long as the wicks burn, the god should be worshipped and his praises chanted. The god should be reverentially bowed to at the close of the puja. When the reading of the Panchali is finished, those that will not show respect to the Prasad (the offering which has been accepted by the god), i.e., chillum of ganja, shall be consigned to eternal hell, and the sincere worshippers shall go to heaven." How the worship spread.—Ananda Kali commenced the puja with the aid of some ganjasmokers in the village of Fattehpur. A large number of people consume ganja in the Dacca and Mymensingh districts, and the worship soon became popular. In fact it spread like wildfire from one village to another among the ganja-smokers. Those that were not in the habit of consuming ganja also followed their example. The following circumstances assisted the spread of the worship:— I.—The puja is open to all classes from Brahmans to Chandals and to the rich and the poor. Caste does not stand in its way, and it may be performed almost every day and in all seasons. II.—The puja is a Manasik Puja (made in pursuance of a vow on the fulfilment of the object desired). People have been led to believe that Trinath possesses the power of healing the sick and fulfilling desires, and that those who neglect his worship meet with disgrace, while those who observe it attain success in life. There are several stories in the Panchali narrated in illustration of this statement. It is also popularly believed that in the house where Trinath is worshipped cold, fever and headache do not appear. III.—This is a cheap form of worship. The puja can be performed by even the poorest, only three pice being required. IV.—People of the lowest class can mix with those above them without distinction of caste or creed on the occasion of these pujas. V.—Ganja can be consumed by all in the name of a god, and the practice cannot be looked down upon, because it is done under certain forms and religious ceremonies. It is also popularly believed that those who mock the worshippers of Trinath shall be ruined and shall be the victims of misfortune. The worship prevails not only among the poor, but also among the well-to-do. The latter often entertain their friends after the puja. Women do not take any active part in the worship, but they often listen to the reading of the Panchali. The worship is more or less general in the following districts:—(1) Dacca, (2) Mymensingh, (3) Faridpur, (4) Backergunge, (5) Noakhali, (6) Tippera, (7) Chittagong, (8) Bogra, (9) Sylhet, and (10) Pabna (Serajganj side). The worship is on the decline. It is almost dying out among the educated bhodrolokes, but among the masses it still exists. I have ascertained the above facts from Dr. Chandra Sekhar Kali (brother of the originator, Ananda Chandra Kali) and many other respectable persons, and also from personal enquiries in the Dacca, Chittagong and Rajshahi divisions.
REPORT BY SURGEON-CAPTAIN J. F. EVANS, CHEMICAL EXAMINER TO THE GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL, REGARDING PHYSIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS CONCERNING HEMP DRUGS
1. The description of the physiological action of the drug as tested by means of the alcoholic extract of the standard ganja in minimal doses. 2. Adoption of a certain quantity of this substance proportional to the body weight as a standard minimum dose. 3. The physiological testing of the other samples of ganja as compared with the standard ganja. Twenty-three administrations of the standard alcoholic extract were made before satisfactory minimum dose could be arrived at. One hundred and sixty-one administrations of the extract of the other hemp drugs were required in the work of testing their relative physiological properties. The animals utilised throughout were cats. The weights of the cats and of the required doses of the extracts were taken according to the Avoirdupois scale. The method of administration was as follows: The animal was first carefully weighed in a bag of known weight, and then the required dose calculated from its body weight. The dose of the alcoholic extract was weighed out in a tared capsule, dissolved in a little alcohol and made into an emulsion with starch, the spirit being subsequently driven off by heating the emulsion thus formed on the water-bath. The emulsion was introduced into the stomach by means of a syringe and a small œsophageal tube. Control experiments were made to test whether any portion of the effect produced might be due to alcohol retained in the emulsion. It will be seen from the record of the experiments that the amount of alcohol used produced no result when administered to cats. A limited number only of cats was obtainable, that is, of cats suitable for experiments of the kind required; for it was important that they should be fairly tame and docile, well nourished and, if females, not pregnant: pregnancy would interfere with the correct body weight. The same animals were in consequence repeatedly utilised, a sufficient interval being allowed to elapse between consecutive doses.
RESULTS
2. The percentage yield of alcoholic extract obtained in the above manner was as follows:
TABLE NO. I.
Percentage yield of alcoholic extract. Dose of the alcoholic extract required to produce effects equal to those induced by the minimum dose of the extract of the standard ganja.
It became evident, as the enquiry proceeded, that the same proportional dose could not be relied on to produce absolutely similar synptoms in different animals even of the same species. In different animals, even of the same species, the symptoms varied, not only in character, but also in degree. Further, the occurrence of symptoms of one kind either masked the occurrence or prevented the development of those of another.
Accordingly, the object aimed at was the discovery of the smallest proportional dose constantly attended by some definite physiological effect as opposed to marked physiological effect and without desiring to produce effects of a constant type in every instance. The first duty was evidently to obtain by experiment some definite conception of the physiological action of the drug in small doses that may be termed minimal, and the need for this will become more apparent when the somewhat varying character of its action is described. The account of the phsiological investigation is therefore naturally divided into -
2. Adoption of a certain quantity of this substance proportional to the body weight as a standard minimim dose.
3. The physiological testing of the other samples of ganja as compared with the standard ganja.
Twenty-three administrations of the standard alcoholic extract were made before satisfactory minimum dose could be arrived at. One hundred and sixty-one administrations of the extract of the other hemp drugs were required in the work of testing their relative physiological properties. The animals utilised throughout were cats.
The weights of the cats and of the required doses of the extracts were taken according to the Avoirdupois scale. The method of administration was as follows:-
The animal was first carefully weighed in a bag of known weight, and then the required dose calculated from its body weight. The dose of the alcoholic extract was weighed out in the tared capsule, dissolved in a little alcohol and made into an emulsion with starch, the spirit being subsequently driven off by heating the emulsion thus formed on the water-bath. The emulsion was introduced into the stomach by means of a syringe and a small oesophageal tube.
Control experiments were made to test whether any portion of the effect produced miight be due to alcohol retained in the emulsion. It will be seen from the record of the experiments that the amount of alcohol used produced no result when administered to cats.
A limited number only of cats were obtainable, that is, of cats suitable for experiments of the kind required; for it was impostant that they should be faily tame and docil, well nourished and, if females, not pregnant: pregnancy would interfere with the correct body weight. The same animals were in consequence repeatedly utilised, a sufficient interval being alloed to elapse between consecutive doses.
1. PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF THE DRUG AS TESTED BY MEANS OF THE ALCOHOLIC EXTRACT OF THE STANDARD GANJA IN MINIMAL* DOSES.
It will be better to describe, first, the nature of the effects produced by the drug, and then give in detail the experiments upon which this account is based. The symptoms observed roughly resolve themselves into three types, and subject to variation induced by idiosyncrasy, it may be said that the smallest dose of the drug capable of producing any appreciable effect will produce symptoms belonging to the first two types, or the dose being increased will induce symptoms of the first and third type, with a passing manifestation of those of the second. I have given the three types the following definition:— (a) Symptoms of distress. (b) Phenomena indicating disturbance of the sensory-motor mechanism. (c) Soporific or narcotic effects. * Note.— The term minimal doses as opposed to the minimum dose is adopted in order to indicate that all the doses given were small, the largest being 1/65,000 of the body weight. The investigation is consequently restricted to the observation of the phenomena induced by such doses, and not by larger doses.
(a) Symptoms of distress.—Symptoms of distress or discomfort, as evinced by constant or peculiar cries usually preceded the development of the symptoms of the other types, the animal later on either displaying disturbance of the sensory-motor mechanism or falling gradually asleep. Symptoms of distress were in some instances the only effect induced. But such conditions are obviously so liable to misinterpretation, that to class them as definite physiological effects would be hardly admissible. Accordingly, where a condition to be described as one of distress was the sole effect, the dose administered is recorded as having failed to produce definite symptoms. As already stated, however, such symptoms, varying in the degree of their manifestation, almost invariably preceded those of the other types. It is difficult to describe the vocal sounds that may be emitted by a distressed cat, but one cry was occasionally heard from animals in this condition, which deserves a passing notice. It may be described as a highpitched, prolonged wailing cry, and was particularly objected to by the laboratory staff, who informed me that the cry was unusual-and considered a sign of ill-luck in Bengali households. (b) Disturbance of the sensory-motor apparatus.—Disturbance of the sensory-motor apparatus was manifested by the occurrence of unusual movements on the part of the animal, or by some apparent difficulty in maintaining its equilibrium on standing, or by the partial loss of motor power. The reference of all these manifestations to some effect produced by the drug on the sensory-motor apparatus may be objected to as arbitrary, especially as in the case of animals it is not possible to put the matter to the test in the same way as in man. But as the most important of the symptoms to be described under the above heading indicate interference with those muscular actions which go on for the most part independently of the will or reflexly, and as the other symptoms may be explained on the same hypothesis, though possibly incorrectly, it seems permissible to class these manifestations altogether. Rocking movements.—It will be seen that the drug in minimum or larger doses constantly induced at some period of its action a peculiar and unusual rocking movement of the body upon its supports. These movements were very constant, not only in their character, but also in their occurrence. Their occurrence to a marked extent came to be regarded as the least admissible evidence of definite physiological effect. Coming on at a period subsequent to the administration of the drug, which varied with the amount of the dose and lasting a variable period, they were usually followed by either more marked sensory-motor disturbance or by sleep. Occasionally, though not usually, the production of these movements was almost the only effect induced by certain doses of the drug. The movements were apparently quite involuntary, and were best displayed when the animal was in the sitting or standing posture, disappearing when it lay down. They consist in a rhythmical side-to-side or backward and forward movement of the head, fore-quarters, and those portions of the body not in contact with the ground. In character they are regular, somewhat pendulum-like, the body moving as a whole; they last for a quarter to half a minute to intermit and be repeated again at irregular intervals, until the animal either recovers or passes into a condition of more marked sensorymotor disturbance or of sleep. They were observed to cease on voluntary movement or when the animal's attention was attracted, to begin again when the disturbance was withdrawn. The retention of the body in the semi-erect position assumed in the sitting posture is maintained by muscular action, which when once initiated by an effort of the will is continued unconsciously until the sensation of fatigue is experienced. Such actions require not only sufficient power in the muscular apparatus concerned, but depend also for their proper maintenance upon the stimulus derived from the muscular sense. I would endeavour to explain the production of the peculiar movements already described on the hypothesis that some disturbance takes place in the motor mechanism referred to. Any cause producing inordinate action in one group of muscles or deficient action in another would upset the state of rest maintained by the balanced action of the different groups, and lead to the peculiar rocking movements described. There is no reason to suppose that inordinate action of one group of muscles is due to weakness of an opposing group, for the voluntary movements at this period show unimpaired power. Muscular mechanisms correlated in their action so as to produce a state of balance from their combined efforts, are understood to have the amount of their force largely controlled by impulses received from the muscular sense. Any interference with the muscular sense would account then for undue action on the part of one or other group of muscles, and the production of the rocking movements described. The movements are not of the kind that would suggest their causation by irritation of the cerebrospinal centres, and their production on the hypothesis given is, I submit, supported by other manifestations which may reasonably be ascribed to sensory-motor disturbance. Doses of the drug in quantity equal to, or exceeding that amount adopted as the minimum dose, have been observed to almost invariably produce such movements as have been described. They succeed a period during which the animal usually evinces a degree of distress or uneasiness, and as a rule are followed by more marked sensory-motor disturbance, or by sleep when they cease. Though constant in occurrence and in character, they vary in the degree of their manifestation. The scope, duration and recurrence of the movements being more marked under certain conditions which, though not entirely independent of the quantity of the dose, seem largely associated with the idiosyncrasy of the individual. It appeared if the dose relative to the body weight was such as would produce marked physiological effect short of pronounced sleep or narcotism, and if the individual idiosyncrasy encouraged the development of the sensory-motor disturbance rather than of sleep, that then the involuntary rocking movements became most marked. Besides the involuntary rocking movements described, other involuntary movements were occasionally observed, which are hardly to be explained on the same hypothesis. These other movements were of two kinds-fine tremor and spasmodic muscular actions. The tremor involved the whole body and was of intermittent character, an attack of tremor lasting three or four minutes with an indefinite period of complete freedom. Spasmodic muscular action was very rarely observed, and usually occurred in the muscles of the head and fore part of the body, the head being sometimes suddenly and forcibly moved to one or other side. Difficulty in maintaining the body equilibrium on standing.—When the rocking movements had lasted a short time, the animals generally lay down in their habitual posture with their legs under them. This position apparently enabled them to obtain some respite from the involuntary movements: and in this position a considerable number fell asleep, the head gradually falling forwards till the nose and the face came in contact with the ground. In those cats not asleep a roll of the body from side to side was sometimes observed. Within a variable period of time, half an hour to an hour or even more, from the development of this condition, those cats which evinced no tendency to sleep, or were only drowsy, were frequently found, on being disturbed and made to stand up, to have apparently some difficulty in maintaining the equilibrium of the body in this position. The body swayed from side to side and backwards and forwards upon the legs, as though too heavy for its supports and likely to fall over. It was frequently difficult to induce animals in this condition to remain standing, but they were never observed to fall. On being induced to walk, it was found that this movement was either perfectly performed, the swaying of the body disappearing entirely, or that the action of the drug had produced an apparent partial loss of motor power. Apparent loss of motor power.—In this condition the animal walked with a slow, tottering and uncertain gait, displaying shakiness and apparent weakness in its movements. It could not be induced to run; nor yet, on the other hand, was the loss of motor power ever complete. The weakness was generally most evident in the hind limbs, though it never amounted to dragging of the limbs. The animal on walking would sway to one or other side, apparently tending to fall over, and occasionally, on attempting to turn, come down on its hind quarters and side. The fact that the hind limbs were more affected than the fore served sometimes to produce a very curious gait; for on walking the hind quarters fell out of line with the rest of the body, being as it were slued to one side. The peculiar appearance forcibly reminded me of the characteristic gait of horses suffering from kumri, many cases of which I saw in Upper Burma during 1887. In a few instances the apparent loss of power was represented by a peculiar slow, crawling gait; the animal moving slowly along with its legs doubled up underneath the body and its belly close to the ground, as though to keep its centre of gravity low down. The loss of motor power has been described as apparent, and it is submitted that this is the correct description in the absence of more definite signs of loss of motor power. The phenomena described may, in the absence of definite signs of muscular paralysis, be accounted for by an interference with muscular movement, due to error of co-ordination induced by loss of muscular sense. It frequently happened that in the condition described as one of " difficulty in maintaining the body equilibrium on standing" no loss of motor power occurred. Further, that an effort of the will, as evinced in voluntary movement, was sufficient to restore the mechanism to its normal state, the difficulty, however, appearing again when the temporary excitement was withdrawn. The same observation was made with regard to the rocking movements which were found to cease on excitement or voluntary movement. It is natural, then, to endeavour to explain all these phenomena on the same hypothesis. The same observations as were advanced in explanation of the "rocking movements" apply with even more force to the state described as a " difficulty in maintaining the body equilibrium; " for somewhat similar conditions occur in disease affecting the muscular sense in man. I would suggest that the rocking movements and altered body equilibrium may be ascribed to the action of the drug upon the spinal cord, but that when apparent loss of motor power occurs, then the ganglionic centres at the base of the brain are also affected. The appearances appear to encourage the conception that the drug acts upon the central nervous structures and not upon the peripheral nerve endings. Those animals which displayed the maximum amount of sensorymotor disturbance evinced no tendency to sleep or loss of their usual instincts. It has been already stated that the same cats were repeatedly utilised, and it thus came to be observed that, as regards the action of the drug, certain cats had a constant idiosyncrasy; that some cats under the influence of the drug were prone to sleep and others to the development of the phenomena ascribed to the disturbance of the sensory-motor apparatus; that the same dose relative to the body weight would in some animals induce disturbance of the sensorymotor mechanism and in others a varying degree of narcotism. Apart, however, from individual idiosyncrasy the quantity of the dose was found to play an important part also in determining the character of the effects produced by the drug. For in certain animals who after certain doses had been recognised as prone to develop sensory-motor disturbance, without marked sleep or narcotism, an increased dose, if sufficiently large, could be relied on to produce sleep deep enough to mask or prevent the development of sensory-motor disturbance, with exception of the rocking movements. It was to this action of the drug that reference was made in the statement that the "occurrence of symptoms of one kind either masked the occurrence or prevented the development of those of another." (c) Soporific or narcotic effects.—As already said, sleep production depends on the quantity of the dose being influenced also by the individual idiosyncrasy: in some animals sleep was easily and early induced as the result of the minimum dose; in others not so readily. The duration and nature of the sleep depend on the quantity of the dose: it ranged from drowsiness to slight narcotism. At the onset of sleep the cat often strived to maintain the sitting posture, the head falling forwards now and again and the animal awaking with a start. As the tendency deepened it usually lay down and went to sleep, the head gradually falling forwards till the nose and front of the face rested on the ground. Time of onset of symptoms.—Whatever their character might be, symptoms of the action of the drug could generally be recognised within one hour or one hour and a half after its administration. This statement applies only to the quantities given in this investigation, and naturally will not bear too general application. In. my experiments the doses were always small, and hence the use of the term minimal.
RECORD OF THE FIRST SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS WITH THE ALCOHOLIC EXTRACT OF THE STANDARD GANJA.
The quantity of the dose of the alcoholic extract usually given to small animals in physiological investigations seems to have been about one or two grains. The first two doses administered in this series of experiments were given without reference so much to the animal's body weight as to serve as a guide by which subsequent experiments might be regulated.
Experiment No. 1.—Well-nourished male cat, weight 4lb 13 1/2 oz.; a dose of the alcoholic extract, weighing .25 grain, or about 1/135,000 part of the body weight, given at 12-22 P.M. Effect nil.
Experiment No. 2.—Male, weight of cat 4 lb 12 oz.; a dose of the extract weighing 5 grain, or 1/66,500 part of the body weight, given at 11-15 A.M. 12-45 P.M. Rocking movements with slight weakness of the limbs, chiefly of the hind legs, on walking; condition lasted about one hour. As a dose equivalent to 1/66,500 of the body weight had induced definite symptoms, a similar quantity was next administered to two other cats to test whether the experiment was reliable:
Experiment No. 3.—Yellow and white female cat, weight 7 lb 1 oz. .75 grain of the extract, or a quantity equal to 1/65,000 of the body weight, administered at 11-45 P.M. 12-40 P.M. Nodding of head, drowsiness. 1 P.M., rocking movements, with occasional slight tremor. 1-15 P.M., tendency to sleep more marked. Animal lying down asleep with the nose and face resting on the ground. 2 P.M., effects of the drug beginning to pass off.
Experiment No. 4.—Black and white cat, weight 3 lb 10 1/4 oz. .38 grain of extract, or a quantity equivalent to 1/66,000 of the body weight, administered at 12-10 P.M. 1-15 P.M., rocking movements; cat is sitting up and displays occasional attacks of tottering or irregular movements of the fore quarters and fore limbs, as though endeavouring to save itself from falling forwards; is slightly drowsy. 2 P.M., cat appears considerably distressed, is constantly mewing and suffering also from slight salivation. 3 P.M., beginning to recover, though still dull. A dose equivalent to 1/66,000 of the body weight being able to cause easily recognisable effects, the next step was to find out how far this dose could be diminished and yet definite symptoms induced.
In the four following experiments the quantity of the extract given to each cat was equal to 1/75,000 part of its body weight:—
Experiment No. 5.—Weight of cat 6 lb 11 1/2 oz. Dose of extract .63 grain at 1 P.M. 2-45 P.M., cat asleep with its nose on the ground, and though able to be disturbed by any noise in its neighbourhood, yet it soon went to sleep again. It remained in this sleepy state till 4 P.M. No rocking movements or tremor observed.
Experiment No. 6.—Weight of cat 3 lb 7 1/4 oz. Dose of extract .32 grain at 1-25 P.M. 2-50 P.M., displays symptoms of distress and discomfort with slight drowsiness; is suffering also from slight salivation. 3 P.M., rocking movements. 4 P.M., the rocking movements have lasted with intermission since 3 P.M., being interrupted by occasional periods of sleep. 4-30 P.M., cat is still under the influence of the drug.
Experiment No. 7.—Weight of cat 3 lb 9 1/2 oz. Dose of extract .34 grain at 1-45 P.M. 3 P.M., sleepy; displays rocking movements of the body from time to time. Effects lasted for upwards of an hour.
Experiment No. 8.—Weight of cat 5 lb. 5 1/2 oz. Dose of extract .5 grain at 2 P.M. The action of the drug began to manifest itself about 3-30 P.M., when the cat became sleepy, but was disturbed by occasional spasmodic movements of the fore quarters. Very definitely affected, but less so than the other cats. The dose was now reduced to 1/90,000 of the body weight and that quantity of the extract administered to three cats.
Experiment No. 9.—Weight of cat 4 lb 12 1/2 oz. Dose 37 grain at 11-30 A.M. 12-10 P.M., distress and discomfort, pupils slightly dilated and the cat's appearance wild and suspicious; on being let loose the cat tries to hide itself. 12-30 P.M., displays weakness of the limbs, and can only be induced to walk with great difficulty; the weakness is more marked in the hind limbs; on walking the cat falls over occasionally its hind quarters, apparently due to the greater weakness of the hind limbs; there on is some tremor also of the whole body. 1-30 P.M., drowsy, but on being disturbed still showed the weakness of the limbs. 4-30 P.M., cat went to sleep about 2 P.M. with its nose resting on the ground and has continued to sleep with intermission during the last one and a half hours.
Experiment No. 10.—Weight of cat 2 lb 12 1/4 oz. Dose .2 grain at 11-50 A.M. 12-30 P.M., excitement and distress with some slight occasional tremor of the whole body; slight dilatation of the pupils. 1 P.M., asleep. 3-30 P.M., is still under influence of the drug, and has been asleep with its nose resting on the ground during the past one and a half hours with occasional interruptions.
Experiment No. 11.—Weight of cat 3 lb 12 3/4 oz. Dose .3 grain at 12-10 P.M. 12-50 P.M., rocking movements and drowsiness; 2 P.M., condition torpid; has broken periods of sleep. Effect less marked than in experiments Nos. 9 and 10. Administration of three doses equivalent to 1/100,000 part of the body weight.
Experiment No. 12.—Weight of cat 4 lb 7 1/4 oz. Dose of extract .3 grain at 11-35 A.M. 12-55 P.M., rocking movements of the body; appearance of the animal altered by the drug; as it sits up it preserves a fixed look in the same direction as though somewhat dazed or stupefied. 1 P.M., asleep. 3-30 P.M., still asleep, but not deeply so, the appearance being that presented by natural sleep. This animal displayed no weakness of the limbs.
Experiment No. 13.—Weight of cat 5 lb 7 1/4 oz. Dose .38 grain at 11-55 A.M. 1-30 P.M., animal very torpid and can be induced to move only with difficulty; when disturbed, it crawls about in a peculiar manner and seeks to hide itself; it walks in a very peculiar manner, shuffling along with the legs doubled up underneath the body and the belly close to the ground. 3 P.M., still under influence of the drug; some drowsiness and slight dilatation of the pupils.
Experiment No. 14.—Weight of cat 2 lb 11 1/4 oz. Dose .18 grain at 12-15 P.M. 1-30 P.M., drowsiness; nodding of the head: the cat, which is a lively, very tame animal is now quite dull and torpid. 3 P.M. cat asleep with its nose on the ground and fully under the influence of the drug. Three experiments with a dose the quantity of which was equal to 1/110,000 of the body weight.
Experiment No. 15.—Weight of cat 4 lb 1/2 oz. Dose .25 grain at 11-15 A.M. 1 P.M., asleep with its nose on the ground; on being disturbed walks with great difficulty, all the limbs being weak, but the hind limbs so weak that the animal tends to fall upon its hind quarters and side. 2.30 P.M., drowsy. 4 P.M., still under the influence of the drug, and has slept lightly off and on since 2-30 P.M.
Experiment No. 16.—Weight of cat 4 lb 5 1/4 oz. Dose .27 grain at 11-30 A.M. 1-15 P.M., expression altered, the eye being glassy and the look fixed in one direction; rocking movements. 4 P.M., has been asleep with intermission for about two hours. While apparently asleep with its eyes closed occasionally emitted a peculiar and unpleasant cry.
Experiment No. 17.—Weight of cat 5 lb 6 1/4 oz. Dose .34 grain at 11-50 A.M. 1-15 P.M., no effect apparent. 2.30 P.M. cat sleeping lightly and occasionally starting in its sleep in a peculiar manner. It is apparently only slightly affected by the drug, but on unfastening the string round its neck and inducing it to walk, it shows great weakness of the limbs, specially the hind limbs. It is unwilling to move, and when induced to do so, moves apparently with considerable difficulty. The gait is tottering and unsteady, the hind quarters falling occasionally upon the ground, 4-30 P.M., the weakness of the limbs is still very marked. In the next two experiments the dose was reduced to 1/150,000 part of the body weight.
Experiment No. 18.—Weight of cat 3 lb 11 oz.; Dose .17 grain at 1-5 P.M. 2-30 P.M., on being let loose is very unwilling to move, and when induced to walk moves in a crawling, shuffling manner with its belly close to the ground. There appears to be slight weakness of the limbs.
Experiment No. 19.-Weight of cat 5 lb 5 oz. Dose .25 grain at 1-25 P.M. 2-30 P.M., is very slightly affected, the hind limbs being apparently somewhat weak. It walks also in the peculiar crawling manner. But the effects must be described as very slight. On the same day, at 1-15 P.M., a third cat received a dose of alcohol in quantity equal to that used to dissolve the alcoholic extract. The alcohol was mixed with a little water and administered in the usual manner. No apparent effect was produced. In preparing the emulsion as much alcohol as possible is driven off by heat after adding the starch solution. In this case the experiment being for purposes of control, no attempt was made to reduce the quantity of alcohol by heating. The effects produced by a dose equal to 1/110,000 part of the body weight appeared too pronounced, if other samples of hemp drugs were to be physiologically tested by this standard. And on the other hand the effects produced by a dose equal to 1/150,000 part of the body weight appeared too indefinite and slight. It was accordingly determined to try the results produced by a dose equal to 1/125,000 part of the body weight; and this quantity was given in the four next experiments.
Experiment No. 20.-Weight of cat 3 lb 3 1/2 oz. Dose .18 grain at 11-45 A.M. 1 P.M., cat is evidently affected by the drug, rocking movements; 2-45 P.M., asleep, and on being disturbed displays weakness of the limbs. The sleep is somewhat deep and the cat evidently considerably affected by the dose of the drug.
Experiment No. 21.—Weight of cat 3 lb 15 3/4 oz. Dose .22 grain at 12-15 P.M., 2-45 P.M., rocking movements of the body and weakness of the limbs; 3 P.M., asleep with its nose on the ground, and while asleep is apparently unable to maintain the recumbent posture, for it is occasionally woke up. by a roll of the body to one or other side.
Experiment No. 22.—Weight 4 lb 2 1/4 oz. Dose .23 grain at 12-45 P.M. 2-45 P.M., marked rocking movements of the body. 3 P.M., asleep. This animal definitely but not deeply affected by the drug.
Experiment No. 23.—Weight of cat 4 lb 14 1/2 oz. Dose .27 grain at 1-15 P.M. A portion of the dose was vomited immediately after administration. Notwithstanding rocking movements of the body, weakness of gait, and some torpor were observed as the result of the action of the drug.
2. THE STANDARD MINIMUM DOSE. The effects produced in cats by a quantity of the alcoholic extract of the standard ganja, equivalent to 1/125,000 part of the body weight of each animal were considered sufficiently definite to warrant the adoption of this quantity as the minimum dose. For convenience of calculation, however, it was determined to take 1/120,000 part of the body weight as the minimum dose, the difference between the two fractions being only 1/3,000,000 S ufficient has been already said in the remarks preliminary to the record of the experiments regarding the characters of the effects which the minimum dose might be expected to produce. It was then premised that definite effects of some kind or another should be sought, rather than marked effects constant in character in every experiment. The subsequent experiments were conducted on the understanding that if the sample of hemp drugs under examination contained active constituents in quantity equal to that of the standard ganja that then the minimum dose of its alcoholic extract should induce somewhat the following symptoms, i.e., a period of distress or discomfort, followed by the rocking movements of the body, and then either some of the other phenomena indicating sensory-motor disturbance or sleep.
3. PHYSIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE SAMPLES OF HEMP DRUGS RECEIVED FROM THE HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION. An epitome of the results will be given first, and then the record of experiments given in detail. Hemp drugs possessing physiological properties equal to those of the standard ganja — Sholapur ganja. Khandesh ganja. Ahmednagar ganja, No. 1. " " No. 3. Bijapur ganja. Nimar District ganja, Dhakalgaon seed. " " " local seed. Amritsar charas, mashak. Hemp drugs, the dose of which was increased to1 /110,000o f the body weight of the animal, in order to produce effects equal to those of the minimum dose of the standard ganja Satara ganja, No. 1. " " " 2. Ahmednagar ganja, No. 2. Bangalore ganja. Hemp drugs of which the dose had to be increased to 1/100,000 of the body weight Kistna ganja. Madras local market ganja. Amballa bhang. Amballa charas, maskak, No. 1. Delhi District charas, mashak. Gurhwal charas, No. 1. " " " 2. Hemp drugs requiring a dose equal to 1/90,000 part of the body weight Amritsar charas, bhara. Delhi District charas, dust, 2nd class. Hemp drugs of which a dose equal to 1/80,000 part of the body weight was found to be sufficient Khandesh bhang. Hemp drugs requiring a dose equal to 1/70,000 part of the body weight in order to manifest action equal to that induced by the minimum dose of the extract of the standard ganja Ghazipur illicit ganja. Hemp drugs requiring a dose equal to 1/60,000 of the body weight Sholapur bhang. Hemp drugs requiring a dose equal to 1/20,000 part of the body weight. Rajshahi bhang (cultivated). Satara bhang. Bombay charas. Hemp drugs requiring a dose equal to 1/10,000 part of the body weight. Amballa charas, mashak, No. 2. Delhi District charas, dust. Kumaon charas (wild). Hemp drugs requiring a dose equal to 1/5,000 part of the body weight. Bhagalpur bhang. Assam bhang (wild). Gwalior charas. Kumaon charas (cultivated). Hemp drugs the dose of which could not be determined. Nepal charas A. " " B. " " (Shahjahani). A tabular statement giving the above information is appended for more ready reference, see table No. II.
TABLE No. III. Table showing the relative physiological value of the various samples of hemp drugs, calculated from the quantity of the alcoholic extract which is physiologically active.
The numbers indicate the relation which the samples of ganja, bhang, or charas respectively bear to each other in each group separately. They do not indicate any relation between ganja and bhang or between either of these two and charas - thus Kistna ganja is 2.6 times as potent as Ghazipur illicit ganja and Amritsar charas, mashak, 3.2 times as potent as Gwaliior charas. Amballa bhang is 31 times more powerful than Bhagalpur bhang.
Fide concluding remarks.
RECORD OF THE SECOND SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS.
(a) A dose of the alcoholic extract equal to 1/120,000 part of the body weight was first tried in the case of every sample of the hemp drugs. Experiment No. 1, Ghazipur illicit ganja. Female cat, weight 5 lb 13 1/4 oz. Dose .34 grains at 1-30 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 2, Sholapur ganja. Weight of cat. 3l b 1 1/2 oz. Dose .18 grain at 12-15 P.M., 1-15 P.M., slight tremor of body and appears uncomfortable. 2P .M., dull and torpid; appears to have some difficulty in walking, though no weakness of the limbs to be made out; the appearance suggests the idea that the initiation of the act of walking is difficult and that sufficient voluntary impulse is not forthcoming. 3 P.M., asleep with its nose resting on the ground. 3-30 P.M., still asleep in the same position. Experiment No. 3, Khandesh ganja. Weight of cat 4 lb 12 3/4 oz. Dose .28 grain at 12 noon. 1-30 P.M., rocking movements. 2 P.M., difficulty in walking with uncertainty of action most marked in the hind limbs. 3 P.M., drowsy; on walking displays staggering uncertain gait. 4 P.M., walks fairly well now, and is apparently recovering. Experiment No. 4, Satara ganja, No. 1. Weight of cat 4 Ib 3 oz. Dose .24 grain at 12-30 P.M. Slight rocking movements were observed, but the effects did not appear equal to those of the minimum dose of the standards, extract. It was consequently determined to give a slightly larger quantity. Experiment No. 5, Satara ganja, No. 2. Weight of cat 2 lb 13 1/4 oz. Dose .16 grain at 1-15 P.M. Effects produced very slight. A larger dose considered necessary. Experiment No. 6, Ahmednagar ganja, No. 1. Weight of cat 4 lb 13 1/2 oz. Dose .28 grain at 12-45 P.M. 1-30 P.M., cat is torpid and dull. 3 P.M., on being made to walk is found to have the characteristic staggering gait, the effect of the drug being more marked, as usual, in the hind limbs: it is distinctly drowsy. 3-30 P.M., the cat, on being disturbed and made to walk, takes a few steps and then passes into a sort of cataleptic condition, maintaining the posture in which it may have happened to be when it stopped moving. The position is not one in which its limbs are all at rest, and is sometimes slightly grotesque. 4 P.M., is still very evidently under the influence of the drug: on standing the rocking movements of the body are well displayed. The minimum dose of this extract produced very well marked effects. Experiment No. 7, Ahmednagar ganja, No. 2. Weight of cat 2 lb 11 oz. Dose .15 grain at 1 P.M. Action not sufficiently marked. A larger dose necessary. Experiment No. 8, Ahmednagar ganja, No. 3. Weight of cat 3 lb 2 1/4 oz. Dose .18 grain at 12-15 P.M. 2-30 P.M., sleepy; cries when disturbed, and walks in an awkward manner. 3 P.M., asleep with its nose on the ground, and on being disturbed walks unsteadily. 4-30 P.M., asleep. Experiment No. 9, Bijapur ganja. Weight of cat 3 lb 3 1/4 oz. Dose .18 grain at 1-30 P.M. 2-10 P.M., very marked tremor of the body. 3-30 P.M., the tremor of the body is the most marked symptom in this case : it has lasted for more than one hour, subject to intermission, and is still present. Rocking movements have also been observed with occasional spasm of the body. The cat, on moving, walks with the peculiar crawling gait already described. Experiment No. 10, Nimar ganja, Dhakalgaon seed. Weight of cat 4 lb 13 1/4 oz. Dose .28 grain at 12-30 P.M. 1-30 P.M., rocking movements. 3 P.M., cat less lively than usual; has a fixed look and is evidently not comfortable; no weakness of the limbs; drowsy but not markedly so. Experiment. No. 11, Nimar ganja, local seed. Weight of cat 5 lb 1 oz. Dose .29 grain at 12-45 P.M. 1-30 P.M., cat sleepy, torpid and cannot be induced to move. 3 P.M., unwillingness to move continues; when compelled to walk, moves with apparent difficulty, though no weakness of the limbs can be made out : some tremor of the body. Experiment No. 12, Kistna ganja. Grey cat male, weight 3 lb 3 1/2 oz. Dose .18 grains at 1-15 P.M. Slight effects produced. Experiment No. 13, Bangalore ganja. Weight of cat 4 lb 1 1/2 oz. Dose .23 grain at 12-30 P.M. Insufficient action manifested. Experiment No. 14, Madras local market ganja. Weight of cat 2 lb 13 1/4 oz. Dose .16 grain at 1-15 P.M. Effect produced very slight. Experiment No. 15, Khandesh bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb 5 3/4 oz. Dose .19 grain at 12-30 P.M. No appreciable effect. Experiment No. 16, Amballa bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb 13 3/4 oz. Dose .22 grain at 1 P.M. No appreciable effect. Experiment No. 17, Sholapur bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb 4 3/4 oz. Dose .19 grain at 1-10 P.M. No appreciable effect produced. Experiment No. 18, Bhagalpur bhang. Yellow and white male cat, weight 3 lbs 14 1/4 oz. Dose .22 grain at 12-55 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 19, Rajshahi bhang (cultivated plant). Yellow male cat, weight 5. lb 4 1/2 oz. Dose .3 grain at 12-30 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 20, Assam bhang (wild). Black and white male cat, weight 4 lb 8 3/4 oz. Dose .26 grain at 12-25 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 21, Satara bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb 15 1/4 oz. Dose .23 grain at 12-50 P.M. 3 P.M., nil. 4 P.M., nil. Experiment No. 22, Amballa charas, mashak, No. 1. Weight of cat 6 lb 4 1/4 oz. Dose .36 grain at 1-30 P.M. Effect produced slight and insufficient. Experiment No. 23, Amballa charas, mashak, No. 2. Female cat, weight 6 lb 01 1/2 oz. Dose:35 grain at 11-30 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 24, Amritsar charas, bhara. Male cat, black and white, weight 4 lb 9 1/2 oz. Dose .26 grain at 11-40 A.M. Very slight effect produced. Experiment No. 25, Amritsar charas, mashak. Male cat, weight 4 lb .1 1/4 oz. Dose .23 grain at 11-50 A.M. 12-30 P.M., rocking movements of body. 1 P.M., asleep with its nose on the ground. 2-30 P.M., still asleep; when disturbed displays marked rocking movements; its gait is not affected. 3-30 P.M., still under influence of the drug. The effect is considered equal to that produced by the minimum dose of the extract of the standard ganja. Experiment No. 26, Delhi District charas, dust (2nd class). Female cat, weight 3 lb 0 3/4 oz. Dose .17 grain at 1-40 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 27, Delhi District charas, dust. Male cat, weight 3 lb 3 1/2 oz. Dose .18 grain at 1-25 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 28, Delhi District charas, mashak. Male cat, weight 6 lb 1 1/4 oz. Dose .35 grain at 12-45 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 29, Bombay charas. Male cat, weight 5 lb 6 3/4 oz. Dose .31 grain at 12-10 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 30, Gwalior charas. Male cat, weight 6 lb 5 oz. Dose .37 grain at 12-40 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 31, Kumaon charas (wild). Male cat, weight 5 lb 7 oz. Dose .31 grain at 12-25 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 32, Kumaon charas (cultivated). Female cat, weight 3 lb 9 1/4 oz. Dose .2 grain at 12 noon. Effect nil. Experiment No. 33, Gurhwal charas (No. 1). White cat, female, weight 3 lb 7 3/4 oz. Dose .2 grain at 1-40 P.M. 3 P.M., rocking movements of body fairly well marked. 4 P.M., sleepy; when disturbed displays rocking movements. Effect of the drug, though evident, not equal to that produced by minimum dose of the extract of the standard ganja. Experiment No. 34, Gurkwal charas, No. 2 (cultivated). Female cat, weight 6 lb 2 1/2 oz. Dose .36 grain at 12-10 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 35, Nepal charas, A. Female cat, weight 3 lb 6 1/4 oz. Dose .19 grain at 12-20 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 36, Nepal charas, B. Female cat, weight 2 lb 12 1/4 oz. Dose .16 grain at 12-40 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 37, Nepal charas, Shahjahani. Yellow and white female cat, weight 4 lb 6 3/4 oz. Dose .25 grain at 2 P.M. Effect nil. Satisfactory results having been obtained from the standard minimum dose in the case of eight samples of hemp drugs, the next step was to test what quantity of the other samples was required to produce effects equal to those produced by the minimun dose of the standard ganja. (b) In the following experiments the dose was increased to 1/110,000 of the body weight:— Experiment No. 38, Satara ganja, No. 1. Weight of cat 2 lb 11 1/2 oz. Dose .17 grain at 12 noon. 1 P.M., rocking movements; on standing up swaying of body from side to side; is somewhat drowsy. 1-15 P.M., spasmodic attacks of tremor of the head observed; the difficulty in maintaining the body equilibrium on standing is very marked. 1-30 P.M., asleep; 2-30 P.M., still much affected. 3-30 P.M., sleepy and torpid. 4 P.M., still under influence of the drug. Experiment No. 39, Satara ganja, No. 2. Weight of cat 2 lb 12 oz. Dose .17 grain at 12-40 P.M. 2-30 P.M., rocking movements. 3-40 P.M., drops off to sleep now and again while in the sitting posture; has a "drugged " appearance; is evidently uncomfortable and in distress; body sways from side to side, displaying the condition termed a difficulty in maintaining the body equilibrium. Experiment No. 40, Ahmednagar ganja, No. 2. "Weight of cat 3 lb 2 1/2 oz. Dose .2 grain at 11-40 A.M. 2 P.M., torpid and sleepy; gait weak. 2-10 P.M., asleep. 2-30 P.M., asleep and when disturbed found to be very unsteady on its legs. 3-30 P.M., asleep with its nose on the ground. Experiment No. 41, Bangalore ganja. Weight of cat 3 lb 12 3/4 oz. Dose .24 grain at 12 noon. 1-10 P.M., vomited a small portion of the dose. 2 P.M., asleep with its nose on the ground. 3-30 P.M., on standing up displays great apparent difficulty in maintaining its equilibrium, the body swaying from side to side; is very definitely under the influence of the drug. Experiment No. 42, Madras local market ganja. Weight of cat 4 lb 11 oz. Dose .29 grain at 12-45 P.M. The effect produced, though recognizable, not equal to that of the minimum dose of the standard. Experiment No. 43, Khandesh bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb 3 3/4 oz. Dose .2 grain at 12-55 P.M. No appreciable effect. Experiment No. 44, Amballa bhang. Weight of cat 4 lb 2 1/2 oz. Dose .26 grain at 12-10 P.M. No appreciable effect. Experiment No. 45, Sholapur bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb 11 1/2 oz. Dose .23 grain at 11-45 A.M. No appreciable effect. Experiment No. 46, Satara bhang. Weight of cat 4 lb 11 1/4 oz. Dose .29 grain at 12-25 P.M. Effects not appreciable. Experiment No. 47, Amballa charas, No. 1. Weight of cat 4 lb 10 1/2 oz. Dose .29 grain at 1-5 P.M. In this case insufficient effects were produced. (c) The twenty-five following experiments were conducted with a dose equivalent to 1/100,000 of the body weight:— Experiment No. 48, Ghazipur illicit ganja. Female cat, weight 2 lb 14 oz. Dose .2 grain at 1-45 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 49, Kistna ganja. Female white cat, weight 3 lb 7 1/4 oz. Dose .24 grain at 1-15 P.M. Slight vomiting occurred after the dose. 3 P.M., asleep with its nose resting on the ground, and on being disturbed is found to be considerably affected; the rocking movements of the body are well marked, and on walking the animal staggers from side to side, the hind limbs being most affected. 4 P.M., is still under the influence of the drug. Experiment No. 50, Madras local market ganja. Weight of cat 2 lb 11 1/2 oz. Dose .19 grain at 1-15 P.M. 3-30 P.M., sleepy; but on being disturbed displays rocking movements and very marked swaying of body from side to side. Experiment No. 51, Khandesh bhang. Weight of cat 4 lb 1 oz. Dose .28 grain at 1-10 P.M. Effect almost nil. Experiment No. 52, Amballa bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb 1 oz. Dose .21 grain at 1-30 P.M. 2-45. P.M., distinctly sleepy and evinces great unwillingness to move on being disturbed; when compelled to move, walks in a shuffling, crawling manner. 4 P.M., still sleepy and torpid, but will come when called,. though it moves as though with effort in a slow, crawling manner. The effect therefore appears to be passing off. Experiment No. 53, Sholapur bhang. Weight of cat 6 lb 2 3/4 oz. Dose .43 grain at 12-25 P.M. Effect almost nil. Experiment No. 54, Bhagalpur bhang. Male cat, weight 4 lb 11 1/2 oz. Dose .33 grain at 1-10 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 55, Rajshahi bhang (cultivated). Male cat, weight 4 lb 2 oz. Dose .28 grain at 12-45 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 56, Assam bhang (wild). Female cat, weight 4 lb 12 oz. Dose .33 grain at 1 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 57, Satara bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb 3 1/2 oz. Dose .22 grain at 12-35 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 58, Amballa charas, mashak, No. 1. Weight of cat 2 lb 9 oz. Dose .17 grain at 2 P.M. 3 P.M., rocking movements of the body. 3-30 P.M., animal is distinctly under the influence of the drug, manifested by the swaying of the body from side to side. 4 P.M., the cat comes when called and walks well and strongly without tottering, but when allowed to stand or sit undisturbed displays marked swaying of the body from side to side and backwards and forwards upon its supports. Experiment No. 59, Amballa charas, mashak No. 2. Female cat, weight 6 lb 5 1/4 oz. Dose .44 grain at 11-45 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 60, Amritsar charas, bhara. Male cat, weight 4 lb 14 1/4 oz. Dose .34 grain at 11-55 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 61, Delhi District charas, dust (2nd class). Tortoise shell female cat, weight 5 lb 13 1/2 oz. Dose .4 grain at 1-15 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 62, Delhi District charas, dust. Yellow and white male cat, weight 4 lb 2 1/4 oz. Dose .29 grain at 12-45 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 63, Delhi District charas, mashak. Grey and white female cat, weight 4 lb. 10 oz. Dose .32 grain at 12-35 P.M. 1-30 P.M., much rocking of the body, but can walk well. 2 P.M., swaying of body from side to side on standing, so long as its attention is not attracted; the hind quarters chiefly affected. 3 P.M., rocking and swaying of body continues, the animal walks stiffly but fairly well; 4 P.M., still under the influence of the drug. Experiment No. 64, Bombay charas. Female cat, weight 3 lb 1/4 oz. Dose .21 grain at 12-20 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 65, Gwalior charas. Female cat, weight 2 lb 12 1/4 oz. Dose .19 grain at 1-40 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 66, Kumaon charas (wild). Female cat, weight 3 lb 7 1/4 oz. Dose .24 grain at 1-5 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 67, Kumaon charas (cultivated). Male cat, weight 3 lb 5 3/4 oz. Dose .23 grain at 12-15 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 68, Gurhwal charas, No. 1. Male cat, weight 3 lb 2 1/2 oz. Dose .22 grain at 2 P.M. 3 P.M., cat is very evidently affected, displaying the rocking movements of the body and the staggering gait on walking. 4 P.M., still under the influence of the drug. Experiment No. 69, Gurhwal charas, No. 2 (cultivated). Male cat, weight 3 lb 2 1/2 oz. Dose .22 grain at 1-30 P.M. 3 P.M., animal very much affected, is very unwilling to walk, and on being induced to move after a few steps falls over on its side, the hind quarters, as usual, being most affected; rocking and swaying of the body from side to side on standing; is apparently unable to stand long; torpid, but not sleepy. 3-30 P.M., asleep with its nose on the ground. 4 P.M., still under the influence of the drug. Experiment No. 70, Nepal charas, A. Female cat, weight 3 lb 10 1/4 oz. Dose .25 grain at 12-22 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 71, Nepal charas, B. Yellow male cat, weight 5 lb 2 1/4 oz. Dose .36 grain at 12-20 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 72, Nepal charas, Shahjahani. Female cat, weight 3 lb 5 1/5 oz. Dose .23 grain at 1-10 P.M. Effect nil. (d) The following experiments were conducted with a dose equivalent to 1/90,000 part of the body weight. Experiment No. 73, Ghazipur illicit ganja. White female cat, weight 3 lb 8 1/4 oz. Dose .27 grain at 1-45 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 74, Khandesh bhang. Weight of cat, 7 lb 8 1/2 oz. Dose .58 grain at 12 noon. Effects not sufficiently definite. Experiment No. 75, Sholapur bhang. Weight of cat 6 lb 3 1/2 oz. Dose .48 grain at 11-30 A.M. Effect practically nil. Experiment No. 76, Bhagalpur bhang. Male cat, weight 4 lb 1.3 1/4 oz. Dose .37 grain at 1-55 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 77, Rajshahi bhang. Male cat, weight 4 lb 4 1/4 oz. Dose .32 grain at 2 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 78, Assam bhang. Male cat, weight 5 lb 8 3/4 oz. Dose .43 grain at 2-15 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 79, Satara bhang. Weight of cat 4 lb 1 3/4 oz. Dose .32 grain at 11-45 A.M. Effect practically nil. Experiment No. 80, Amballa charas, mashak, No. 2. Female cat, weight 5 lb 15 1/4 oz. Dose .46 grain at 2-30 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 81, Amritsar charas, bhara. Female cat, weight 4 lb 11 3/4 oz. Dose .36 grain at 2-30 P.M. 4 P.M., very marked rocking of the body and swaying from side to side on standing; walks very fairly well. 4-30 P.M. still much under the influence of the drug; walk slightly affected. Experiment No. 82, Delhi District charas, dust (2nd class). Female cat, weight 2 lb 3 1/4 oz. Dose .17 grain at 2-35 P.M. 4 P.M., displays rocking and swaying of the body; on walking tends to fall upon its side.; 4-30 P.M., walks with difficulty. Experiment No. 83, Delhi District charas, dust. Male cat, weight 5 lb 10 oz. Dose .43 grain at 11-45 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No, 84, Bombay charas. Female cat, weight 5 lb1 5 1/2 oz. Dose .46 grain at 11-50 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 85, Gwalior charas. Male cat, weight 5 lb. 1/4 oz. Dose .39 grain at 11-55 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 86, Kumaon charas (wild). Female cat, weight 3 lb 6 1/4 oz. Dose .26 grain at 12-15 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 87, Kumaon charas (cultivated). Female cat, weight 3 lb 1 1/4 oz. Dose .23 grain at 12-25 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 88, Nepal charas, A. Female cat, weight 3 lb 10 1/2 oz. Dose .28 grain at 12-30 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 89, Nepal charas, B. Male cat, weight 4 lb 8 1/2 oz. Dose .35 grain at 12-55 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 90, Nepal charas, Shahjahani. Female cat, weight 4 lb 121/2 oz. Dose .37 grain at 1 P.M. Effect nil. (e) Four experiments in which the dose was increased to 1/80,000 of the body weight. Experiment No. 91, Khandesh bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb. 1 oz. Dose .26 grain at 1-15 P.M. 1-40 P.M., nil. 3 P.M., asleep with its nose on the ground; on being disturbed displays swaying of body from side to side on standing. 3-30 P.M., asleep with its head on the ground; is, however, easily disturbed. 4 P.M., asleep; when disturbed and induced to walk its gait is tottering and unsteady. Experiment No. 92, Sholapur bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb 4 3/4 oz. Dose .28 grain at 12-40 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 93, Satara bhang. Weight of cat 6 lb 5 1/4 oz. Dose .55 grain at 1 p.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 94, Kumaon charas (cultivated). Female cat, weight 3 lb 8 3/4 oz. Dose .31 grain at 12 noon. Effect nil. (f) The following experiments were conducted with a dose equivalent to 1/70,000 of the body weight. Experiment No. 95, Ghazipur illicit ganja. Male cat, weight 5 lb 14 oz. Dose .58 grain at 11-10 A M. 2-30 P.M., animal distinctly affected, pupils somewhat dilated, rocking of body on sitting up; walks slowly and with apparent difficulty, but without staggering; on standing body sways from side to side. 3 P.M., effect persists. 4 P.M., animal almost recovered. Experiment No. 96, Sholapur bhang. Weight of cat 6 lb 3 3/4 oz. Dose .62 grain at 11 A.M. 12-30 P.M., nil. 1-45 P.M., slight rocking movements. 2-30 P.M., slight rocking movements of body. Effect not sufficiently marked. Experiment No. 97, Bhagalpur bhang. Female cat, weight 6 lb. Dose .6 grain at 11-30 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 98, Rajshahi bhang. Female cat, weight 4 lb 14 oz. Dose .48 grain at 11-35 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 99, Assam bhang. Male cat, weight 3 lb 5 1/2 oz. Dose .33 grain at 11-40 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 100, Satara bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb 5 1/4 oz. Dose .33 grain at 11-35 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 101, Amballa charas, mashask, No. 2. Female cat, weight 3 lb 2 oz. Dose .31 grain at 12-5 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 102, Delhi District charas, dust. Female eat, weight 3 lb 8 3/4 oz. Dose .35 grain at 12-10 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 103, Bombay charas. Male cat, weight 4 lb 8 oz. Dose .45 grain at 12-45 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 104, Gwalior charas. Male cat, weight 5 lb 2 oz. Dose .51 grain at 12-50 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 105, Kumaon charas (wild). Female cat, weight 3 lb 11 oz. Dose .37 grain at 1 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 106, Nepal charas, A. Male cat, weight 5 lb 3 1/2 oz. Dose .52 grain at 12-10 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 107, Nepal charas, B. Female cat, weight 5 lb 15 1/4 oz. Dose .6 grain at 12-20 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 108, Nepal charas, Shahjahani. Male cat, weight 5 lb 7 1/2 oz. Dose .54 grain at 12-45 P.M. Effect nil. (g) Six experiments with a dose equivalent to 1/60,000 part of the body weight — Experiment No. 109, Sholapur bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb 13 1/4 oz. Dose .44 grain at 11-15 A.M. 12-30 P.M., sleepy, and on being disturbed and made to stand, manifests swaying of the body from side to side. 1-45 P.M., asleep with its face resting on the ground; when disturbed walks well, but cannot maintain a steady equilibrium on standing; the weakness is more marked in the hind limbs, the fore limbs appearing to be steady; the body sways from side to side on the hind supports rather than on the fore. 2-30 P.M., still under influence of drug, but can walk well. Experiment No. 110, Rajshahi bhang. Male cat, weight 3 lb 9 1/4 oz. Dose .4 grain at 1-15 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 111, Assam bhang. Female cat, weight 2 lb 5 3/4 oz. Dose .27 grain at 1-20 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 112, Satara bhang. Weight of cat 4 lb 3 1/2 oz. Dose .49 grain at 11-55 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 113, Amballa charas, mashak, No. 2. Female cat, weight 3 lb 0 1/2 oz. Dose .35 grain at 1-35 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 114, Kumaon charas (cultivated). Female cat, weight 3 lb 10 oz. Dose .42 grain at 12-10 P.M. Effect nil. (h) Thirteen experiments with a dose equivalent to 1/50,000 Part of the body weight. Experiment No. 115, Bhagalpur bhang. Female cat, weight 3 lb 3 3/4 oz. Dose .45 grain at 12-55 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 116, Rajshahi bhang. Male cat, weight 4 lb 9 1/2 oz. Dose .65 grain at 12-20 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 117, Assam bhang. Male cat, weight 5 lb 2 oz. Dose .71 grain at 1-25 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 118, Satara bhang. Weight of the cat, 4 lb 2 3/4 oz. Dose .58 grain at 11-50 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 119, Amballa charas, mashak, No. 2. Female cat, weight 6 lb 2 1/2 oz. Dose .86 grain at 1-30 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 120, Delhi District charas, dust. Female cat, weight 4 lb 10 oz. Dose .64 grain at 1-40 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 121, Bombay charas. Male cat, weight 4 lb 7 1/2 oz. Dose .62 grain at 1-45 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 122, Gwalior charas. Male cat, weight 5 lb 14 oz. Dose .82 grain at 1-33 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 123, Kumaon charas (wild). Female cat, weight 4 lb 13 1/2 oz. Dose .67 grain at 1-55 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 124, Kumaon charas (cultivated). Male cat, weight 3 lb 10 1/2 oz. Dose .51 grain at 12-15 P.M. Effect nil, Experiment No. 125, Nepal charas, A. Male cat, weight 5 lb 7 oz. Dose .76 grain at 11-30 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 126, Nepal charas, B. Male cat, weight 3 lb 8 oz. Dose .49 grain at 12 noon. Effect nil. Experiment No. 127, Nepal charas, Shahjahani. Male cat, weight 4 lb 8 1/2 oz. Dose .63 grain at 12-5 P.M. Effect nil. (i)One experiment with a dose equivalent to 1/40,000 part of the body weight. Experiment No. 128, Satara bhang. Weight of the cat, 4 lb 11 1/2 oz. Dose .82 grain at 12-5 P.M. Effect very slight. (j) One experiment with a dose equivalent to 1/40,000 part of the body weight. Experiment No. 129, Satara bhang. Weight 3 lb 1 1/2 oz. Dose .72 grain at 12-15 P.M. 2 P.M., dull and torpid; walks slowly and with apparent effort. Effect soon passed off and was not sufficient. (k) Twelve experiments with a dose equivalent to 1/20,000 part of the body weight. Experiment No. 130, Bhagalpur bhang. Female cat, weight 5 lb 12 oz. Dose 2 grains at 12.10 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 131, Rajshahi bhang. Female cat, weight 3 lb 7 3/4 oz. Dose 1.2 grains at 12-45 P.M. 1-20 P.M., asleep with nose on the ground; when disturbed displays marked rocking and swaying of the body. 3 P.M.,. asleep and on being aroused shows evidence of effect of the drug in the swaying and rocking of the body; it walks also with some little difficulty. 4 P.M., still under the influence of the drug. Experiment No. 132, Assam bhang. Male cat, weight 4 lb 10 oz. Dose 1.6 grains at 1 P. M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 133, Satara bhang. Weight of cat 3 lb 12 1/2 oz. Dose 1.32 grains at 12-30 P.M. 2 P.M., tremor of body; on standing up sways from side to side; gait somewhat, unsteady. 3 P.M., staggering, unsteady gait; tends to fall on turning round. 4 P.M., still under the influence of the drug; can walk steadily and well, but on standing, if undisturbed, rocks from side to side in the manner so often described. Experiment No. 134, Amballa charas, mashak, No. 2. Female cat, weight 4 lb 8 oz. Dose 1.5 grains at 1-10 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 135, Delhi district charas, dust. Female cat, weight 3 lb 4 3/4 oz. Dose 1.1 grains at 1-30 P.M. Slight effect produced. Experiment No. 136, Bombay charas. Female cat, weight 3 lb 3 3/4 oz. Dose 1.13 grains at 1-40 P.M. 2-30 P.M., rocking and swaying of body. 3 P.M., asleep with its nose on the ground; on being disturbed displays rocking and swaying of the body from side to side with the characteristic gait. Soon went to sleep when allowed 4 P.M., still under the influence of the drug. Experiment No. 137, Gwaliar charas. Female cat, weight 3 lb 7 3/4 oz. Dose 1.2 grains at 1-10 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 138, Kumaon charas (cultivated). Female cat, weight 4 lb 8 oz. Dose 1.57 grains at 1-40 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 139, Nepal charas, A. Male cat, weight 5 lb 7 oz. Dose 1.9 grains at 11-55 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 140, Nepal charas, B. Male cat, weight 3 lb 8 oz. Dose 1.22 grains at 12 noon. Effect nil. Experiment No. 141, Nepal charas, Shahjahani. Male cat, weight 4 lb 8 1/2 oz. Dose 1.58 grains at 1 P.M. Effect nil. (l) Ten experiments with a dose equivalent to 1/10,000 part of the body weight. Experiment No. 142, Bhagalpur bhang. Female cat, weight 5 lb 12 oz. Dose 4 grains at 11-50 A.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 143, Assam bhang. Male cat, weight 4 lb 10 oz. Dose 3.23 grains at 1-30 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 144, Amballa charas, mashak, No. 2. Male cat, weight 5 lb 5 1/2 oz. Dose 3.74 grains at 11-40 A.M. 1-10 P.M., rocking of body; on walking characteristic gait. 2 P.M., is very considerably affected; on walking tends to fall upon in side. 4 P.M., still under the influence of the drug. Experiment No. 145, Delhi District charas, dust. Male cat, weight 3 lb 8 oz. Dose 2.45 grains at 11-50 A.M. 2-30 P.M., asleep; when disturbed displays rocking of the body and the characteristic gait. 4 P.M., still under the influence of the drug, remaining asleep unless disturbed. Experiment No. 146, Gwalior charas. Male cat, weight 4 lb 8 1/2 oz. Dose 3.17 grains at 12-30 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 147, Kumaon charas (wild). Female cat, weight 3 lb 5 oz. Dose 2.31 grains at 12-25 P.M. 1-35 P.M., animal is sleepy; from time to time suffers from rocking of the body. 2 P.M., rocking of the body continues. 4 P.M., still slightly affected by the drug. Experiment No. 148, Kumaon charas (cultivated). Male cat, weight 4 lb 9 1/2 oz. Dose 3.21 grains at 1-5 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 149, Nepal charas, A. Female cat, weight 3 lb 3 oz. Dose 2.33 grains at 1-10 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 150, Nepal charas, B. Female cat, weight 4 lb 9 1/2 oz. Dose 3.21 grains at 1-35 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 151, Nepal charas, Shahjahani. Female cat, weight 2 lb 15 oz. Dose 2.05 grains at 1-55 P.M. Very slight effect indeed produced. (m) Seven experiments with a dose equivalent to 1/5,000 part of the body weight. Experiment No. 152, Bhagalpur bhang. Female cat, weight 3 lb 2 1/2 oz. Dose 4.4 grains at 12-45 P.M. 2-40 P.M., rocking of body and some tendency to sleep; walks well. 4 P.M., still displays effect of drug. Experiment No. 153, Assam bhang. Male cat, weight 3 lb 5 oz. Dose 4.63 grains at 1-30 P.M. 2-30 P.M., great difficulty in walking; staggering, unsteady gait; marked rocking of body. 3 P.M., asleep with its nose on the ground. 4 P.M., torpid and very definitely under the influence of the drug; characteristic gait. Experiment No. 154, Gwalior charas. Male cat, weight 4 lb 2 1/2 oz.; Dose 5.81 grains at 1-40 P.M. 2-15 P.M., rocking of body and staggering, unsteady gait. 3 P.M., very definite symptoms displayed. 4 P.M., still under the influence of the drug. Experiment No. 155, Kumaon charas (cultivated). Male cat, weight 4 lb 7 1/2 oz. Dose 6.25 grains at 2-15 P.M. 3 P.M., no apparent effect. 4 P.M., animal is excited and constantly on the move; no tendency to sleep; on running or walking it frequently falls on its side especially on turning round. Experiment No. 156, Nepal charas, A. Female cat, weight 3 lb 6 oz. Dose 4.72 grains at 2-20 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 157, Nepal charas, B. Female cat, weight 4 lb 6 1/2 oz. Dose 6.16 grains at 2-40 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 158, Nepal charas, Shahjahani. Male cat, weight 5 lb 2 1/2 oz. Dose 7.21 grains at 12 noon. Effect nil. (n) Three experiments with a dose equivalent to 1/2,500 part of the body weight. Experiment No. 159, Nepal charas, A. Female cat, weight 3 lb 2 oz. Dose 8.75 grains at 12-45 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 160, Nepal charas, B. Male cat, weight 3 lb 3 1/4 oz. Dose 8.96 grains at 1-35 P.M. Effect nil. Experiment No. 161, Nepal charas, Shahjahani. Male cat, weight 4 lb 4 1/4 oz. Dose 10.76 grains at 1-30 P.M. Effect nil.
CONCLUDING REMARKS. The method of testing samples of hemp drugs by ascertaining their physiological value may be regarded as much more satisfactory in the case of ganja and bhang than in the case of charas. For it is submitted that ganja and bhang do not lend themselves so readily to successful adulteration as charas. Consequently, while the results of the physiological tests may be assumed to have a definite comparative value in the case of the various samples of ganja and bhang, no such reliable result can be claimed from the experiments with the samples of charas. There are three samples of charas of which the physiological value has not been determined, i.e., the three samples of Nepal charas. For when a dose of more than ten grains administered to a cat weighing less than 4 1/4 lb produced no effects, it did not appear worth while to pursue the investigation further. Whether, however, these three samples are without physiological value due to successful adulteration, or to the absence of active principle in the ganja from which they were prepared, I am not in a position to say. To a varying degree the same remark applies to all those samples of charas in which the physiological value of the extract is much below that of the extract of the standard ganja. Alcohol is able to extract all the active principles present in any sample of hemp drugs. It will be seen on reference to table No. 1 that the quantity of the alcoholic extract varies greatly, and that it bears no relation to the physiological activity of the sample. As already stated this may be due in the case of charas to successful adulteration, but this is by no means to the same extent true in the case of ganja and bhang. In order, therefore, to obtain a true conception of the comparative value of any number of samples of ganja and bhang, they should be grouped, not according to the quantity of the alcoholic extract, nor yet according to the dose required to produce minimal effects, but according to the quantity of their alcoholic extracts which may be regarded as physiologically active. This has been roughly calculated and the results are given in table No. III. The samples of bhang yield a smaller percentage quantity of alcoholic extract than the samples of ganja. Their alcoholic extract is, in the majority of instances, much less active physiologically than the extracts of the samples of ganja. A point of considerable importance appears to be the great difference in physiological activity presented by the different samples of bhang. The doses of the bhang extracts range from 1/5,000 to 1/100,000 part of the body weight, a very much wider range than is presented by the ganja extracts. The bhang obtained from cultivated plants is at least four times as active as that obtained from wild plants. The Assam bhang from wild plants possesses equal activity with the sample of Bhagalpur bhang obtained from the Board of Revenue and utilised as a standard.
I would suggest that the other samples of bhang examined, i.e., Khandesh, Amballa, Sholapur, and Satara bhang were obtained either from cultivated plants or contained an accidental admixture of ganja. This would serve to account for their possessing greater physiological activity than the standard bhang. In conclusion, I have nothing to add to the foregoing remarks except that the experiments recorded, together with the necessary observations, occupied the greater part of each day during two months, apart altogether from the preparation of the alcoholic extracts half of which were prepared by Babu Ram Chandra Datta, 1st Assistant to the Chemical Examiner to Government. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of Mr. Hooper's report giving the results of his chemical analysis.
I have, &c., J. F. EVANS, M.B., Surgeon-Captain, Chemical Examiner to Government of Bengal.
Bengal Witnesses to the Hemp Commission
Questions from the Hemp Commission to Bengal Witnesses
Individual Witness Statements to the Hemp Commission.
