Cannabis usage in 19th Century India: The Punjab Province

 Overview

19th Century Political Map of India

(Source: Wikipedia)

The Punjab Province in 19th century India under British rule consisted of parts of modern-day Pakistan, as well as states neighbouring modern Punjab such as Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The districts covered by the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95 as a part of its report in 19th century Punjab were - Rawalpindi, Lahore, Simla, Jullundar, Sialkot, Gurdaspur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Delhi, Bannu, Gurgaon, Shahpur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Sirsa, Rawal Pindi, Gujranwala, Jhang, Karnal, Multan, Ferozepore, Umballa, Peshawar, Musaffargarh, Dharamsala, Kangra, Kulu, Palampur, Dera Ismail Khan, Ladakh.

This region was part of the Indus Valley Civilization dating back from about 3500 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, a contemporary of the Egyptian Civilization, had settled here for more than 2000 years, before migrating to other regions, including the North-East and the Southern Peninsula as a serious of droughts swept the Indus Valley. A number of mysteries surround the Indus Valley Civilization, including its writing. Could this Civilization have been extensive users of cannabis, the result of which was the lush cannabis growth that was widespread around this region? I wonder...

Bhang and charas as main form of cannabis consumption

The population of the Punjab Province in 19th century India consisted of Sikhs, Muhammedans and Hindus. One of the striking features of the Punjab Province, when it came to cannabis, was that a large percentage of the population drank cannabis as the beverage bhang. The Muhammedans and Sikhs adopted this form of consumption as they said that their scriptures forbade smoking. In this matter, these communities were similar to the upper caste Hindus of the Vaishnavite and Vedic religions. Charas was also used, but mostly by Hindu sadhus and Muhammedan fakirs, besides the working classes and the poorer sections of society. In this manner, there was a separation of cannabis users based on classes and castes, the upper classes and castes - including the religious orthodoxy of Sikhism, Islam and Hindu religions - consuming cannabis as the beverage bhang, and the lower classes and castes among these religions smoking cannabis as charas.

The use of bhang was probably more widespread in the Punjab Province than in any other region of 19th century India. In most other places, we see ganja and bhang dominate, with the former being used by large majorities of the population who consisted of the spiritual mendicants, lower castes, working classes and indigenous communities, and the latter being used by the upper classes and castes of all religions. Mr. T.G. Walker, the Excise Commissioner, says in the Punjab Memorandum that 'Another fact that may be noted is that the districts of Ferozepore, Ludhiana, Lahore, and Amritsar, which come after Mooltan and Dera Ghazi Khan in this matter of consumption of bhang, are those in which the Sikh element is strongest. The Sikh population of the province being 1,389,934, these four districts contribute 781,439 towards this total. It seems likely that the prohibition amongst the Sikhs of tobacco-smoking has a good deal to do with their preference for the drug in a liquid state. ' Arjan Singh, Sikh, Extra Assistant Commissioner, Dera Ghazi Khan, in response to the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95, says 'In the Dera Ghazi Khan district about sixty per cent. of the adult male population drink bhang either occasionally or regularly.' Fakir Sayed Jamaluddin, Honorary Extra Assistant Commissioner, Lahore, says 'The consumption of bhang is very common. I should think 50 or 60 per cent. addicted to it.' It was not just the Sikhs in the Punjab Province who consumed cannabis as the beverage bhang, but also the Muslim population. As alcohol, like smoking, was viewed as against the religious scriptures of the Muslims, many preferred bhang over alcohol. Mr. Walker, the Excise Commissioner, states in his memorandum that 'The Muhammadan population of the south-western districts (Mooltan, Muzaffargarh, and Dera Ghazi Khan), who are prohibited by their religion from the use of spirits, are to a very large extent addicted to drinking an infusion of bhang as an intoxicant. It will be observed that the consumption in the two districts of Mooltan and Dera Ghazi Khan is between one-fourth and one-fifth of that of the whole province. In these districts bhang is undoubtedly a substitute with the Muhammadan population for the spirits which their creed forbids them to take.' The drinking of cannabis flower as a beverage was fueled by the fact that it enabled people in North India to escape the summer heat. The Commission reports that 'The use as a summer drink seems to be much more common in the northern parts of India, which are characterized by intense dry heat, than in the southern. The dividing line might be drawn with fair accuracy from the Runn of Cutch to Darjeeling.'  

Charas was also consumed in significant quantities, especially by the lower classes and castes, and the holy men of Hindu and Muslim religions. The consumption of charas in the Punjab Province can be regarded as among the highest in India, along with the North Western Province since these provinces were the gateway for imported charas flowing in from places like Yarkand and Bokhara. Besides this, there was the extraction of charas in small quantities by the agricultural and working classes as a result of interacting with the cultivated or spontaneous cannabis growth, as it happened through out India wherever cannabis was cultivated. Lieutenant-Colonel J. A. L. Montgomery, Deputy Commissioner, Sialkot, says 'Hindu sadhus and jogis are said to be very generous smokers of charas. A small proportion of other fakirs (both Hindu and Musalman) and also prostitutes are also said to smoke it. So also Purbiahs in cantonments, of the syce and dhobi class, and of the khidmatgar class.' The consumption of charas was 'most prevalent in the Ludhiana district, and to a somewhat less degree in the Himalayan districts, and in and about the cities of Delhi, Umballa, Amritsar, Lahore, and Peshawar', according to the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission. The rate of consumption of charas in Ludhiana district was said to have been twice as much as that in Bengal. Reporting on individual consumption of charas, the Commission states that 'In the North-Western Provinces Mr. Stoker estimated the individual consumption of charas at half a sér per annum. In the Punjab a somewhat higher rate might be adopted because the drug is cheaper, the price to consumers ranging from Rs. 4 to Rs. 15 per sér in this province, while in the North-Western Provinces it was Rs.7 1/2 to Rs.25. If the number of consumers be taken at 60 instead of 80 to the maund, the total number for a total consumption of 1,200 maunds will be 72,000. The divisions of Delhi, Jullundur, and Lahore consume five times as much as Rawalpindi, Peshawar, and the Derajat, and there must therefore be 60,000 consumers in the former to 12,000 in the latter.' The Excise Commissioner, T.G. Walker, says in the Punjab Memorandum that 'It will be seen from these figures that the consumption of this form of drug [charas] is heaviest in the Delhi and Jullundur Divisions...'

Sources of bhang in the Punjab Province

The fact that the people of Punjab consumed the cannabis plant as bhang meant that there was no specific import of ganja from anywhere. Most of the bhang consumed was locally available in the abundant spontaneous growth, within easy access of the people. The Commission reports that 'The mass of the bhang consumed is collected within the province mostly from the wild growth. There is a considerable import from over the Kashmir frontier which, the Excise Commissioner remarks, may be regarded as local production, for the plant is collected at no great distance from the border.'

Regarding the spontaneous and wild growth of the cannabis plant in the Punjab Province in the 19th century, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-05 reports that 'Its prevalence seems to be most notorious in the districts of Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, and Jullundur, because the bhang contractors draw their supplies from, these districts; but witnesses, many of them of high authority, such as the Commissioner of Rawalpindi, speak to its existence in greater or less profusion throughout the submontane districts from Peshawar to Umballa. Contradiction may occasionally be found regarding the density and abundance of the growth, but about its frequent occurrence in this stretch of country there can be no doubt.' The spontaneous growth in urban areas, where it was reported to be quite widespread, was fueled by the consumption of cannabis as bhang by the followers of the Sikh religion.

The use was to such a great extent that not just the holy city of the Sikhs, Amritsar, but even the way that led to it were said to be adorned with cannabis plants that had sprouted through the casual dispersal of cannabis seeds by those consuming bhang. The Commission reports that 'Amritsar is not only the great market for bhang as well as charas, but it is the head-quarters of the Sikh religion, and the former drug is largely consumed by the followers of that faith. It seems to be a regular drink or refreshment with the visitors to the Golden Temple. When members of the Commission visited the city, a dense growth of bhang flourished over a large area in the outlying parts of the public gardens and countless plants in the hedgerows surrounding the city. The seeds discarded from the large quantity of bhang that is daily consumed in the city sufficiently account for this growth, and it is probable that the ways leading to Amritsar from the country round are sown with hemp in the same way.'

Mr. Denzil Ibbetson, Deputy commissioner, Jalandhar, says 'I am writing in the centre of a tract where many thousands of acres have bhang at the present moment springing up all over them. It is the tract where the choks, or shallow hill-streams from the Sivaliks, tail out over the country. The seed is brought down in the first instance by the water from the hills; but as it flowers and seeds in this district, much of it is locally self-sown. It is most plentiful where the first flood has not been strong enough to carry away all the seed from the surface, where the water has collected or been obstructed, and has dried up, leaving the seed on the surface, where the flood has deposited fertilising loam, and where last year's weeding was badly done, so as to leave many plants to shed seed....A field of good soil will, if favourably situated, and not cultivated, become covered in two or three years with a thick growth of bhang which it is exceedingly difficult to eradicate.' Punjab was heaven for the cannabis plant. So much effort must have gone into eradicating it. He further says 'It grows more plentifully in the Hoshiarpur district (through which the choks come to us); and the bhang of Ambala, in the Una tahsil, is especially famous - "Bhang jo piwe Ambota ki, Sudh na rahe langote ki"..."He who drinks Ambota bhang forgets to tie his loin cloth."'

We see that the bulk of the cannabis required to meet the needs of the people is obtained from this spontaneous growth of the plant from discarded seeds. So, it appears that the whole process is self-sustaining, where through the usage the people keep the plant available in abundance without having to resort to dedicated cultivation of it. The Hemp Commission reports that 'The desultory cultivation of a few plants seems to be a wide-spread practice; but the total amount of bhang produced by it cannot be important— must, in fact, be trifling compared with what the wild growth yields.' This is despite there being no restriction or legal prohibition on the cultivation of cannabis. The Commission states that 'There is no legal prohibition to the growth of hemp, but it is probable that it is discouraged and restricted by the fact that the sale of the produce is under regulation.' Individuals and households grew a few plants in their gardens or along with other crops to meet their personal needs. 

Cultivation appears to have been done in both the kharif and rabi seasons. The Commission reports that 'A memorandum by Hari Chand, Assistant to the Commissioner of Excise, states that "people grow it in both harvests in the months of March and November. They cut plants for use in February and June."'

Regarding the widespread practice of home growing cannabis, Mr. Alexander Anderson, Deputy Commissioner of Delhi stated, in response to questions in the Financial Commissioner's Circular No. 13 of 1880, that 'Almost every house has a small patch near it, a long strip beside a hedge or a small bed, a few square yards in area. Some of the patches were such that no accurate idea could be formed of the area;'. He says 'for instance in Lahoul, the only use to which it is put is to make twine for the snow or straw shoes so generally worn here.' 

Sources of charas in the Punjab Province

Charas was mostly imported from neighbouring regions though individual households sometimes made their own charas from the cannabis plants they grew. This was essentially for personal consumption and not for commercial purposes. The Commission reports that 'They came from Lahoul, Spiti, Bokhara, Yarkand, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Kashmir.' The charas from Yarkand and Bokhara, in particular, was in high demand and the Commission's report details the method of manufacture of charas from Yarkand.

The Punjab Province was the chief importer of charas in India in the 19th century since it was consumed in copious amounts. Most of the charas came from Central Asia i.e. Turkmenstan, Bokhara and Yarkand. The Russians appear to have already started causing trouble by restricting charas trade within their territories. The finest charas is reported to be from Bokhara which was in high demand towards the west, so it was mostly charas from Yarkand that was imported into India. License-holders for charas sales in the Punjab Province appear to have had a stranglehold on the trade, dictating the prices at which traders from Central Asia brought the charas, since once it reached Leh - the place where charas changed hands between them - the charas traders preferred to sell the product rather than carry it back after the long journey. Despite the price control by the license-holding charas contractors from Punjab, it is said that good prices were obtained due to the high demand for the article. The Commission reports that 'The charas having arrived at Leh, and having apparently passed into the hands of Indian traders, is taken to the Punjab by two routes, via Kashmir and viá Kulu. The ganja, gard bhang, or chura charas manufactured in Kashmir is all consumed locally; none is exported to the Punjab (Kashmir Governor's Memorandum). The Kashmir authorities take precautions to see that the Yarkand charas passes through with bulk unbroken, and they levy duty on any that may be sold in Srinagar. The import by this route may be roughly stated at 500 maunds. Six or seven times as much is imported direct through Kulu to Hoshiarpur, and during the last three years the amount has grown considerably.' The bulk of the imported charas appears to be consumed by the Punjab Province and the North-Western Province. 

Regarding the process followed for the import and transport of charas into the Punjab Province, the Commission states that 'The traders who bring charas from Yarkand are not licensed, but they have to obtain a pass from the Joint Commissioner at Leh or from the Deputy Commissioner of the district where they enter the Punjab, and take it for countersignature to the Deputy Commissioner or Collector of every district in the Punjab or the North-Western Provinces which they may enter with the charas. The consignment may be opened at any head-quarters station or tahsil while on its way to its destination, and a portion of its contents may be sold to the farmer of excise for drugs, the fact being recorded on the pass and the package resealed. When a consignment is conveyed by rail, the provision requiring it to be taken to the Deputy Commissioner or Collector of every district through which it passes is dispensed with.'

Mr. Alexander Anderson, Deputy Commissioner of Delhi says 'Charas arrives in the Punjab in September and October, and remains good during the cold weather. But heat and moisture cause it to deteriorate very rapidly; but it is said in the second winter probably mixed with some quantity of the new crops, and cheaper. In the third year it has lost almost all of its intoxicating effects, and is sold very cheap. Charas retains its effects longer the drier it is kept.' 

Even though the bulk of the charas required to meet the demand in the Punjab Province was imported, there was a small but significant amount of local production, especially on a small scale, mostly to meet individual consumption needs. Regarding the local preparation of charas, Mr. Alexander Anderson, Deputy Commissioner of Delhi says 'The leaves of the wild plant are principally used, scarcely ever those of the cultivated plant.  One plan used to extract the narcotic principle is to rub in the hands the green leaves, especially such as are in their natural state, glutinous to the touch. Thet are more or less glutinous in years of little rainfall; rain is said to wash off the viscous substance in which the drug mostly exists, hence the large production of charas in Yarkand and Ladakh, countries of minimum rainfall.  The leaves are rubbed for a long time in the hands which are allowed to dry, and then with a knife whatever remains on the palms is scraped off, and is used in the hukka as is charas.  A man can make in one day from Kulu bhang only enough for two smokes. The effect of the charas made in this way is not, it is said, quite equal to that of Yarkand or Ladakh charas but I have also been told that it has much more effect, from its being pure, which imported charas is not.' 

In the Report on the External Land Trade of the Punjab for the year 1891-92, it says '"The trade with Ladakh is in the hands of four classes:—(1) The merchants of Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, and Sultanpur.—Many of the latter are Lahulis, who deal chiefly in wool. The Indian merchants send up piece-goods or tea in the spring and bring down Yarkand and Ladakh produce, chiefly charas, in the autumn. They use mules for carriage. Latterly the more wealthy muleteers have commenced to trade on their own account. (2) The Yarkandis.— These men generally dispose of their goods at Leh, but some of them come on to India with charas, carpets, and numdahs. Many also, after selling their goods at Leh, bring on for sale in India the horses upon which these goods were laden. Having disposed of their means of carriage, they generally return empty-handed. (3) The Baltis of Baltistan, who visit Simla in the cold weather in search of employment as road coolies and the like.—They are often erroneously called Ladakhis. They do not visit India for the sake of trade, but they take the opportunity of bringing with them dried apricots, which accounts for the entry 'fruits' under the head of imports, returning to their own country with as much as they can carry of brass, copper, and iron vessels. Some of them also carry back with them China cups and saucers, which are in demand in a tea-drinking country. (4) Bhotis, which term includes the Mongolian races inhabiting Ladakh, Zanskar, Chinese Thibet, and Lahul.—The wool and pashm imported by the Bhotis are laden chiefly on the backs of sheep and goats. These sheep and goats figure in the returns of imports. On being discharged of their burdens at Sultanpur they are sold to butchers from Simla. Beyond the various food-grains which are in demand in their desolate, sparsely cultivated country the Bhotis carry little back with them from India. The amount of grain which they can take with them is not much, as they have disposed of their means of carriage."'

The religious and social association of cannabis

As in the rest of the country, cannabis was associated with a number of religious occasions across religions in the Punjab Province. The Hemp Commission goes to the extent of stating that cannabis as bhang was part of the sacred traditions of the Sikhs, endorsed by the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib and  the Sikh Guru , Guru Gobind Singh. The Hemp Commission says, 'Among the Sikhs the use of bhang as a beverage appears to be common, and to be associated with their religious practices. The witnesses who refer to this use by the Sikhs appear to regard it as an essential part of their religious rites having the authority of the Granth or Sikh scripture. It is customary among the Sikhs generally to drink bhang, so that Guru Gobind Singh has himself said the following poems in praise of bhang: "Give me, O Saki (butler), a cup of green colour (bhang), as it is required by me at the time of battle'"(vide 'Suraj Parkash,' the Sikh religious book).'  Witness Sodhi Iswar Singh, Extra Assistant Commissioner, says, 'As far as I know, bhang is pounded by the Sikhs on the Dasehra day, and it is ordinarily binding upon every Sikh to drink it as a sacred draught by mixing water with it.' 

We see in Punjab the practice of distributing cannabis to the poorest sections of society - the spiritual mendicants and beggars - at religious institutions. This practice continued for a long time even as the administration tightened its hold on the cannabis culture. The Commission reports that 'A unique custom of dispensing bhang at a religious charitable institution is that mentioned by witness Baba Kirpa Singh. The institution, as a relic of old Sikh times, is annually permitted to collect without interference a boat load of bhang, which is afterwards distributed throughout the year to the sadhus and beggars who are supported by the dharamsala.' Mr. Coldstream, Deputy Commissioner, Simla says ' it [bhang] is used by the akalis at Anandpur Mahkhowal, by Sikhs at the Posi dharamsala (Garhshankar tahsil), and I believe at Derah Baba Nanak (Gurdaspur district). There is a Sikh dharamsala near the Ravi, for the use of which I have heard that Sir Donald MacLeod, as an exceptional case, permitted a boat load of charas to be transported annually, free of duty, down the river from the submontane tract. where the plant grows.'  Assistant Surgeon Sahib Ditta, in medical charge of Hospital, Multan, says 'As regards bhang I know there are places, such as Baba Atal in Amritsar city, Sultansahib village in Khasa in the Amritsar district and Apchala Nagar, in Hyderabad Dukkan, and several other places which are the head-quarters of the Jogi fakirs, where bhang drink in large quantity is prepared at fixed hours regularly and distributed among all present at the time; and in the case of Apchala Nagar, which the 10th Sikh Gooroo Gobind Singh's place, its distribution is regarded as religious and no one present is supposed to refuse it when offered.' Rai Bahadur Thakur Das, Assistant Surgeon, Ferozepore, says 'It is said that during Ranjit Singh' time it was distributed gratis as "suda burat" both by the Government and certain other chiefs, and was used by most of the chiefs and sirdars themselves, and their example was followed by others.' He says "Bhang in Sikh and Hindu temples is used by about 90 per cent, Hindu fakirs about 40 percent, Muhammedan fakirs about 60 per cent.' In this practice of free cannabis distribution in the Hindu and Sikh temples to the poor and the needy, we see commonalities with the mutts and dargahs in South India where cannabis was distributed to the spiritual mendicants and beggars.

Mr. J. R. Drummond, Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon says that 'The Jat nation throughout the province (whether Hindus or Sikhs, claim the local representatives for their religious pale) is devoted very largely to bhang. In the social economy of a Jat village, in the Palwal Tahsil of the Gurgaon district, or on the borders of the Ludhiana and Ferozepur districts, the bowl of hemp infusion is an essential feature in the place that serves as the council room and guest-house of the community.'

The use of cannabis by the Sikh armed forces

The Sikh armies have always been known for the valour and fighting abilities. They are known to strike terror in the hearts of their opponents, much like the Vikings and Huns. Stories of small numbers of Sikh warriors routing larger armies abound in the history of Sikh warfare. In modern India'a armed forces, they are unmatched warrior clans along with the Gurkha regiments. It is said that a Sikh is born with a sickle in one hand and a sword in the other. Bhang was a quintessential part of the Sikh armed forces even until the 19th century. Mr. J. P. Warburton, District Superintendent of Police, states in response to the Hemp Commission that, 'In Guru Govind Singh's times, I think the permission to use bhang instead of alcohol was given, and this was carried on in the Sikh nation and was the origin of the use in the Sikh army.'  Mr. Coldstream, Deputy Commissioner, Simla says 'The connection of bhang with the national life of the Sikhs in their fighting days is worth mentioning. The Sikh religious warfare (for the worship of cold steel was part of the religion of the Sikhs), such as nihangs, were much given to the use of bhang. One great band or confederacy from this habit obtained the name of the Bhangi Misl; and no doubt much of its prowess was due to the fanatic ardour inspired by the droughts of hemp. The misl had a famous cannon of vast calibre used by Ranjit Singh at the siege of Multan, called 'the bhangi top". It is still to be seen in Lahore, and (like Mons Meg in Edinburgh) is one of the popular sights of the place.'

By the time of the Hemp Commission, the use of bhang had dropped drastically in the Sikh regiments. The senior officers of British origin viewed cannabis in general with suspicion and gradually suppressed its use within the armed forces, encouraging the use of alcohol instead. The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission says in its report that 'Armed Forces. Extent of use reported. 410. There are regiments in all three presidencies and in the Native States in which the hemp drugs in one form or other are shown to be used by 5 per cent. of the men and followers. Forty-nine out of the 274 corps come under this category, and the number evidently falls far short of the truth. In some corps the number of consumers is far higher than 5 per cent. In some corps the use, if the reports are to be taken literally, does not exist, or is quite infinitesimal, or is practically confined to the followers. The consumption in these corps is no doubt trifling in most cases, but it is difficult to accept it as fact as regards any regiment that the drugs are not used at all, especially in regiments of Sikhs, who are extremely partial to bhang;'. Army witness No. 44 says '41. No, not as a rule, unless taken after violent exercise, a long or cold march, etc. 42. I think it would be better if they were not taken at all. If once taken to it becomes a regular habit, and would in the end probably act injuriously. Sikhs drink a little bhang after a long march, etc., and are benefited by it temporarily.' Army witness No. 47 says '41. As before stated, the use of ganja and charas are looked on as baneful, but bhang is regarded as beneficial in the hot weather, when it is principally used. 42. I am unable to say of my own knowledge. I have seen cases of sepoys invalided on account of excessive indulgence in drugs, but am unable to say whether the drugs were opium, charas, ganja or bhang. The Jats and Sikhs, who principally consume bhang, are as fine men as are to be found in the native army. It seems therefore reasonable to suppose that the moderate use of bhang at any rate is harmless.'

One of the facts that is not spoken about much is that the desire to repress cannabis by the administration was also probably driven by the fear that cannabis use would promote free thinking and rebellion. I believe the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 was initiated by cannabis users. We see some instances of this in a few witness accounts in the Punjab Province. Mr. J. P. Warburton, District Superintendent of Police, states that 'The Kukas who went from Ludhiana to Maler Kotla in January 1872 and killed a number of people in the Maland and Maler Kotla State services were said to have taken bhang. The Kukas take bhang, and these were habitual bhang takers; and in all probability they took a good deal them, as they had met together. I certainly do not think that but for the bhang they would not have made their onslaught. The movement was a political one; and this was their first act of rebellion.' 

Other uses of cannabis in the Punjab Provinces

We see in the Punjab Province, like in the North Western Province, that cannabis was used for other purposes such as food, rope, and footwear.

Mr. Coldstream, Deputy Commissioner, Simla says 'In the Simla district (as generally in the Punjab submontane) hemp is commonly grown for its fibre, which is made into ropes for ordinary uses.' 

Speaking about the use of cannabis seeds as food, Mr. Alexander Anderson, Deputy Commissioner of Delhi says 'So far as I can ascertain the only part of the cultivated plant used in Kulu as a drug is the seed called bhangolu. The seed is parched and mixed with some kind of parched grain, generally wheat, and the mixture is eaten in a dry state. It is said that bhangolu produces considerable warmth of body and even affects the eyes as does charas. The seed of the wild plant is much smaller than that of the cultivated plant and is not used parched with grain. Bhangolu seems to be eaten in considerable quantities by zamindars and others, to ward of the effect of extreme cold. It is found in the largest quantity in Rupi and Seeraj, and in Kulu principally in the Kethis on the Sarvari, where also the hemp plant grows wild. The Seorajis sell or exchange bhangolu for wool with the Lahoulis who eat it and also sow it, as in Lahoul of the cold weather commences very early, the plant does not seed.' Mr. Coldstream, Deputy Commissioner, Simla says 'Villagers in the hills in the cold season occasionally roast its seeds and mix them with parched wheat or hathu, or with rice....In Bashahr its seeds, parched and crushed, yield an oil (bhang ka tel). In some villages of Bashahr the ripe seed is mixed with spirit to make the latter more intoxicating.'  

Regulatory process for cannabis in the Punjab Province

The Punjab Province was governed by the same Excise Act XXII of 1881 that regulated the North Western Provinces. As we saw in the case of the North Western Provinces, there was no regulation whatsoever on the cultivation of cannabis. The only regulation was that the cultivated cannabis, if sold, had to be sold to a licensed vendor.

During the time of the Hemp Commission's report there was no concept of separate wholesale licenses from retail licenses for vendors of opium and cannabis in the Punjab Province. This meant that holding one license gave access to both wholesale and retail of cannabis gave immense power to the license holder. Powerful and wealthy drug contractors could corner not just charas but also opium both of which gave much more revenue than bhang, the term here including the cannabis flower or ganja. There was clearly incentive for the drug contractors to sell more opium as this earned a greater slice of revenue than duty on the imported charas. There was absolutely no incentive in taxing bhang (inclusive of the ganja flower) because most of the bhang was locally sourced from the spontaneous growth in the region. The preference of selling opium by the drug contractors over charas can be viewed as the early signs of the heroin crisis that now envelops Punjab and Lahore. The Excise Commissioner of Punjab clearly expresses the desire to impose duty on imported charas as well as suggests taxing bhang which had so far escaped taxation. The Commission states that 'In the report for 1893 the Excise Commissioner says: "Taking Rs. 1,70,854 to be approximately the real value of the licenses for the sale of hemp drugs, it represents the total taxation now levied on a consumption of upwards of 1,000 maunds of charas and of nearly 4,000 maunds of bhang." This is "the weakest part of our excise system in the Punjab. It is hoped that we are now within measurable distance of arrangements which will give us complete control over the import trade in charas, and enable us to impose a duty which can be gradually raised. Owing to the fact that the plant grows wild in so many districts, and is to be had for the gathering, while charas comes in by a few well recognised routes and can scarcely escape us, it is much more difficult to deal with the trade in bhang efficiently. But I am in hopes that the Government will agree before very long to the introduction of some measures for the direct taxation of bhang too."' Along with the increasing preference of the upper classes to alcohol, it is quite certain that the increasing prices of cannabis pushed more people, especially the upper classes, towards opium as well. Apparently, the Punjab government was hesitant to impose tax on bhang at that time, given the social and religious significance of it to the Sikhs. The Commission states that 'The opinion of the Punjab Government on this question is that "in regard to matters of this sort, which involve an interference with ancient and firmly rooted habits of large masses of the people, it is desirable to proceed cautiously, doing one thing at a time."' This, however, did not stop the government from eventually completely prohibiting all cannabis - charas, ganja and bhang - a prohibition that lasts to this day, supported even by governments of the Akalis, and all other political groups, since in essence Indian politics today is completely controlled by the same upper classes and castes that worked with the British to ban cannabis and introduce alcohol and opium, their preferred drugs.

Widespread opposition to the prohibition of cannabis

In terms of those in favor of prohibition of charas and/or bhang, we see a total of 18 witnesses out of 95 supporting prohibition, about 20%. These essentially comprised British officers and missionaries, local zamindars, a government pleader, a newspaper editor and a couple of prohibition advocacy groups that advocated prohibition of all intoxicants. It is interesting to see that many of these persons cite inadequate knowledge on the subject but still express their opinion on the subject. Some of them acknowledge that prohibition will lead to increased opium and alcohol use but still insist on prohibition of cannabis.

In terms of those opposing prohibition of cannabis we see, much like in the rest of India, that higher ranked officials, senior medical experts and persons of high social standing firm in their opposition to cannabis prohibition. The Commission reports that '1) Prohibition [of charas in the Punjab] impossible or unnecessary, or could not be enforced without a large preventive establishment. - [Evidence of](1) Mr. Rivaz, First Financial Commissioner. (3) Mr. Thorburn, Commissioner. (6) Mr. Ibbetson, Deputy Commissioner. (8) Mr. Maconachie, Deputy Commissioner. (13) Mr. Drummond, Deputy Commissioner. (66) Kazi Syad Ahmad, retired Government servant. (2) Prohibition [of charas in the Punjab] 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. - - [Evidence of] (3) Mr. Thorburn, Commissioner. (6) Mr. Ibbetson, Deputy Commissioner. (10) Mr. A. Anderson, Deputy Commissioner. (8) Mr. Maconachie, Deputy Commissioner. (13) Mr. Drummond, Deputy Commissioner. (29) Mr. Brown, Officiating Deputy Inspector-General of Police. (39) Thakur Das, Rai Bahadur, Assistant Surgeon. (36) Bhagwan Dass, Assistant Surgeon. (25) Muhammad Ikramulla Khan, Khan Bahadur, Honorary Extra Assistant Commissioner. (27) Muhammad Barkat Ali Khan, Khan Bahadur, retired Extra Assistant Commissioner. (61) Bahram Khan, Honorary Magistrate. (93) Gujar Mal, Trader. (94) Jawala Bhagat, Trader. (3) Prohibition might lead to use of dhatura or other intoxicants worse than charas. - [Evidence of] (76) Babu P. C. Chatterji, Judge, Chief Court. (10) Mr. A. Anderson, Deputy Commissioner. (18) Rai Bahadur Bhagwan Dass, Extra Assistant Commissioner. (39) Thakur Das, Rai Bahadur, Assistant Surgeon. (27) Muhammad Barkat Ali Khan, Khan Bahadur, retired Extra Assistant Commissioner. (86) Lachman Dass, Merchant.' 

Regarding prohibition of bhang and charas, Mr. C. M. Rivaz, Officiation First Financial Commissioner, says in his evidence to the Commission that 'But I think a very strong case would have to be made to justify prohibition. I mean this from general principles, apart from the very great practical difficulties of prohibition.  You could prohibit charas without much practical difficulty, as it is an imported drug; though some charas would certainly find its way into India. It is in regard to bhang that there would be the great practical difficulty, as it grows wild in so many parts of the country. I do not consider that such a strong case as would justify prohibition can be made out in regard to either charas or bhang, certainly not in the Punjab'.  Lt. Colonel J.B. Hutchinson of Lahore states that 'In regard to bhang, I think the difficulties of restriction owing to the wild growth are so great that any attempt to restrict would lead to greater evils than the drug itself. There would be such a plague of locusts in the shape of excise officers, spies and informers, that the evils would be worse than result from consumption.' Mr. Denzil Ibbetson, Deputy commissioner, Jalandhar, says 'I do not think there would be any difficulty (answer 7) in prohibiting the cultivation of bhang. There would only be the risk of a patwai or policeman making a false charge of cultivating. But this, of course, would not be possible in districts where it does not grow wild. The only district, which I know where the wild plant is found only occasionally and not abundantly, is Karnal, where the stuff grows only on Government land by the banks of canals. The seeds come from the hills. It either spreads luxuriantly as a wild plant, or the seed is carried as by canals. I doubt whether people could be held responsible to exterminate the plant on their own lands. Take my district Jullundar. No one would dream of compelling a man to be responsible for the plants on his fields in the north of the district, where it grows in profusion as a weed. And I do not see how you could draw a line and say: north of this a man is responsible for the plants on his land; south of it he is not. My position is that the holding of a man responsible for plants on his own land is inexpedient, because it is either where the plant grows wild and the order is impossible or where it does not grow wild and the order is unnecessary. Besides the order would lead to laying down hard-and-fast lines, which would appear to the people unjust. There is no rule against cultivation that I know. So long as a man does not pluck and "possess" more than a quarter of a seer at a time you cannot reach him.' 

Evidence of the alcohol problem as early as the 19th century

Today we see the modern state of Punjab in the midst of a severe alcohol crisis, in addition to an opium crisis. The early inroads that alcohol was making into Punjabi society was evident in the 19th century itself. Many of the upper classes in the Punjab Province had already adopted the stance that upper classes drank bhang and lower classes smoked charas. This desire to be part of the upper classes was one of the primary drivers for embracing both cannabis flower as a beverage, in the first place, and then subsequently alcohol when it was found that this is what the British rulers and upper classes consumed. The Commission reports that 'On the contrary, there is evidence that the better classes are giving up bhang for liquor—a change of habit which has been noticed in other provinces.' Mr. C. M. Rivaz, Officiation First Financial Commissioner, says in his evidence to the Commission that 'I should say certainly that liquor has come more prominently to my notice than these other drugs [cannabis and opium] in its effect on the health and well-being of the people.' He further says. 'I am not aware of any worse intoxicants in the Punjab than opium drugs and liquor.' Lt. Colonel J.B. Hutchinson of Lahore states that 'I have had lots of cases where rows and fights, in which the results have been serious, have occurred after liquor; but not with hemp drugs. That is, it has never been brought before me as a Magistrate that the crime was due to hemp drugs; but it has been brought before me that it was due to drink.' Honorary Surgeon Rahim Khan, Khan Bahadur, Superintendent, Medical School, Lahore, says 'Yes; alcohol is now being , to a great extent, substituted for bhang and charas. The causes for this change are:- 1st. - That alcohol, both in the form of English spirits and country spirits, since the introduction of the village distillery system, has been placed within easy reach of the people. 2nd. - Because the effects of alcohol are instantaneous and more hilarious than those of charas or bhang. 3rd.- Because alcohol is obtained ready made, whereas consumption of charas and bhang entails a great deal of trouble in preparing them before they can be consumed. 4th. - The educated young men of the present generation use alcohol in preference to either bhang or charas, because they consider spirit drinking a refined and fashionable custom, and the other ungentlemanlike and boorish. Almost every village and private residence afford ample proofs of the above statement; for the people can be seen, in quick succession, who have given up the use or consider the use of the hemp plant ungentlemanlike and have become devotees to Bacchus.' In his oral evidence, he says 'In this answer by the "village distillery system" I mean the system by which liquor can be made in almost any large village. Rather, I mean that there are liquor shops in almost every village. This system, I believe, was introduced some 20 years ago. I believe that the number of shops gores on increasing every year. I speak in this answer principally of the city of Lahore and its suburbs and the adjacent villages....I regard the substitution of alcohol for bhang and charas as a matter of regret.' Hakim Ghulam Nabi, Medical Practitioner, Lahore, says 'The use of liquor has now reached to such a degree, and is still on the increase, that if the Government does not adopt measures to check it, it will be impossible to remedy the pecuniary and physical injuries done by it to the people.' P. C. Chatterji, Pleader, Chief Court, Lahore, says 'I attribute this to the spread of English education and ideas. English-knowing people are apt to look down upon the use of hemp drugs or intoxicants, and prefer to use liquor.' Salig Ram, Kayasth, Drug Contractor, Delhi, says 'If charas and bhang-consumers become rich, they drink liquor. If has been twice noticed that in the famine, drunkards consumed charas and bhang and kept their senses. It was also seen that if a consumer's child took the company of charas-consumers, then with the object of stopping him he is told if he is accustomed to intoxicants to take liquor instead of charas. The proof is evident. Charas is taken by those who are not able to drink liquor'. Lieutenant-Colonel J. A. L. Montgomery, Deputy Commissioner, Sialkot, says 'Bhang is still cheaper than alcohol. It is said that the richer people who used to take bhang are now more inclined to take alcohol.' Mr Alexander Anderson, Deputy Commissioner of Delhi says 'There has been a greater sale of cheap Indi-European liquors and of cheap French (?) brandy than before. It is said by people generally that English spirits are being much more largely used, and natives of position have assured me that this is the case.' 

The Hemp Commission says: Use of hemp drugs with alcohol. 425. The hemp drugs are sometimes used to doctor alcoholic drinks. In the Punjab the name lutki is given to a concoction of this kind. In Baluchistan there is also said to be a drink called mudra, which is compounded of dhatura, bhang, alcohol, and opium. The drink is also known in the Punjab. In other quarters the hemp drugs are said to be smoked after drinking liquor to add to the intoxication. The evidence of the association of the hemp drugs with alcohol in these ways is fortunately scanty. The practice is probably rare, for it implies a recklessness in in temperance which is foreign to the Indian character.' Reporting on the proliferation of alcohol even among the traditionally bhang-drinking Sikh armed forces, the Commission says '413. The Sikhs drink bhang and do not smoke; but it is reported of more than one Sikh regiment that the men do not use any of the drugs. In one regiment they have given up bhang for the good rum which the canteen supplies.'

The ever-increasing presence of opium

Today, we see the modern state of Punjab in the grip of a heroin-fueled opium crisis. The close proximity to Pakistan and Afghanistan has meant that the state is flooded with heroin and addiction is one of the key public health concerns in the state. The state of Punjab also serves as one of the gateways of the flow of heroin both into India and out of it as a part of the Far East - Middle East heroin pathway. The push by the British administration and the Indian upper castes and classes to replace cannabis with opium is reaping deadly harvests today.  Fakir Sayed Jamaluddin, Honorary Extra Assistant Commissioner, Lahore, says 'Opium generally serves as the substitute for every other intoxicant. A drunkard or consumer of bhang takes opium if he gives up the use of liquor or bhang.'

The total confusion regarding ganja and bhang

In the Punjab Province, the smoking of cannabis flower as ganja was relatively unknown and so the only term used to describe the cannabis flower was bhang. The term ganja was, thus, also relatively unknown in the Punjab Province. In South India, where the drinking of cannabis flower as a beverage was relatively unknown, i.e. cannabis flower was smoked, the term bhang is almost unknown. In South India, people only knew the term ganja. 

The statement that we often see is that cannabis was cultivated in the Punjab Province only for bhang, never for ganja. What this statement hides is the fact that the term bhang is used socially and culturally in this context for the mode of consumption of cannabis. The use of the terms bhang, ganja and charas for the leaves, flowers and resin, as used by some witnesses across India led to the utter confusion that we find the country in today regarding ganja and bhang. The Hemp Commission states that 'In the Punjab the use of ganja disappears, the indications of its existence being found only in the statements of occasional witnesses. It has no place in the excise arrangements. Charas and bhang are used to a greater or less extent in all parts of the province.' Quoting a memorandum by Hari Chand, Assistant to the Commissioner of Excise, the Hemp Commission reports that 'No distinction is made between male and female plants. The whole is cut and dried together, and the leaves, flowers, and small twigs are then shaken out and form bhang. The outturn is eight to ten maunds a bigha. A little charas is sometimes made by beating the flowering twigs over a piece of cloth laid on the ground. A greyish white powder falls on the cloth which is collected and dried.' So, we see here that all parts of the cannabis plant, including the flowers that are called ganja in some contexts, are used to make bhang.  We see in the statement of Mr. Coldstream, Deputy Commissioner, Simla 'Bhang is the dried leaves of the hemp plant.' This is completely contrary to what the people regarded as bhang, which was the entire plant - leaves, flowers, resin and all. These sort of statements helped perpetrate the myth that bhang is essentially the leaves which are safe whereas the flowers, i.e. ganja, is harmful. The same witness further states, elsewhere, that 'Near Kasauli, bhalang is the name given to the male flower, while the female flower is called bhang.' 

If we go by what is commonly considered the meaning of bhang, charas and ganja, i.e. the leaves, resin and flowers, then we see that the Sikhs do consume ganja, i.e. the flowers, only they drink it as a beverage and not smoke it. In fact, the Sikhs preferred the flowering tops or ganja of the cannabis plant to make bhang. The Commission reports that ' Mr. Drummond (13) says that the flowering tops are preferred.'  So, the statement that the Sikhs do not consume ganja is inherently false. A more accurate statement would be that the Sikhs do not smoke ganja, they drink it. 

Again, in the section Existing Systems Described, we see the Hemp Commission making the statement that 'Ganja is practically unknown in the Punjab.' Such a statement increases the deception that the Sikhs never used ganja but the fact is that they drank it as beverage instead of smoking it. What is being said here is that the smoking of the dried cannabis flower is practically unknown in the province but the drinking of the cannabis flower as bhang is widely followed.  Like the upper classes and castes of the Vaishnavite and Vedic religions, the Sikhs drank ganja because apparently their scriptures prohibited smoking ganja. All these distortions around the word ganja led to its being banned and looked at as an evil drug through the propaganda of the upper classes and castes of all religions including Sikhism. Gradually, this took on the form that bhang only consisted of the leaves of the cannabis plant, excluding the flower, and that bhang drinking was healthy because of this.  The same suppression of the lower castes and classes because they smoked cannabis rather than drank it led to discrimination against these sections of society, and finally, ironically, against the cannabis flower itself that the upper castes and classes had been enjoying all this while as a beverage in the name of religious sanction. Did persons from the upper classes who practiced the Sikh religion view Sikhs from the lower classes who smoked charas as low castes and outcasts? If so, then it means that the Sikh religion too was casteist in nature when it came to cannabis usage.   

The general myth that the Sikhs do not consume ganja appears to be part of the attempts at distorting reality aimed at completely illogically labeling the act of smoking the cannabis flower as evil whereas the drinking of it as good. This myth seems to have been created with the specific desire of targeting and discriminating against the poorest classes or castes everywhere, including in the Punjab, who would have been the ones most likely to smoke cannabis, be it as ganja or charas, because they could not afford to make bhang (with its additional - often expensive - ingredients like milk, dry fruits and nuts). 

Charas is the cannabis resin obtained from mainly the flowers and is generally consumed by smoking. If we go by the method of consumption, then it appears that the Sikhs drank bhang and smoked charas. Yes, they do not appear to have smoked the flowers exclusively, i.e. smoked ganja. They do appear to have smoked charas, despite the apparent religious sanctions against smoking that prevents them from smoking. The Commission reports that 'Though some witnesses make mention of the smoking of bhang leaves, there is no evidence of the preparation of the flower head either of the uncultivated or cultivated plant for use as ganja. The smoking of the produce of the plant in any form except charas is evidently extremely rare. According to witness (59), "the word 'ganja' is sometimes applied to charas."'

The bias towards bhang and against charas

The Punjab region was possibly one of the few regions in India where charas smoking was associated with the lower classes and castes, unlike other places like Bengal where it was associated with the upper castes and classes. This is possibly because of the abundance of charas, either imported from places like Yarkand, or locally prepared in small quantities by the working classes through the rubbing of the cannabis flowers with the hands to extract the resin. This fact, that charas was more widely used by the lower classes of society and also was an imported product, led the administration to unhesitatingly push for the increase of taxes on it. This was further strengthened by the bias against charas since it was associated with Muhammedans, because it was a 'foreign product' imported from Islamic nations. and also by the ignorance of the upper classes and castes that bhang and charas were the same cannabis plant. Arjan Singh, Sikh, Extra Assistant Commissioner, Dera Ghazi Khan, says 'Charas, however, is generally consumed by fakirs and bad characters in an atmosphere of immorality and vice.' Sheikh Din Mohamed Khan, Extra Assistant Commissioner, Sirsa, says ' Re[garding] bhang, those who use it consider it no disgrace, but those who do not, consider it a disgrace. Re[garding] charas, everyone looks upon its use as a disgrace. In fact, people say - "He is a charas smoker, and therefore of no account." True Muhammedans look upon the use of both bhang and charas as a sin.' It is very likely that Sheikh Dn Mohamed Khan considered himself a true Muhammedan, i.e., one of the religious orthodoxy. Mr. Alexander Anderson, Deputy Commissioner of Delhi says 'A charsi is considered a low worthless fellow, and the custom of smoking charas is generally considered reprehensible. I am not sure whether this opinion is based on the observed evil effects of the drug in certain cases, or merely on the fact that it is only the poorer classes that indulge in the habit. There is certainly not the same feeling in regard to bhang.' Mr. J. R. Drummond, Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, says that 'Nagas, gosains, bairagis and jogis, both Hindus and Muhammedan jogis are commonly given over to charas-smoking...Besides these classes the bulk of the charas smokers in this province are probably found in cantonments, large stations, and great centres, where there is an appreciable admixture of people from the lower provinces (Purbias). Grooms, sweepers, native valets, and other menial or domestic servants who hail largely from Pudh, Behar, and the districts bordering on the province of Loewe Bengal, and belong to the skinner (chamar), weaver (Julaba kori), and water carrier and beaer (kabar) castes, or analogous subdivisions, and also washermen (dhobi) from the same country, are often and excessively at times addicted to the charas habit.' The ignorance of even the local upper classes and castes with regard to bhang and charas, and their impression that these are two different drugs can be seen from the statements of witnesses like Sardar Bahadur Lachmi Sahai, Extra Assistant Commissioner, Amritsar, when he says 'Charas is not beneficial for alleviating fatigue and hard labour; but the moderate use of bhang does alleviate fatigue.' A number of witnesses even claim that opium is much safer than charas. By the time of the Hemp Commission's report, the Punjab administration had decided to impose import duty on charas and to build golas or warehouses to tax and regulate its movement through the province.

From the evidence provided by medical witnesses, we see a mixed response as to how and what forms of cannabis are harmful. Many of the senior or upper-class medical witnesses show their bias towards bhang by stating that smoking charas is harmful but drinking bhang is not.  One of the few medical witnesses who appear unbiased is Hakim Ghulam Nabi, of Lahore (witness No. 54), of twenty years' experience. According to the Commission he states that "I have not found even a single person during the last twenty years who complained of these drugs. There are more takias outside the Mochi Gate, Lahore, than in any other parts of the city which are reserved for the consumption of such drugs; and as the resorters to these takias generally come to me for treatment, and as none of them has during the last twenty years complained to me of having suffered from any disease in consequence of using bhang or charas, it shows that the moderate use of these drugs is harmless."

Even the fact that charas smokers are lean and look emaciated as compared to bhang drinkers is used as justification that charas is harmful. The fact that the charas user comes from a background of poverty and hard physical work and that the upper class bhang-drinker gets plenty of nourishment from his wealth and the luxurious ingredients that he adds to his bhang seems to have escaped the notice of these supposed observers. To add to the ignorance and discrimination of the Indian upper castes and classes and the British administration, we have xo-called medical experts like the English missionary. Dr. H. M. Clark, Medical Missionary, Amritsar, who propagated anti-charas myths by saying 'At the same time the symptoms of charas are so marked that they can be detected at a glance. I have never watched the career of a consumer of the drug, for they are a floating section of the population. I should say that three years was enough to kill any consumer of the drug; for I have seen men who could not live more than three months who have, in answer to my questions, told me that they began the habit about three years before.' Dr. H. M. Clark, Medical Missionary, Amritsar further says 'The symptoms of the use of charas are: you find a man prematurely old, with haggard and broken-down appearance, emaciated so that all the joints and bones stand out, hollow-cheeked, a very peculiar glassy appearance, tremulous muscles, very blunted muscular sense, anesthesia of skin, disordered digestion, voracious appetite usually, dilated pupils, dulling of most of the senses, enfeebled heart and circulation, peculiar asthmatic cough, short and very harassing. He suffers from numberless pains and aches which come and go, and frequently has what has been called the salaaming mania, which is salaaming frequently without reason; wild fits of exaltation. alternating with a condition which borders on catalepsy; a gentle, pleasant delirium, a curious confusion of the mind as to his own identity and surroundings; various illusions and delusions; memory and will power are much enfeebled, and the whole morale greatly deteriorated, and there is constant craving for the drug and frequent recourse to it. His sleep is never dreamless. These are the drug symptoms.' It appears that Dr. H. M. Clark has not been exposed to poverty before, in addition to not being exposed to charas.

As I stated previously in this article and elsewhere, bhang, as it was consumed by the upper classes and castes, involved the use of sugar, milk, almonds, black pepper, poppy seeds, melon seeds, cucumber and pumpkin seeds, cardamom, rose petals, etc.  These were ingredients that the lower classes could scarcely afford and so, they resorted to smoking charas as a cheaper alternative, possibly extracted locally and occasionally purchased. The upper classes and castes used this difference in method of consumption to discriminate against charas and the lower classes, and to favour the use of bhang adding other arguments to reinforce their discrimination such as: bhang is sanctioned by the scriptures, smoking charas is not; charas is harmful, bhang is medicinal; charas users are criminals, bad characters and good-for-nothings, etc. The Commission reports that 'Bhang is so cheap, 3 or 4 annas a sér, as to give very wide latitude for individual indulgence. On the other hand, a great share of the consumers, perhaps the majority, are above the class of the very poor, and the drug is to a great extent used with ingredients which are more or less expensive.' 

The cannabis prohibition advocacy groups of the upper classes and castes and their media publications went a step further and even stated that bhang itself was harmful, in fact all intoxicants were harmful and must be banned. The Arya Samaj, Dera Ismail Khan say' That the Samaj is of the opinion that the sale of the hemp drugs should be restricted to the medical profession for medical purposes, and the preparation be so restricted as to meet the said wants only.' The Secretary, Anjuman Islamia, Dera Ismail Khan, says 'Taking all matters into consideration, I am of the opinion that the total prohibition of hemp drugs, provided that it is accompanied with prohibition of opium drugs, will in the end prove a great boon to the people;' Devi Dayal, Editor of "Kaistha Mitra", Lahore, says 'The correspondent conscientiously days that bhang is in reality a very bad thing; it spoils the body, heart and brain of a person, it vitiates one's moral character; telling a think and making a promise, the bhang drinker forgets it, and exaggerates thigs and tells lies and gets taunted and pointed out.' Regarding charas, he says 'By smoking charas people very often become insane, and this is the result of bad company...Under the influence of charas, the commission of crime is possible, and necessarily a charsi is selfish; consequently, there is a common saying - "Who could a charsi be friend of? He would have a smoke and run away."' Regarding prohibition, he says 'All have been found pleased to say that if Government were to stop the use of charas tomorrow, they might stop it today: "We shall have no complaint; and when we shall not get the charas, the bad habit will go by itself." The correspondent has seen several cases. On account of charas, many people have been destroyed and ruined, and did not remain capable of moving in the society of good men, and the public lost their confidence in them.'

The impact of the caste system on the cannabis culture of the Punjab Province

It is often said that the Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian religions are free from the evils of the caste system. In fact, this is projected as one of the most attractive features of these religions that draw oppressed low caste Hindus to convert to these religions, in the hope of escaping the chains of the caste system. But if we examine the matter more closely, we will find that even though the founders of these religions believed and preached a casteless society where all beings are the divine eternal spirit in material form, the religions that they founded soon degenerated into replicas of the Hindu caste system, with persons from the upper classes and the religious orthodoxy claiming superiority over the working classes and the poor. This eventually led to the current state of affairs where, irrespective of the religion followed, all persons from the lower classes, the working classes, the indigenous communities and the homeless are considered inferior and are exploited by the upper classes, castes and religious orthodoxy to further their own pursuits of material wealth and power.

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar wrote about the caste system among the non-Hindus in his book, Annihilation of Caste in 1930. He stated that the caste system was not as rigid and oppressive among the non-Hindus because they strongly believed and practiced brotherhood and community living or sangathan. He stated that the strength and the fearlessness of Muslims and Sikhs came from this belief in their brotherhood and community. In this regard, he wrote 'The idea underlying sangathan is to remove from the mind of the Hindu that timidity and cowardice are so painfully mark him off from the Mohamedan and the Sikh, and which have led him to adopt the low ways of treachery and cunning for protecting himself. The question naturally arises: From where does the Sikh or the Mahomedan derive his strength, which makes him brave and fearless? I am sure it is not due to the relative superiority of physical strength, diet or drill. It is due to the strength arising out of the feeling that all Sikhs will come to the rescue of a Sikh when he is in danger, and that all Mahomedans will rush to save a Muslim if he is attacked.' Dr. Ambedkar said that it was impossible for a Hindu to have this fearlessness because the caste system had already dissected the Hindu community completely. He said 'The Hindu can derive no such strength. He cannot feel assured that his fellows will come to his help. Being one and fated to be alone, he remains powerless, develops timidity and cowardice, and in a fight surrenders or runs away. The Sikh as well as the Muslim stands fearless and gives battle, because he knows that though one he will not be alone. The presence of this belief in the one, and the absence of it in the other makes him to give way.' Speaking about the strength and power that a strongly bonded society and community derives, he said 'If you pursue this matter further and ask what is it that enables the Sikh and the Mahomedan to feel so assured, and why is the Hindu filled with such despair in the matter of help and assistance, you will find that the reasons for this difference lie in the difference in their associated mode of living. The associated mode of life practiced by the Sikhs and the Mahomedans produce fellow-feeling. The associated mode of life of the Hindus does not. Among Sikhs and Muslims there is a social cement which makes them 'bhais'. Among the Hindus there is no such cement, and one Hindu does not regard another Hindu as his bhai. This explains why a Sikh says and feels that one Sikh, or one Khalsa, is equal to 'sava lakh' men. This explains why one Mahomedan is equal to a crowd of Hindus. The difference is undoubtedly a difference due to caste. So long as caste remains, there will be no sangathan, and so long as there is no sangathan the Hindu will remain weak and meek.' Dr. Ambedkar said that the reasons for the strong bonds within the non-Hindu religions was because there were many things that bonded the members of these communities into strong societies. He called these "organic filaments" quoting Carlyle. Dr. Ambedkar said that the more the organic filaments present in a society, i.e. the more means of social interaction and communion present, the stronger the society became. He said, 'If we apply these considerations to caste among Mahomedans, Sikhs and Christians, on the one hand, and to castes among Hindus, on the other, you will find that caste among non-Hindus is fundamentally different from caste among Hindus. First, the ties which consciously make the Hindus hold together are non-existent, while among non-Hindus there are many that hold them together. The strength of a society depends on the presence of points of contact, possibilities of interaction, between different groups which exist in it. These are what Carlyle calls "organic filaments" - i.e. the elastic threads which help to bring the disintegrating elements together and to re-unite them. There is no integrating force among the Hindus to counteract the disintegration caused by caste. While among the non-Hindus there are plenty of these "organic filaments" which bind them together.' Dr. Ambedkar felt that even though castes existed among the non-Hindus, it was not as rigid and oppressive as among the Hindus. He said 'Again it must be borne in mind that although there are castes among non-Hindus, as there are among Hindus, caste has not the same social significance for non-Hindus as it has for Hindus. Ask a Mahomedan or a Sikh who he is. He tells you that he is a Mahomedan or a Sikh, as the case may be. He does not tell you his caste although he has one, and you are satisfied with his answer. When he tells you that he is a Muslim, you do not proceed to ask him whether he is a Shia or a Sunni; Sheikh or Sayyad; Khatik or Pinjari. When he tells you he is a Sikh, you do not ask him whether he is Jat or Roda; Mazbi or Ramdasi. But you are not satisfied if a person tells you that he is a Hindu. You feel bound to inquire into his caste. Why? Because so essential is caste in the case of a Hindu that without knowing it you do not feel sure what sort of being he is.' The biggest difference between the caste system of the Hindus and that of the non-Hindu religions, Dr. Ambedkar said, was the excommunication of a person if he broke caste rules among the Hindus and the absence of this extreme punishment among the non-Hindus. He said 'That caste has not the same social significance among non-Hindus as it has among Hindus is clear, if you take into consideration the consequences which follow breach of caste. There may be castes among Sikhs or Mahomedans, but the Sikhs and the Mahomedans will not outcast a Sikh or a Mahomedan if he broke his caste. Indeed, the very idea of excommunication is foreign to the Sikh and the Mahomedan. But with the Hindus the case is entirely different. A Hindu is sure to be outcasted if he broke caste. This shows the social significance of caste to Hindus and non-Hindus.'

What we see as time has gone by is that today these differences between the caste system of the Hindus and the caste systems of the non-Hindus have blurred so much that it is now practically impossible to distinguish between the two. Christians and Muslims get excommunicated by the religious orthodoxy for going against the established power structure. Muslims, Sikhs and Christians belonging to certain caste will kill a man from another caste of the same religion if he attempts to marry into their castes. Very often, this is compounded by the fact that the victim is also from the lower class and the perpetrator from the upper class. The fusing of caste and class in non-Hindu religions have now dissected communities of these religions also along the same lines as the Hindu caste system. This is not a phenomenon local to India but can be seen all over the world where it is the upper caste and upper class combination that oppresses and exploits the lower class and lower caste combinations that make up the majority of communities in the world. Dr. Ambedkar did touch upon this gradual degradation of the non-Hindu religions in his Annihilation of Castes written around 1930. He said 'Caste is no doubt primarily the breath of the Hindus. But the Hindus have fouled the air all over, and everything is infected - Sikh, Muslim and Christian.'

If one wants to study how the caste system has played out among the non-Hindu religions, one needs to only study the social behavior of the people of the Punjab Province in the 19th century with regard to cannabis consumption. Dr. Ambedkar said that social revolution must precede political revolutions. Spiritual revolutions must precede even social revolutions. The spiritual founders of all religions first created a spiritual revolution that then became a social revolution and finally a political revolution. The mind has to be transformed first before social behavior is transformed and finally political behavior is. Dr. Ambedkar said in Annihilation of Caste that 'The political revolution of the Sikhs was preceded by the religious and social revolution led by Guru Nanak'. Cannabis was a part of the spiritual revolution of the Sikhs. It was also part of the social revolution of the Sikhs and subsequently part of the political revolution of the Sikhs. Cannabis was one of the strongest "organic filaments" that bound the Sikh community together spiritually, socially and politically. However, with the increased influences of the British and the Hindu caste-based religions of Vaishnavism and Vedism, the Sikh community also started developing fissures that eventually became cracks and rigid barriers. Cannabis - the organic filament binding the Sikhs - which had been used in this region for thousands of years, most likely dating back to the period of the Indus Valley Civilization, was gradually broken down. The mode of consumption of cannabis was used as a way to create rifts in Sikh society as in Islam, and previously in Hinduism, especially among the Shaivites and indigenous nature-worshiping communities. The practitioners of the Hindu caste system, i.e. the followers of Vaishnavism and Vedism, were able to create the delusion that those who drank cannabis as the beverage bhang were living according to the religious scriptures while those who smoked it as charas or ganja were in violation of religion and hence low castes or outcastes. 

Two factors - class and caste - enabled the development of these schisms in the organic filament of the cannabis culture in the Punjab, as it did elsewhere. The class factor was that the people who drank cannabis as the beverage bhang were invariably from the upper classes who were wealthy enough to have it with its expensive ingredients whereas the people who smoked charas were from the poorer classes of society who could only afford to make their own charas locally or buy the imported charas as it was cheaper finally then the overall cost of making bhang. The caste factor was that the people who drank bhang were invariably part of the king-priest-businessman class of the dominant religion in those parts whereas the charas or ganja smoker was from a minority or non-dominant religion in those parts, this being Muslims and Hindus in the Punjab Province where Sikhism dominated and Hindus and Sikhs in the places where Muslims dominated. 

The society of the Sikhs that was so tightly bonded gradually fell prey to the machinations of the anti-cannabis British and Hindu upper castes. Charas usage was increasingly frowned upon and made more difficult through taxation. Bhang was spared for the time being, until it was also gradually removed. In place of cannabis, opium and alcohol were introduced. So, that is where we are today, the Sikh and Muslim societies of the pre-19th century Punjab Province are now firmly in the control of the upper classes and castes of these religions who, along with the Hindu upper castes and classes, allowed the cannabis plant to be taken away, and still continue to turn a blind eye even as opium and alcohol rip apart these societies.  

The current scenario in the modern Punjab State 

Today, we can see in the Punjab, the long-term impact of the measures taken by the British administration in a region where cannabis was intrinsic to the social and religious way of life. The measures taken by the British administration was in complete disregard to the needs of the people. It focused on one and only one thing - additional revenue for the state. What happened between 1894 and 2025 is not known to me, but I can guess. The new Excise rules proposed in the Punjab Memorandum probably took effect. Import duty was probably imposed on charas making it even more expensive and unaffordable for the poorer classes. Bhang was also taxed eventually. Suddenly the spontaneous wild bhang that grew throughout the Punjab Province was commoditized. The government probably destroyed most of the wild cannabis which was the source of bhang for the people. The people were probably forced to buy their bhang from the retail vendors at a price, where earlier it was completely free for all practical purposes. The introduction of wholesale licenses led to further monopoly by the drug contractors on supply and prices. The drug contractors worked with the police and targeted individuals cultivating bhang so that this practice was stopped out of fear, despite the Excise Act not prohibiting cultivation of cannabis. The scarcity and increasing prices of charas and bhang forced the people to turn to opium and alcohol - the dangerous drugs introduced by the government in order to replace cannabis and earn more revenue for the state.

Instead of the lush green areas of wild and spontaneous cannabis growth that benefited humans, animals, birds, insects and the land, today we have needles and syringes and empty broken alcohol bottles dotting the land. For the people of Punjab, it is not just opium that is a problem, it is alcohol also. For the Muslim populations of the Punjab Province alcohol was prohibited and so did not take hold of society to the extent that it did in Punjab, but opium did. Today, Punjab is one of the main regions in India suffering from a heroin crisis of epidemic proportions as is Lahore and Punjab in Pakistan. The association with the British made the upper classes of Punjab into opium addicts and they in turn made the lower classes opium addicts. Heroin flows in freely into India through the Punjab borders with Pakistan that contain the regions of Lahore, etc. that was part of the Punjab Province in the 19th century. The British not only introduced their opium but also taught the people to cultivate it and become addicted to it. 

India's rapid urbanization, driven by the emphasis of the state towards economic development through unsustainable industries, coupled with the degradation of land for agriculture due to climate change and diminishing rural opportunities, has forced mass migrations from rural areas into cities. The city is where exposure to synthetic drugs, alcohol and opium increases to a great extent. UNODC reported in its World Drug Report 2020 that 'A study conducted in India in the Chandigarh area, that city being the capital of the two neighbouring States of Punjab and Haryana, also suggested there are higher levels of drug use in urban slum areas than in rural areas. If this information were to be validated across all countries, the rapid urbanization of the past decade could be an element that explains, at least partially, the growth in the global drug market. In this context, urbanization becomes a crucial element when considering future dynamics in drug markets, in particular in developing countries, where growth in urbanization is more pronounced than in other countries.' In rural areas, there is still a reasonably strong inclination to ganja and charas. The balance needed in society is a flourishing rural landscape with agriculture - including the cultivation of ganja and charas - as the backbone, providing jobs, sustainable industries and income for the rural population, thus, reducing their need to face the harsh conditions of urban life which itself is a key factor for driving a person to drugs. The large-scale cultivation of ganja and charas in rural areas will ensure that the city get its intoxicant, medicine and cannabis for industrial purposes enabling public health improvement and greater climate resilience, besides robust, sustainable economic development. 

An MP from Patiala tried to introduce a ganja legalization bill in Punjab. Scroll Magazine reported that 'In October 2016, Dharam Vir Gandhi, a Member of Parliament from Patiala, moved a private member’s bill in Lok Sabha to allow people to use “non-lethal, conventional drugs such as marijuana and opium husk”. Gandhi’s bill, listed as an A-category bill, is set to come up for discussion in the winter session this year. Gandhi believes that the drug crisis in Punjab is due to “the banning of common man substances [that] has led to an emergency, a humanitarian crisis as people turned to synthesized drugs instead”. The law must allow for “demarcations, common man substances should be kept separate from hard drugs or chemicals,” he said. The bill aims to curb the black market worth “thousands of crores, which is controlled by the mafia that consists politicians, corrupt policemen, and affluent strata of society which wanted to go rich very quickly”.' For the ruling politicians, a significant number of whom have amassed their wealth through the black market for drugs and thus been able to secure their positions as lawmakers, such a bill appears to have been disagreeable since that is the last I heard of it, and Punjab still grapples with the menace of heroin and alcohol. GQ India also had an article on a private bill in Punjab which may be about the same bill by Dharam Vir Gandhi. It reported that 'The private member’s bill suggests some changes to the NDPS Act. One of these is to separate of the clubbing of ‘soft’ intoxicants from artificial ‘hard’ drugs like cocaine, heroin and smack. This petition is also supported by Romesh Bhattacharji, former Commissioner of the Central Bureau of Narcotics. In an interview with News18, he revealed that more than half the people who were put behind bars in Punjab between 2001 and 2011 under the NDPS Act were merely poor people in the possession of soft drugs.'

Not only is there an infinite number of petty issues that India's politicians get permanently embroiled in, casting the welfare of the people to the winds, there are even misdirected efforts to make the harmful substitutes for ganja - opium, alcohol, tobacco, and prescription synthetic pharmaceutical medications  - more accessible to the public. The Hindu reported that 'A day after Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu came out in support of legalising cultivation, sale and consumption of opium, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said there was need for a national drug policy to fight the drug menace. “A comprehensive formula was needed at the Central level to effectively check drug abuse,” said Capt. Amarinder, while welcoming the fact that the issue had taken centre stage due to the growing demand for opium cultivation by certain States.' Amarinder and Sidhu seem to have progressive thoughts on drug policy. But the plant that needs to be legalized nationally and internationally is cannabis not opium. The worldwide legalization wave of cannabis is in one way trying to negate the huge harm done through opium and its derivative drugs such as heroin and pharmaceutical opioids. Opium is not heroin but it is the raw material for heroin. When politicians in the Punjab today, if they really wish for the welfare of the people and the state, should be bringing back the cannabis that was such an inherent part of the Punjab culture, they are focused only on their own upper class and upper caste well being, much like in the 19th century when they let the British strangle Punjab's cannabis culture. As I stated earlier, this is a problem across the board, be it the Congress, BJP, AAP, Akalis, etc. None of these political parties have moved in the direction of taking the step of legalizing cannabis completely and correcting the massive historic wrong on the people. 

Punjab is the heartland of wheat cultivation in India. The increasing promotion of this unsustainable crop by the government has meant that farmers find themselves entrapped in a vicious cycle of loans, debts, chemical pesticides and fertilizers, high energy and water costs and the problem of crop stubble burning which has contributed to turning the national capital, Delhi, into the most polluted city in the world. The unsustainable reliance on wheat has meant that farmers are under tremendous pressure to get the land ready for the next season, and the quickest way that they have adopted is to burn the stubble of the crops harvested in the previous season. What a significant impact the cultivation of cannabis as an additional crop would make for the state. Cannabis can be grown in two seasons. Cannabis cultivation biomass residues can be used for animal feed and other industries. The cultivated cannabis can be used for food, textiles, intoxication and medicine. The requirements for water are tremendously reduced, as is the need for chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The degraded soil from overuse of chemicals can be restored.  The farmers from the Punjab region would do far better to push for cannabis legalization, instead of pushing for unsustainable wheat, so that their spiritual herb can once again be cultivated and consumed. This will not only heal the land and the people, it will tremendously boost the economy of the Punjab region and the environment at large.

Kashmir and Ladakh, the two local sources of charas in 19th century, are now under Central government control. After the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories under central control, the ruling BJP opened up the state for land-ownership by non-Kashmiris and firmly established the army in the new union territories, citing security risks from Pakistan, China and homegrown terrorists. Despite repeated nudging from the Supreme Court, the central administration has not restored the statehood of Kashmir. The painting of a rosy picture of normalcy to the world continues, even as various infrastructure projects are fast tracked and tourists, including religious tourists to Hindu places of pilgrimage are promoted, and the army remains firmly stationed in Kashmir since the abrogation. Recently a purported terror attack took place at Pahalgam where 28 tourists were killed after it was ascertained that they were Hindus. Allegations and counter allegations fly between India and Pakistan, and the entire nation is of the opinion that a war with Pakistan is justified. Who the real culprits are behind this attack is anybody's guess. The Indian central government look like the ones most likely to benefit the most from this, enabling the center, through the armed forces, to tighten its hold on the state and give it reasons for delaying restoration of statehood for Kashmir. The securing of the flow of opium and its derivatives surely plays a critical role in all this game of smoke and mirrors, as we can see in not just Kashmir, but also in Ladakh, Punjab, Manipur and Assam as well. We see a wave of anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan sentiment sweeping across the country, with politicians playing no small role in stoking this sentiment. What we see played out here is the general fomentation of hatred against the Muslim and other minority religions, as well as against the indigenous communities of the country, by the ruling upper classes and castes of the country. It is this hatred that is at the root of ganja and charas prohibition in India, with the perception of the upper castes and classes that ganja and charas are used by these sections of society, much like beef, and so must be banned, forgetting or deliberately trying to suppress the fact that ganja and charas are universal to all religions and a means of uniting all peoples in brotherhood, peace and harmony.

To restore cannabis in the state of Punjab will be to restore the glue that held Sikh society together. The viewing of charas as something inferior and evil as compared to bhang appears completely absurd in today's world where science has shown that there is no real difference between bhang, ganja and charas, all three containing the same cannabinoids, albeit in differing concentrations which are factored in by the consumer when the quantity to be consumed is determined. In places around the world where cannabis has been legalized for medical and adult recreational purposes, cannabis resin or charas is as much sought after, if not more than cannabis flower or ganja. This, in fact is the case, even where cannabis is prohibited. The labeling of sections of society as low caste or low caste because of charas consumption continues to show the discriminations that continue to exist in Punjab, and India as a whole. Cannabis must be restored in all its forms in the Punjab to end a great historical harm to the people of the state, especially the poorest sections irrespective of religion. The reintroduction of bhang will go a long way in addressing the menace of opium and alcohol that plagues the state of Punjab today, especially the upper classes who so readily discarded their divine-ordained bhang to take up the preferred poisons of the British.

In the following sections, I have extracted content specific to the Punjab Province from the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report of 1894-95. This includes: 

• the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's findings 
• the Punjab Memorandum submitted to the Commission 
• reports from the lunatic asylums of Punjab 
• notes from experts
• list of Punjab witnesses who deposed before the Hemp Commission
• individual witness statements of the witnesses from Punjab.

The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's findings 

THE EXISTENCE, PREVALENCE AND CHARACTER OF SPONTANEOUS GROWTH

Punjab.

45. The hemp plant grows spontaneously throughout the Himalayas, and in a broad belt along the foot of the mountains. The growth is so free and vigorous that it may without impropriety be called wild, and it does not appear to differ in extent and character from that of the similar region in the North-Western Provinces. Its prevalence seems to be most notorious in the districts of Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, and Jullundur, because the bhang contractors draw their supplies from, these districts; but witnesses, many of them of high authority, such as the Commissioner of Rawalpindi, speak to its existence in greater or less profusion throughout the submontane districts from Peshawar to Umballa. Contradiction may occasionally be found regarding the density and abundance of the growth, but about its frequent occurrence in this stretch of country there can be no doubt. It has been seen that in other provinces it is the habit of the plant, when it finds itself established in a suitable home like the Terai, to grow very densely and in patches of considerable size, and the Commission are inclined to accept the evidence of those whose statements are in agreement with this knowledge.

46. The growth decreases in frequency very rapidly as the Himalayas are left behind. It appears, however, from the evidence to maintain its hold in the Amritsar, Lahore, Karnal, and Shahpur districts further south than in others. As regards three of these districts, special reasons for this persistence may be suggested. Shahpur is watered by the Jhelum, which appears to carry an exceptionally heavy growth on the banks of its upper reaches. Amritsar is not only the great market for bhang as well as charas, but it is the head-quarters of the Sikh religion, and the former drug is largely consumed by the followers of that faith. It seems to be a regular drink or refreshment with the visitors to the Golden Temple. When members of the Commission visited the city, a dense growth of bhang flourished over a large area in the outlying parts of the public gardens and countless plants in the hedgerows surrounding the city. The seeds discarded from the large quantity of bhang that is daily consumed in the city sufficiently account for this growth, and it is probable that the ways leading to Amritsar from the country round are sown with hemp in the same way. The plant is probably propagated in the same manner, but to a less degree, around Lahore, the capital town of the province, and the head-quarters of the Administration. East of Umballa and Karnal the bhang-bearing belt appears to widen out, and its southern boundary would probably pass across the Karnal district.

The supposed wild hemp of the Suleiman Range.

47. The Excise Commissioner reports that "the supply of bhang is derived from the wild hemp plant which grows within the province in the submontane tracts under the Himalayas and the Suleiman Range." The evidence, it has been seen, corroborates the statement as regards the Himalayan tract. But it does not do so for the Suleiman region. The existence of the wild growth is not mentioned in Kohat or the Derajat Division. Witnesses (60) and (19) make statements which need explanation. The former says, speaking of the Dera Ghazi Khan district: "In the hill tracts of my ilaka the wild hemp grows here and there to a small extent, but no one consumes it. Sometimes budmashes, however, administer it from evil motives to another person without his knowledge." And again—"The wild hemp is known in this country by the name of 'kohi bhang,' and cultivated hemp is called bhang only." The statement itself is open to doubt for two reasons: it is unlikely that the true hemp, though growing wild, should not be consumed, and the uses to which the kohi bhang is alleged to be put point to a much more potent drug. The explanation will be found in the answer of Mr. Dames (9), whose experience has been gained especially in the Derajat. He writes: "There is a plant known as kohi bhang found along the beds of torrents in the Suleiman Hills, the leaves of which are said to possess strongly intoxicating properties. This plant is certainly not a Cannabis, but I am unable to state what its genus is. It looks like a solanaceous plant. Its growth is scattered, and it is not found in great abundance anywhere." There can be no doubt that this is the plant to which witness (60) refers. It is in all probability the same as the akoe of Sind, which is proved to be Hyoscyamus muticus of the solanaceous order. The same plant is referred to by witness (36) in his oral evidence as kuyi, growing in a valley 50 miles west of Dera Ismail Khan. Witness (19) is not a very exact observer, and when questioned in detail about his knowledge of the wild plant travels away to the Umballa district. Witness (24), an Excise officer, mentions the kooi (i.e., kohi), doubtless the same Hyoscyamus, as being imported from Kabul and Kandahar. The same witness gives the name of another hemp plant as badal, saying that it is known to grow in the Waziri Hills about 50 miles to the west of Dera Ismail Khan. He describes its leaf as being as broad as that of the madar,  which shews that this also is not the true hemp.

Spontaneous growth in the plain country.

48. Witness (41) mentions the wild plant as growing scantily on the banks of canals and in waste places in the Delhi district, and its occurrence in one tahsil of the Firozpur district is stated by another witness. These statements may very well be correct, but they do not imply a growth which can properly be called wild in the sense in which the word is now being used, but only a casual and accidental growth. One or two witnesses talk in a general way about spontaneous growth in all districts.

Area of wild growth defined.

49. It will be a safe conclusion to say that the wild growth is only to be found in the Himalayas and in a belt of country under those mountains which is very narrow at Peshawar, and gradually widens as it approaches the North-Western Provinces. Self-sown hemp plants may be found elsewhere, but there is no tendency for them to run wild outside the above tract.

Punjab States.

50. The wild growth occurs in the Himalayan States, and those of which any part lies within the Sub-Himalayan bhang-bearing belt. No State shows any peculiarity in the capacity for growing wild hemp. The Hill States are numerous, and need not be named. Kapurthala and Patiala are the only States in the plain country from which the spontaneous growth is reported, and it will doubtless be found in those parts of the States which fall within the Punjab tract of wild growth. Patiala has a considerable area of territory in the Himalayas, where the wild growth will be found to exist. The Bahawalpur witnesses say that occasional plants are found in graveyards—a not unlikely locality for such growth when there is sufficient rainfall—as there are generally takias in connection with them to which fakirs resort.

EXTENT OF CULTIVATION AND ITS TENDENCY TO INCREASE OR DECREASE

111. The Himalayan cultivation of the Punjab does not differ from that of the North-Western Provinces, but from the fact that there is none in Kashmir, it would appear to decrease in frequency westward. The plant is grown principally for fibre and in small scattered patches, so that its area cannot be estimated. Mr. Anderson (10), however, ascertained in 1880 that the area in Kulu and Plach was then about 200 acres. Witness (71) states that in British Lahoul every zamindar cultivates a small patch for the sole purpose of obtaining its fibre, and that charas, which he calls bhang, is imported.

112. In the south-west angle of the province there is a small amount of systematic cultivation for the production of bhang. The Excise Commissioner reports that this does not exceed 100 acres. The evidence gives figures for some districts. Thus witness (68) estimates the produce of the Muzaffargarh district at 100 maunds, which would require some 10 or 12 acres of crop. Witness (24) states that the area in the Jhang district in 1893 was only 20 kanals. In Dera Ghazi Khan the area seems to be about 30 acres. Five acres are said to be cultivated in Shahpur. Several witnesses talk in general terms of cultivation for bhang being practised. Some describe the cultivation as consisting of the rearing of a few plants in yards and gardens by fakirs and other consumers. Witness (39) states that cultivation is carried on in every district more or less, "but more so in Hoshiarpur, Derajat, and other frontier districts." All this cultivation is stated to be for the production of bhang. Ganja is not smoked in the Punjab. The cultivation of the more systematic kind is probably not understated at 100 acres. The desultory cultivation of a few plants seems to be a wide-spread practice; but the total amount of bhang produced by it cannot be important— must, in fact, be trifling compared with what the wild growth yields.

113. The evidence and other papers do not show that the cultivation is other than stationary. There is no legal prohibition to the growth of hemp, but it is probable that it is discouraged and restricted by the fact that the sale of the produce is under regulation. 

114. There does not appear to be any artificial restriction in any Punjab State on the cultivation of hemp, not even in Nabha, where the use of ganja and charas is said to be prohibited. Bahawalpur is, however, the only State of those furnishing information in which cultivation for the narcotic is admitted to exist. It is not confined to any special locality. Farmers grow small patches with other crops, generally near wells. It yields bhang, only in sufficient quantity for local consumption, and seeds which are used for food as well as for fresh sowing. It is stationary in extent. Chamba reports that the drugs are not produced, but it is probable that cultivation for fibre and seeds exists in this State as in the rest of the Himalayan region. There is no reason to suppose that the cultivation, which is habitual at certain elevations in the Himalayas, i.e., from about 4,000 to 8,000 feet, is not practised by the Native States. Mr. Coldstream refers to cultivation in Bashahr and near Kasauli, and says that in the former tract the plant produces resin. But it certainly appears from Mr. Anderson's report regarding Kulu, the evidence of witness (71), and the fact that the evidence about the preparation of charas is wanting in certainty and definiteness, that charas is not looked upon as a regular bye-produce of hemp cultivation to the same extent that it is in Garhwal further east. It would appear that towards Kashmir the wild plant becomes more extensively used for the preparation of drugs.

METHODS OF CULTIVATION AND MATTERS CONCERNED THEREWITH

Punjab. Himalayan cultivation.

180. There is more or less evidence of cultivation of the hemp plant all over the Himalayan portion of the province, including the smaller Native States. The cultivation is in small patches. A report from Kulu in 1880 says: "Almost every house has a small patch near it, a long strip beside a hedge, or a small bed a few square yards long (sic) in area." The only other detail of cultivation furnished is that the season of growth is from April and May to October and November. It may be safely assumed that the method of cultivation does not materially differ from that practised in Kumaon, which has been fully described. Whether charas is produced to the same extent may be open to doubt, but the information on the point is defective.

Cultivation in the plains for bhang.

181. Though the extent of cultivation in the Punjab plains is not great, the details of the methods employed in it, which can be gathered from the evidence and papers, may be noted. A memorandum by Hari Chand, Assistant to the Commissioner of Excise, states that "people grow it in both harvests in the months of March and November. They cut plants for use in February and June." The latter named months appear to relate to the period within which the plant is gathered if it is sown with the late or rabbi crops. An account of the cultivation is furnished in the appendix of Mr. James Wilson's evidence as having been given him by his Excise Assistant, Mr. Kirthee Singh. The plant is reared for bhang only, never for ganja, and charas is not extracted except rarely for private consumption. The land is usually close to the village, and of the description called niain, the same as that described by Duthie and Fuller, when speaking of the Himalayan cultivation, which the daily offices of the villagers provide with a plentiful supply of manure. It is ploughed frequently in August and September, the seed is sown broadcast in the latter month, and the field is watered. The watering is repeated three or four times, and the crop is hoed now and then and kept clear of weeds. The crop is ready to cut in March and April. No distinction is made between male and female plants. The whole is cut and dried together, and the leaves, flowers, and small twigs are then shaken out and form bhang. The outturn is eight to ten maunds a bigha. A little charas is sometimes made by beating the flowering twigs over a piece of cloth laid on the ground. A greyish white powder falls on the cloth which is collected and dried.

A few details of the method of cultivation.

182. This account gives only one season of cultivation, but there are witnesses to corroborate the Assistant to the Commissioner of Excise as to the plants being grown with both the early and late crops, and other fragmentary information is furnished as to the processes employed. Witness (68) mentions the use of goat and sheep dung, and the advantage of sowing four or five seeds together when the plant is to be grown amongst tobacco or garden crops. This would be cold weather cultivation. He also mentions the broadcast sowing, and states that the product of the plants grown in sailaba lands is more intoxicating. Witness (26) states distinctly that there are two seasons for the cultivation, from Kartik to Chait (October-November to April-May), and Baisakh to Sawan (May to August); and he mentions two curious manures, the "excreta of a serpent" and "decayed swallowwort." The cultivation is carried on in small plots, and only by the keepers of takyas and dharamsalas, especially by Sikhs. Witness (74) states that transplanting is practised, and that the cultivators are the fakirs and keepers of dharamsalas and consumers generally. Witness (67) gives three seasons for cultivation, probably the times of sowing, October-November, February-March, and July-August, and states that the plant is sometimes manured after it has grown a foot or two high. Witness (19) gives the season of sowing as from October to January and the harvest time as March, and states that the crop is cultivated like other chahi-hatri crops on chahi, hatri, or sailaba lands. The crop is cut at night to prevent the loss of seed that would otherwise occur. But this witness has not seen the cultivation. Witness (36), Civil Surgeon of Jhang, a native gentleman, has made direct enquiries in his district. The male plant is, he says, extirpated in February and March, and the rest are gathered in April, the cultivators are of the ordinary class, but are in the employ of the fakir consumers, for whom they grow the drug. Witness (24), Excise Officer, states that the seed is sown in November at the same time as wheat. The field is well drained, cleaned, and manured. The bhang seed is soaked in cow's milk and water the night before sowing. It is sown broadcast. The crop is watered. In March-April the male plant called kera, which is smaller than the female and bears a flowery head, is eradicated. The female plants are cut with the wheat in May. The cultivators are for the most part fakirs, Hindus and Muhammadans, and the products are bhang and ganja. Mr. Dames (9), Deputy Commissioner of Dera Ghazi Khan, states that the land is well watered before sowing between the months of June and September. The seed is sown between October and January, and the crop gathered in March and the beginning of April. Frequent waterings are required, and the crop must be gathered in at night, or it looses much of its value. It may be concluded that the crop is generally grown in the rabbi season, though occasionally in the monsoon; that it requires high tilth, including a liberal supply of manure and irrigation; that transplantation and the extirpation of the male plant are sometimes practised; that the cultivation is for the most part carried on by consumers, of whom a very large proportion are fakirs and religious characters.

Punjab States.

183. The evidence from the Punjab States supplies nothing new regarding the cultivation. From Bahawalpur there is corroboration of Mr. Dames's statement that in the processes preceding the sowing of the seed the land is watered.

PREPARATION OF THE RAW DRUGS FROM THE CULTIVATED AND WILD PLANT

241. Though some witnesses make mention of the smoking of bhang leaves, there is no evidence of the preparation of the flower head either of the uncultivated or cultivated plant for use as ganja. The smoking of the produce of the plant in any form except charas is evidently extremely rare. According to witness (59), "the word 'ganja' is sometimes applied to charas."

Preparation of bhang.

242. Bhang is prepared both from the uncultivated plant and from the small quantity of cultivated plant in the ordinary way, viz., by simple drying. Mr. Drummond (13) says that the flowering tops are preferred. The zamindars do not generally take any payment for the bhang gathered from their lands. The plant grows from December to June-July. The usual time for gathering appears to be May. No. (73) says May or June. Lala Kesho Das, Extra Assistant Commissioner, reports that in June-July "the hemp plant acquires peculiarly noxious qualities, and hence it is during that fortnight that bhang intended to be used as a drug is cut." The bhang of some localities is regarded as superior, such as that of Ambota and Gagret, of Bhimbar in Kashmir, and of Gurdaspur. The cultivated plant may yield a superior quality of drug, but there is not much evidence of any preference for it over the wild drug.

Preparation of charas.

243. There is practically no evidence of charas being prepared below the mountains. The method of preparation followed in Kulu and the Hill States is that of rubbing the flower heads between the hands and scraping off the resin accumulated on the palms or on the feet if the operation consisted in treading the plants. The solitary piece of definite information supplied about preparation in the plains is given by Mr. Kirthi Singh (14): "Sometimes a cultivator may want a little charas for private use, in which case he beats the flowering twigs over a piece of cloth laid on the ground, and then collects the greyish white powder which falls. This requires only to be dried a little in the sun, and it is ready for use."

Charas in "Punjab Products."

244. In the "Punjab Products" the manufacture of this sort of charas called garda is described. The finest quality is when the dust is of a reddish colour. This is called surkha. When it is green, it is called bhangra. The most inferior is that which adheres to the cloth after shaking, and has to be scraped off or shaken off with more violence. This is called khaki. In each case the dust has to be kneaded with a small quantity of water into a cake, and then forms charas. It is stated that this drug is much in use. The specimens which formed the basis of the article were none of them from the plain districts of the Punjab, except possibly one from Dera Ghazi Khan. They came from Lahoul, Spiti, Bokhara, Yarkand, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Kashmir.

Preparation of charas in Yarkand.

245. It will be of interest to quote other descriptions of foreign manufacture. Witness (86) has been in the habit of visiting Ladakh for purposes of trade, and has there learnt the following details from Ladakh merchants: "In Yarkand bhang is cultivated in the month of Baisakh in waste lands and round the fields of other crops for the manufacture of charas. It remains standing for seven months, and is then reaped in the month of Katik, when the blossom is ripe, and then stored on the roofs of houses. It remains there for one month and gets dried in the meantime. The zamindars then thrash the plants after separating the larger leaves by night within their houses. The smaller petals and flowers then fall on the ground and are reduced to powder. It is then sifted thrice, put in bags, and sold to the traders. The merchants go on storing it up until the month of Jeth comes, when they place it in the sun, and a kind of oleaginous substance oozes out of the powder. It is then kneaded like tobacco and put in bags made of cloth. The following three or four kinds of charas are prepared from it - mushak, bahara, pai, and kuppi. They are then closed up in leather." Mr. Dalgleish is quoted by Dr. Watt as giving a description of the preparation similar to the above. The Deputy Commissioner of Bannu says that honey is mixed in the powder of the flowering tops, after which the stuff is packed in leather bags and kept for a year in the sun. Hari Chand, Assistant to the Commissioner of Excise, reported in 1890 of the Yarkand manufacture that "the leaves are ground in December. The flower is kept in bags of five sérs each till June. The bags are then put in the sun, and the flower rubbed with hands and feet till it gives oil. It is then put in leather bags and hammered till it becomes one block. The blocks are of 54 sérs each." There is a certain similarity in all these methods, and they probably give with fair accuracy the general outline of the important manufacture of Yarkand. Garda, as described in the "Punjab Products," would appear to be the Kashmir preparation. The word seems to mean merely dust in its common use.

Punjab States.

246. The memorandum on the province contains all available information regarding the Punjab States.

TRADE AND MOVEMENT OF THE HEMP DRUGS

299. The comparatively unimportant subject of the bhang trade may be disposed of in a few words. The mass of the bhang consumed is collected within the province mostly from the wild growth. There is a considerable import from over the Kashmir frontier which, the Excise Commissioner remarks, may be regarded as local production, for the plant is collected at no great distance from the border. There is a small import from the direction of Kabul also. It has been seen that a certain quantity of bhang passes out into the North-Western Provinces. It is probable that the bhang produced from cultivation is mostly consumed at home, and that very little of it, if any, passes on to the market. The amount shown as sold by retail vendors approaches 4,000 maunds.

Punjab. Import of charas.

300. Nearly the whole of the charas supply of India comes through the Punjab. The Excise Commissioner estimates that in 1892-93 the total import amounted to 5,000 maunds; that this was an exceptional year, and that in ordinary years it is between 3,000 and 4,000 maunds. When examining the trade of the NorthWestern Provinces, information was quoted from the Joint Commissioner, Ladakh, about the kinds of charas which pass under the names of Bokhara and Yarkand, and the routes by which the two articles are imported into India. The Joint Commissioner, in this case Captain Ramsay, reported to the Financial Commissioner, Punjab, in August 1888, on the subject of the charas trade. In this report he writes: " Charas is produced chiefly in the vicinity of Yarkand. It grows at Bokhara and other places in Turkestan, but I have been informed that the Russians have prohibited its cultivation within their dominions, and that supplies of the drug are now obtained almost entirely from Yarkand territory. The finest charas does not find its way into Ladakh, but is exported to Bokhara and other places." He proceeds to give some interesting details of the trade: " The reported value of the charas is fictitious for this reason that the Yarkandis bring their charas to Leh, and there meet Indian traders who take their charas in exchange for piece-goods and other Indian articles. Each party over-values his goods, hence the reputed value of both charas and piece-goods, etc., is from 10 to 20 per cent. in excess of the real value." He then shows that the trade has a strong spice of gambling about it: "It will be observed that the fluctuations in the price of charas are very great, and this fact has led two of my predecessors and myself to express opinions hostile to the fostering of this particular branch of our Central Asian trade on the ground that all charas dealings partake rather of the nature of a gambling transaction than of legitimate trade. The price fixed for charas at Leh is almost entirely speculative. The charas is intended for sale in the Punjab, but none but license-holders are permitted to sell charas there; the consequence is that when merchants take their charas to the Punjab, they are obliged to sell it for such price as the license-holders will pay. The charas cannot be kept in India, as it goes bad after a year, and it cannot be taken back on account of the cost of transport. The down country licenseholder is therefore in a position to fix the price of the drug. Nevertheless large profits are sometimes made on charas taken down for sale, and thus the trade continues to thrive." These remarks appear to be just, though it may not be correct to say that charas goes bad in quite so short a time as one year. The charas having arrived at Leh, and having apparently passed into the hands of Indian traders, is taken to the Punjab by two routes, via Kashmir and viá Kulu. The ganja, gard bhang, or chura charas manufactured in Kashmir is all consumed locally; none is exported to the Punjab (Kashmir Governor's Memorandum). The Kashmir authorities take precautions to see that the Yarkand charas passes through with bulk unbroken, and they levy duty on any that may be sold in Srinagar. The import by this route may be roughly stated at 500 maunds. Six or seven times as much is imported direct through Kulu to Hoshiarpur, and during the last three years the amount has grown considerably. The figures for the last three years are— Maunds. 1890-91 2,201 1891-92 3,242 1892-93 3,932. The figures quoted by the Excise Commissioner from the Provincial Reports of external trade show that the Kabul route is also used for the import of charas, but no imports were apparently registered in 1890-91 and 1891-92. In discussing the value of these figures, the Excise Commissioner remarks that no drug is shewn as coming across the western frontier (from Sewestan) or the northwestern (from Bajaur) except that from Kabul, while there is undoubtedly a certain amount of import trade with the Derajat and Hazara. This implies that to the west of the Kashmir route there are several roads from Hazara round to the Sind frontier by which charas enters the Punjab. The figures of import and export given in the form prescribed by the Commission are obviously incorrect; the same drug must frequently have been registered more than once. The estimated import is 5,000 maunds. The registered consumption as shown in the statistical tables is 1,020 and 1,026 maunds for 1892-93 and 1891-92 respectively. But the figures seem to be merely the differences between the imports and exports, and cannot be otherwise verified. It would hardly be an excessive estimate to put the amount consumed in the province at 1,200 maunds. This leaves 3,800 maunds for export, of which, according to Mr. Stoker, the North-Western Provinces would take another 1,200 maunds. The balance, 2,600 maunds, must go in waste, and be exported to the rest of India. It must be remembered that the imports of charas in 1892-93 were exceptionally high, being 1,000 or 1,500 maunds above the normal. With this allowance the consumption by India outside the two northern provinces seems to come within limits which accord with the general information regarding the habits of the people. A not insignificant share must be taken by the Native States of the Punjab, where the charas habit is as prevalent as among the population of the British portion of the province.

Punjab States.

301. The following morsels of information regarding the Native States under the Punjab Government have been furnished. The State of Nabha prohibits the sale of ganja and charas, and only allows the sale of bhang for medicinal purposes. Faridkot imported in the last year 40 maunds of bhang and 12 maunds of charas. Jhind has imported on the average of two years 105 maunds of bhang and 52 maunds of charas from Umballa and Hoshiarpur. Chamba reports that it imports the hemp drug from Hoshiarpur and Amritsar, and that the average consumption of the whole year is about 8 maunds. There is a small import of Yarkand charas through Bashahr. The distribution of the hemp drugs to the States would seem to be a subordinate incident of the Punjab trade.

EXTENT OF USE AND THE MANNER AND FORMS IN WHICH THE HEMP DRUGS ARE CONSUMED

Punjab Province. Extent of use. Charas and bhang are used, not ganja.

367. In the Punjab the use of ganja disappears, the indications of its existence being found only in the statements of occasional witnesses. It has no place in the excise arrangements. Charas and bhang are used to a greater or less extent in all parts of the province. Regarding bhang, the Excise Commissioner admits that a certain quantity is consumed without passing through the hands of the licensed vendors, but he does not think that it is very great, because the people of the parts in which the plant grows wild are not addicted to its use, while the retail price (three or four annas a sér) is so small that it is not worth while for a consumer to attempt to obtain a supply elsewhere than from the nearest licensed shop. There is, however, reason to believe that in the south-west corner of the province, where the use of bhang is most prevalent and cultivation is carried on to the extent of about 100 acres, a considerable share of the locally grown drug escapes excise. Regarding charas also, it is probable that the figures of retail sale do not represent the full consumption. These considerations do not, however, affect the view of comparative consumption of the two drugs over the province which the Excise Commissioner has presented in his memorandum, except possibly that the consumption of bhang in the south-east corner may be larger than is represented.

Punjab Province. Extent of use of charas.

368. Taking charas first, it will be seen that its use is most prevalent in the Ludhiana district, and to a somewhat less degree in the Himalayan districts, and in and about the cities of Delhi, Umballa, Amritsar, Lahore, and Peshawar, and that generally the eastern half of the province has decidedly more inclination to the drug than the western half. The measure by which the two halves of the province are differentiated is a consumption of 5 ounces by 100 of population. This measure might be raised to 6 ounces on account of defective registration of sale, and expressed in the terms used for Bengal in this report as one maund to 21,500 of the population. The rate of consumption in Ludhiana is double of this, or one maund in 10,000 and in the greater part of the western half of the province is hardly more than one maund to 60,000.

Punjab Province. Individual consumption of charas.

369. In the North-Western Provinces Mr. Stoker estimated the individual consumption of charas at half a sér per annum. In the Punjab a somewhat higher rate might be adopted because the drug is cheaper, the price to consumers ranging from Rs. 4 to Rs. 15 per sér in this province, while in the North-Western Provinces it was Rs.7 1/2 to Rs.25. If the number of consumers be taken at 60 instead of 80 to the maund, the total number for a total consumption of 1,200 maunds will be 72,000. The divisions of Delhi, Jullundur, and Lahore consume five times as much as Rawalpindi, Peshawar, and the Derajat, and there must therefore be 60,000 consumers in the former to 12,000 in the latter. In this comparison also the province falls into the same halves as before, for the consumption of the districts of Montgomery, Multan, and Jhang in the Lahore Division barely reaches 20 maunds, and does not therefore materially affect the figures.

Punjab Province. Extent of use of bhang.

370. The total retail sale of bhang on the average of the last five years is 3,800 maunds. This probably falls considerably short of the actual consumption owing to the existence of the wild growth in many districts, the regular cultivation which is carried on in the south-western districts, and the homestead cultivation which seems to prevail all over the province to a limited extent. A very appreciable supply must be got direct from these three sources without the intervention of the licensed vendors. Maunds 4,200 would represent a supply of one maund to every 5,000 of the population. The Excise Commissioner finds that the south-eastern districts have the heaviest consumption, 100 to 145 oz. to 100 of the population, or about one maund to 1,000 persons; the central districts come next with about one maund to 4,000 of the population, and the rest of the province consumes one maund to about 8,000, except that the districts of Delhi and Ludhiana almost come up to the districts of heaviest consumption.

Punjab Province. Estimate of number of bhang consumers.

371. Bhang is so cheap, 3 or 4 annas a sér, as to give very wide latitude for individual indulgence. On the other hand, a great share of the consumers, perhaps the majority, are above the class of the very poor, and the drug is to a great extent used with ingredients which are more or less expensive. Occasional use, either regulated by the season, or prompted by the weather, or connected with social and religious observances, is also very common. These things make it extremely difficult to state any estimate of the number of consumers, though a figure of total consumption has been arrived at. It is very doubtful if more than about half of the total consumption, or 2,000 maunds, is taken by regular and habitual consumers. For such persons, at the price given above, two tolas a day, or ten sérs in the year, would not be an extravagant allowance. The cost of this would be less than three rupees a year, and the ingredients would bring the expenditure up to about Rs. 10. The number of habitual consumers would thus be about 8,000. This estimate of individual consumption accords with the evidence on the particular point. The occasional consumers are many times more numerous. The description which is to follow of the "classes of consumers" and of the "social and religious customs" connected with the use of the drugs will throw more light on the extent of the occasional use of bhang. The use as a summer drink seems to be much more common in the northern parts of India, which are characterized by intense dry heat, than in the southern. The dividing line might be drawn with fair accuracy from the Runn of Cutch to Darjeeling.

Punjab Province. Increase and decrease. The evidence of the statistics.

372. The statistical table in the form prescribed by the Commission gives retail sales from the year 1875-76 to 1892-93. But in the first five of these years it is obvious that the figures include transactions other than retail sale in column 45. From 1881-82 onwards there is a steady increase in the figure for charas, interrupted only by a fall in the year 1890-91, which, however, was more than made up by the rise of the following year. In the year 1892-93 the figure is 6 maunds less than in 1891-92. As regards bhang, the figures of the whole period 1880-81 to 1892-93 do not offer any definite suggestion of increase or decrease. Their regularity might, however, tend to remove the hesitation which the Commission feel in accepting the figures for charas as a reliable index of consumption if it were not that bhang is so cheap that there can be little temptation either to smuggling outside the shops or the keeping of incorrect accounts within them. The sale of other preparations of hemp shows a steady decrease. These preparations must include majum and other sweetmeats into which hemp enters. They are not very important, and it is not therefore worth while to speculate whether the decrease of sale means a real decrease of consumption or not. It would be necessary to proceed on mere conjecture, for the evidence and Government papers throw no light on the subject.

Punjab Province. Bhang.

373. Regarding rise or fall in the consumption of bhang also, there is little to be said. Mr. Drummond states that the use of this form of the drug is increasing in the southeastern districts, and that caste movements against alcohol, enhanced cost of spirits, and growing prosperity among the Jats may account for it. But there is little other evidence to indicate increase, and the statistics of the Delhi Division do not suggest it. On the contrary, there is evidence that the better classes are giving up bhang for liquor—a change of habit which has been noticed in other provinces.

Punjab Province. Evidence regarding charas.

374. The steady and considerable increase which the statistics of the consumption of charas shew in the last ten years is not reflected in the evidence in a very decided manner. It is true there are some who allege increase as being caused by the development of the Central Asian trade, the fall in the price of charas, the increase in the number of shops, the increase of population, and the addition to the number of poor and idle people. But there are many who allege decrease; and the more weighty opinions are all in favour of the view that the use is neither increasing nor decreasing. It is true that during the last three years there has been a great development of the trade in charas, but the excess imports have for the most part passed over the Punjab into other provinces and territories, and only a portion of the increase appears from the figures to have stayed in the province. The figures in column 45 of the statement do not appear to be derived from accounts of actual retail sale. They are the exact difference of columns 12 and 16, and the explanatory note attached to the table shows that they are got by subtracting the exports from the imports. In saying that "it is one of the incidental advantages which we expect to derive from the proposed new arrangements that we shall be able to register the import trade efficiently and acquire a proper control over it," the Excise Commissioner appears to admit that the record of imports into the province is not reliable even yet. He considers the statistics of consumption fairly accurate. They were derived in 1892-93 from a comparison of the imports and exports in each district in order, as he says, to give reliable figures of the quantity retained in each district for consumption. But whatever method was employed in 1892-93 seems to have been also employed in previous years, for the figures in column 45 are throughout merely the difference between columns 12 and 16. The Commission therefore have considerable doubt as to the correctness of the figures as indicating a steady increase to consumption for the last 13 years from 480 maunds to 1,020 maunds. This apparent increase may be due to improved methods of registration.

Punjab States. Extent of use.

375. The Native States of the Punjab all lie, with the exception of Bahawalpur, in the eastern of the two halves into which the province is divided in reference to its habit of consuming charas. Leaving Bahawalpur out of consideration for the present, there is no reason to suppose that the States, either those which are wholly or partly in the Himalayas, or those which are in the plain, differ in any material respect from the British territory with which they are intermingled in regard to this habit. It hardly seems necessary to make any exception of the State of Nabha, where the hemp drugs are said to be prohibited. A continuous area of heavy consumption of charas is thus determined, comprising all those parts of the Punjab and North-Western Provinces lying between Lahore and Shahjahanpur. As regards bhang also, the description of the habit in the province must be held to apply to these States. There is no official report from Bahawalpur, but the information which has been collected confirms the idea which is suggested by the position of the State, with reference to the Punjab and Sind, that it is a bhang-consuming country. Ganja is hardly used at all, and charas but little. The use of bhang is more common in the western than the eastern half of the State.

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS

440. In the Punjab there is evidence as to the general use of hemp by some of the followers of Siva, and especially of bhang, at the Holi, Dasehra, Diwali, and other festivals, and on the occasion of marriages and other family festivities. Among the Sikhs the use of bhang as a beverage appears to be common, and to be associated with their religious practices. The witnesses who refer to this use by the Sikhs appear to regard it as an essential part of their religious rites having the authority of the Granth or Sikh scripture. Witness Sodhi Iswar Singh, Extra Assistant Commissioner, says:— "As far as I know, bhang is pounded by the Sikhs on the Dasehra day, and it is ordinarily binding upon every Sikh to drink it as a sacred draught by mixing water with it.

"Legend—Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth guru, the founder of the Sikh religion, was on the gaddi of Baba Nanak in the time of Emperor Aurangzeb. When the guru was at Anandpur, tahsil Una, Hoshiarpur district, engaged in battle with the Hill Rajas of the Simla, Kangra, and the Hoshiarpur districts, the Rajas sent an elephant, who was trained in attacking and slaying the forces of the enemy with a sword in his trunk and in breaking open the gates of forts, to attack and capture the Lohgarh fort near Anandpur. The guru gave one of his followers, Bachittar Singh, some bhang and a little of opium to eat, and directed him to face the said elephant. This brave man obeyed the word of command of his leader and attacked the elephant, who was intoxicated and had achieved victories in several battles before, with the result that the animal was overpowered and the Hill Rajas defeated. The use of bhang, therefore, on the Dasehrad ayi s necessary as a sacred draught. It is customary among the Sikhs generally to drink bhang, so that Guru Gobind Singh has himself said the following poems in praise of bhang: 'Give me, O Saki (butler), a cup of green colour (bhang), as it is required by me at the time of battle' (vide 'Suraj Parkash,' the Sikh religious book). "Bhang is also used on the Chandas day, which is a festival of the god Sheoji Mahadeva. The Sikhs consider it binding to use it on the Dasehra day. The quantity then taken is too small to prove injurious." As Sikhs are absolutely prohibited by their religion from smoking, the use of ganja and charas in this form is not practised by them. A unique custom of dispensing bhang at a religious charitable institution is that mentioned by witness Baba Kirpa Singh. The institution, as a relic of old Sikh times, is annually permitted to collect without interference a boat load of bhang, which is afterwards distributed throughout the year to the sadhus and beggars who are supported by the dharamsala.

EFFECTS - PHYSICAL

503. In the Punjab, Surgeon-Major J. A. Cunningham, witness No. 35, of over 12 years' service, stated that charas and ganja smoked cause chest affections, but not dysentery. Surgeon-Major Dennys, witness No. 34, stated that "charas smokers, even in moderation, are generally emaciated and in poor health, and are depraved creatures both mentally and physically. This is not the case with moderate consumers of bhang as far as I have been able to gather." The witness does not mention any connection between the use of the drugs and chest affections or dysentery.

Of the assistant surgeon and qualified private practitioner class eight were examined. Witness No. 48 is an L.M.S. and a private practitioner. He stated that "charas and ganja always bring on bronchitis and asthma if very large quantities are smoked. It brings on dysentery also." A perusal of this evidence indicates that the witness has mixed up the effects induced by moderate and excessive use of the drugs. Assistant Surgeon Jai Singh (witness No. 47) considers that the use of the drugs does not seem to cause bronchitis, asthma, or dysentery, but rather cures them. Witness No. 39, also an assistant surgeon, stated that the use of bhang is probably quite free from noxious effects, but abuse of charas brings on bronchitis and asthma. Assistant Surgeon Rahim Khan (witness No. 37) is Superintendent, Medical School, Lahore, and has had 33 years' residence in the Punjab, and has been connected with the out-patient department, Medical College Hospital, for that period. He stated: "There are no bad after effects from bhang, but even the moderate use of charas brings on chest affections." Cross-examined as to the meaning the witness attached to moderate, he replied: "I call ten or twelve chillums, costing one or two annas, in the 24 hours moderate use. I know of no more moderate use than that. I know of no case of a man using only one or two chillums a day. I would call a man taking one or two annas' worth a day a 'charasi'." It is clear that this witness knows nothing of the moderate use. Assistant Surgeon Mehr Chand (witness No. 40) stated that the moderate use of bhang produces no noxious effects, while charas, if even used moderately, brings on bronchitis and asthma, general irritation of the respiratory organs, indigestion, and dysentery. On cross-examination the witness said: "As to dysentery, I saw a case of a man who said he was a charas smoker, and took an excessive dose, and it brought on dysentery. I had doubt as to this being the cause. But I think charas may injure the digestion and predispose to diarrhœa or dysentery. I have not enough of cases to be able to say that the drug really produces dysentery. I am not certain. But I have had one or two allegations as to this being the cause, and I had no other cause. I ought to say rather 'it may produce' than 'it does produce dysentery.'" Assistant Surgeon Bhagwan Dass (witness No. 36) is Civil Surgeon of Jhang, and has nearly 25 1/2 years' service. He stated that charas or ganja smoking caused indigestion and diarrhœa and chronic bronchitis. On oral examination the witness stated: "My personal experience of the effects of the drugs is based on my dispensary practice alone. In my social or domestic life I have no knowledge of moderate or excessive consumers I have seen five or six cases of chronic bronchitis in people addicted to hemp drugs. I cannot say that it was due to hemp drugs solely. I have also seen several (say about twenty) cases of indigestion and diarrhœa. But here again I cannot say that they were solely due to hemp drugs, but simply that the patients were consumers. These are all the diseases I have seen attributable to hemp drugs. I have never seen a case of dysentery or asthma which I attributed to hemp drugs, though I have seen both in consumers. My reason for not attributing these diseases to hemp was that other people also suffer from these diseases equally." Witness No. 41 did not ascribe any ill effects to bhang, but stated that bronchitis and asthma are often met with in consumers of charas. Witness No. 38 does not discriminate between the moderate and excessive use.

Three hospital assistants were examined. Witness No. 42 considers that charas smoking causes asthma. Witness No. 43 considers that noxious effects are induced by moderate use of the drugs. Hospital Assistant Karm Elahi (witness No. 44), of 25 years' service, considers that moderate use of the drugs to some extent produces noxious effects; and added: "I have not seen a single case of dysentery caused by the practice: of course cases of cough and asthma."

Seven native practitioners were examined, of whom three failed to discriminate between moderate and excessive use. Witness No. 51 stated that charas causes asthma and bronchitis, but not dysentery. Witness No. 52 stated that "charas, of course, causes loss of appetite and bronchitis and asthma." Witness No. 53 merely stated: "The mischief is done by charas and ganja." Hakim Ghulam Nabi, of Lahore (witness No. 54), of twenty years' experience, stated: "I have not found even a single person during the last twenty years who complained of these drugs. There are more takias outside the Mochi Gate, Lahore, than in any other parts of the city which are reserved for the consumption of such drugs; and as the resorters to these takias generally come to me for treatment, and as none of them has during the last twenty years complained to me of having suffered from any disease in consequence of using bhang or charas, it shows that the moderate use of these drugs is harmless."

THE POLICY OF HEMP DRUG ADMINISTRATION

Opinions for prohibition of charas.

576. The advocates of the prohibition of charas in the Punjab are as follows:— 3 superior civil officers, 3 subordinate civil officers, 2 subordinate medical officers, and 10 nonofficials. It may be noted that Mr. Ogilvie, Financial Commissioner in charge of Excise (2), records the following opinion: "I am inclined to hold the opinion, though I am not quite satisfied on the subject, that the use of charas is so deleterious that it might be permissible, both on grounds of morality and utility, for its use to be prohibited or for the price of the drug to be so artificially raised as to confine its consumption to a very small number indeed. The reason why I say that I am not quite satisfied on the point is because I have not sufficiently investigated the facts. All that I can, therefore, say with certainty is that my opinion tends to the direction above indicated.................. I would observe, however, with regard to the Yarkand trade that the imposition of a duty so high as to be practically prohibitive would very considerably injure that trade, because the Yarkand trader in exchange for the charas takes back the products of the Punjab to his own country or to Kashmir. The extinction or serious injury of the Yarkand trade would, of course, be a very regrettable circumstance. On the other hand, from my personal knowledge as Deputy Commissioner of the Dera Ismail Khan District, I would say no harm would accrue to general trade on the western border from the prohibition of charas." Mr. Coldstream, Deputy Commissioner (5), though he does not seem to have formed a definite opinion regarding the moderate use of the drugs, says: "The gradual stoppage of import of ganja and charas might be tried. It is not as yet a very widely-spread habit, but it might grow. It would cause great pain and discontent if the prohibition were sudden and comprehensive, but this would not amount to political danger. A prohibitory measure regarding ganja and charas would no doubt be followed at once by a recourse to opium and alcohol. I can quite believe the moderate occasional use of the drugs may be comparatively harmless, but I am not aware that they are commonly used occasionally and in moderation. They may, however, be so used for all I know." Mr. Wilson, Deputy Commissioner (14), says that he should like to see the experiment made in selected districts of prohibiting trade in charas (and bhang) altogether. As regards charas, he thinks the prohibition would be feasible, as it is imported, and the discontent would be insignificant. He knows of no class, such as labourers, who take the drug in moderation as an ordinary stimulant. Among fakirs and other excessive consumers, he thinks the use produces great evils, and that there is no more harmful drug which they are likely to take to. He does not know anything of the use of dhatura except its administration as a poison. He thinks sudden prohibition would be cruel. He would therefore begin by taxation and gradually raise it, leaving the question of total prohibition to be decided by experience. The evidence of Arjan Singh, Extra Assistant Commissioner (19), is much to the same effect, but he states that the use of dhatura is general among the followers of Siva at the Shivratri in the Dera Ghazi Khan district. He says it is taken in very small quantities, so that its effect is almost imperceptible. General Millet (69), formerly District Superintendent of Police, would like to see all intoxicants prohibited which cannot be proved to be actually necessary. He thinks gradual prohibition of the hemp drugs feasible, and that educated, intelligent native public opinion, which to a great extent leads that of the lower classes, would support prohibition. Discontent at first among the degraded classes would be inevitable, but there would be no political danger, though tact and discretion would be needed and calm-minded European officials at the helm. He fears that recourse to alcohol would be the result. Shekh Riaz Husain, zamindar (67), thinks that "having regard for the welfare and good of the people which the British Government has in view, the prohibition of the hemp drugs (including bhang) is imperatively necessary. Loyal and intelligent subjects and well-wishers of the country would welcome the prohibition, though the unscrupulous habitual consumers would indeed dislike it. But as it would be for the good of the people, it is not hoped that any class of persons would resent it. The enforcement of the prohibition should be effected like other new laws and regulations, exceptions being made to some extent in the case of the existing old habitual consumers, because its sudden stoppage would cause them serious privation. The discontent resulting would not amount to a political danger. If it were possible to make charas as expensive as alcohol, that would be one way of dealing with the subject." Sardar Sujan Singh, Rai Bahadur, Contractor (59), considers charas as certainly most injurious, and thinks its use should most certainly be prohibited. It does no good to anybody. There are not many kahars who take it. Those who do, go to the bad. He does not know of the use of dhatura as an intoxicant. The use of madak and chandu is more injurious than charas, and they also should be prohibited as well as liquor. He would not recommend immediate prohibition, but would put on such a tax, increasing it gradually, as to make it impossible for the majority of people to buy them at all. Dr. H. M. Clark, Missionary (46), would like to see charas prohibited if it were possible. He thinks, however; that alcohol does more harm than charas. He cannot believe that a moderate use of charas is possible. Fakirs and devotees are the chief consumers. Devi Dayal, Editor of the Kaistha Mitra,* Lahore, circulation 300 copies (83), says: "If charas be called poison (fatal, killing, murdering drug), it is not an exaggeration of any kind. It is a great vice to smoke charas. May God not give this even in the lot of a fœ. Only just people as have bad luck get engaged in this vice. Government will do their subjects a very great obligation by saving them from early death and whirlpool of destruction and ruin. My present belief is that there is no such thing as moderation in the use of charas, because, when a charsi visits another, he offers him the chillum, and they smoke in company. The smoke is thus repeated frequently." Consumers acknowledge that they would have no complaint; and if Government were to prohibit the use of charas to-morrow, the bad habit would die out of itself. Ganesh Das, Pleader, and President, Sarin Sabha, Hoshiarpur (77): Charas is consumed by shoemakers, musicians, jogis, sanyasis, and suthra fakirs, and by some Khatris and Brahmins. The physical effects are very bad, and most consumers become incapacitated for work and lead a miserable life. The subcommittee of the Sarin Sabha appointed to consider the subject recommend prohibition. Enquiry was not made from medical experts. Consumers would not take to other intoxicants, because the intoxication of charas is not like that of opium or other intoxicants. The greatest loss would be that of the traders of Hoshiarpur and Amritsar, who take merchandise to Ladakh and Yarkand and bring back charas.

Punjab. Opinions against prohibition of charas.

577. The following is an analysis of some of the most important evidence against prohibition:— (1) Prohibition [of charas in the Punjab] impossible or unnecessary, or could not be enforced without a large preventive establishment. - [Evidence of](1) Mr. Rivaz, First Financial Commissioner. (3) Mr. Thorburn, Commissioner. (6) Mr. Ibbetson, Deputy Commissioner. (8) Mr. Maconachie, Deputy Commissioner. (13) Mr. Drummond, Deputy Commissioner. (66) Kazi Syad Ahmad, retired Government servant. (2) Prohibition [of charas in the Punjab] 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. - - [Evidence of] (3) Mr. Thorburn, Commissioner. (6) Mr. Ibbetson, Deputy Commissioner. (10) Mr. A. Anderson, Deputy Commissioner. (8) Mr. Maconachie, Deputy Commissioner. (13) Mr. Drummond, Deputy Commissioner. (29) Mr. Brown, Officiating Deputy Inspector-General of Police. (39) Thakur Das, Rai Bahadur, Assistant Surgeon. (36) Bhagwan Dass, Assistant Surgeon. (25) Muhammad Ikramulla Khan, Khan Bahadur, Honorary Extra Assistant Commissioner. (27) Muhammad Barkat Ali Khan, Khan Bahadur, retired Extra Assistant Commissioner. (61) Bahram Khan, Honorary Magistrate. (93) Gujar Mal, Trader. (94) Jawala Bhagat, Trader. (3) Prohibition might lead to use of dhatura or other intoxicants worse than charas. - [Evidence of] (76) Babu P. C. Chatterji, Judge, Chief Court. (10) Mr. A. Anderson, Deputy Commissioner. (18) Rai Bahadur Bhagwan Dass, Extra Assistant Commissioner. (39) Thakur Das, Rai Bahadur, Assistant Surgeon. (27) Muhammad Barkat Ali Khan, Khan Bahadur, retired Extra Assistant Commissioner. (86) Lachman Dass, Merchant.

EXISTING SYSTEMS DESCRIBED

PUNJAB. 

Law in force. Supply of the drugs.

612. The excise administration is based upon Act XXII of 1881 (see North-Western Provinces) and rules thereunder. Ganja is practically unknown in the Punjab. Charas is imported from Yarkand viâ Kashmir and Ladak and from Bokhara, and perhaps other Central Asian countries viâ Afghanistan. No charas is produced in the province except to a trifling extent in the hills for private consumption. Bhang is collected from the wild plant which grows plentifully in the SubHimalayan districts. It is also cultivated to a small extent in Multan and in the Derajat Division, but the total area of cultivation is probably less than 100 acres. Cultivation is not controlled, and a cultivator cannot be prosecuted for the possession of bhang, though he is only allowed to sell his produce to a licensed vendor.

Import and transport.

613. The traders who bring charas from Yarkand are not licensed, but they have to obtain a pass from the Joint Commissioner at Leh or from the Deputy Commissioner of the district where they enter the Punjab, and take it for countersignature to the Deputy Commissioner or Collector of every district in the Punjab or the North-Western Provinces which they may enter with the charas. The consignment may be opened at any head-quarters station or tahsil while on its way to its destination, and a portion of its contents may be sold to the farmer of excise for drugs, the fact being recorded on the pass and the package resealed. When a consignment is conveyed by rail, the provision requiring it to be taken to the Deputy Commissioner or Collector of every district through which it passes is dispensed with. The transport of bhang from the districts of growth to those of consumption is regulated by passes, no duty or fee of any sort being charged.

Excise system.

614. Hitherto the excise income from intoxicating drugs in the Punjab has been derived solely from the monopoly of sale within tahsils or other sub-divisions of districts. In some districts the monopoly of opium and other drugs prepared from the poppy is farmed separately from that of the hemp drugs, while in others the same farm includes both. Ordinarily the farm or license is held for the year, the fee payable being determined by auction. The present rules make no provision for the issue of wholesale licenses, but the new rules are to provide for such licenses. As a matter of account the fees paid in each district in respect of the combined opium and hemp drug licenses, where these are held together, are distributed between the two heads of receipt in a proportion which is supposed to represent the actual value of each set of licenses. This proportion varies from district to district. As a result of the practice described above, the number and locality of the shops are fixed beforehand from year to year, and as a matter of fact they are seldom altered. The Punjab system of excise administration in regard to hemp drugs was described by the Excise Commissioner in his report for 1892 as "going very near to reversing the principle of a maximum of revenue with a minimum of consumption." In the report for 1893 the Excise Commissioner says: "Taking Rs. 1,70,854 to be approximately the real value of the licenses for the sale of hemp drugs, it represents the total taxation now levied on a consumption of upwards of 1,000 maunds of charas and of nearly 4,000 maunds of bhang." This is "the weakest part of our excise system in the Punjab. It is hoped that we are now within measurable distance of arrangements which will give us complete control over the import trade in charas, and enable us to impose a duty which can be gradually raised. Owing to the fact that the plant grows wild in so many districts, and is to be had for the gathering, while charas comes in by a few well recognised routes and can scarcely escape us, it is much more difficult to deal with the trade in bhang efficiently. But I am in hopes that the Government will agree before very long to the introduction of some measures for the direct taxation of bhang too." In the form of license for retail vend of the drugs, there is no provision against consumption on the premises. There is a provision prohibiting the supply of the drugs to any insane person or to children. It may be noted, though the matter is of no practical moment in the Punjab, that the limit of retail sale for ganja is fixed in this form at 1/4 of a sér as for bhang, whereas under the Act it must not exceed 5 tolas. It seems to be the practice to consult the wishes of the people before new shops are opened.

Proposal to tax charas and bhang.

615. The question of imposing a duty on charas and bhang, to which reference is made above, has been very fully discussed, and an Act (X of 1893) has been passed in which power has been taken to impose on any intoxicating drug brought by land from beyond the limits of India into any territory to which Act XXII of 1881 extends, or into any specified part thereof, such duty as the Governor-General in Council thinks fit. In pursuance of the provisions of this enactment, it has been proposed to establish golas to which all charas should be taken on entering the province, and which it should be allowed to leave only under a license or pass, for which a fee should be levied at the rate of 8 annas a sér. The revision of the Excise rules so as to give effect to this proposal is under consideration. The taxation of bhang is a more difficult matter owing to the prevalence of the growth of the plant, and the consideration of proposals relating thereto made by the Excise Commissioner has been postponed until the tax on charas has been introduced. The opinion of the Punjab Government on this question is that "in regard to matters of this sort, which involve an interference with ancient and firmly rooted habits of large masses of the people, it is desirable to proceed cautiously, doing one thing at a time."

SYSTEMS OF NATIVE STATES

Punjab Native States

735. As ganja is not produced or used in the Punjab and charas is an imported article, which will be dealt with before it reaches any of the Native Sates of that province, the control of bhang is the only question for consideration in connection with the latter; and this is not a difficult one. For bhang is only cultivated in Bhawalpur, and its sale is controlled. If any further arrangements made in the Punjab for the control of the hemp drugs, the cooperation of the various States may be desirable, but at present there is no need to offer any suggestions. the sale of the drugs is conducted under licenses granted by the States. In the Nabha State it is said that ganja and charas are prohibited.

Memorandum on hemp drugs in the Punjab, by Mr. T. G. Walker, Commissioner of Excise, Vol 3, Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-1895.

The system of excise administration in respect of intoxicating (hemp) drugs in the Punjab has been receiving a great deal of attention during the last five or six years; and it so happens that, as the outcome of much inquiry and discussion, we are now on the eve of the introduction of a new set of rules which will alter and improve that system in many respects. It will, I think, be convenient if I explain how matters stand at present. The correspondence on the subject is voluminous, and there is certainly no dearth of information.

General facts with regard to hemp drugs in the Punjab. 

2. The broad facts with regard to these drugs in the Punjab may first be stated. Charas is imported across the northern and western frontiers (mostly from Yarkand) to the extent of about 4,000 maunds (the import actually rose to close on 5,000 maunds last year) annually. Of this quantity between one-fourth and one-fifth is retained for consumption in Punjab districts, the remainder passing on, principally to the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, the Native States under the political control of the Punjab Government and the Rajputana States. The quantity of the other forms of the prepared drug coming into the province is trifling and may be neglected. The supply of bhang is derived from the wild hemp plant which grows within the province in the sub-montane tracts under the Himalayas and the Suleiman range. The annual consumption of bhang (which is merely the leaves of the wild plant) falls little short of 4,000 maunds in the districts of the Punjab. The import into and the transport through the Punjab of charas, and the transport of bhang from the districts of growth to those of consumption are regulated by a system of passes; but no direct duty or tax of any sort is levied. With the exception of a few plots, grown by fakirs principally for their own consumption in one or two of the western districts, there is no cultivation of the plant for the production of intoxicants. The total area of these plots does not, I believe, exceed 100 acres; and the produce is taken in the form of bhang. There is, so far as I am aware, absolutely no manufacture within the province of hemp drugs from the plant.* Note.—This does not of course apply to the manufacture of majum, &c., by the licensed vendors. T. G. W.* The only taxation now levied is in the form of fees for the monopoly of vend. "The excise income from intoxicating drugs in the Punjab is derived from the farm of the monopoly of sale within tahsils or other subdivisions of districts" (Rule 1). The total amount of this income is between 1½ and 1¾ lakhs per annum.

Punjab Government Proceedings (Revenue and Agriculture) for January 1889, Nos. 1—5. 

3. With this explanation I would invite attention to the (printed) collection of papers in Punjab Government Proceedings, Revenue and Agriculture (Revenue), for January 1889, Nos. 1—5. That correspondence arose out of a reference from the Government of India in connection with a draft article in Dr. Watt's Dictionary of Economic Products; but the local Government requested the Financial Commissioner to consider "the question of the feasibility of putting an import duty on charas," A reference to local officers produced the papers which will be found in 1 the above quoted Proceedings, and it will be seen that they contain a great deal of information on the subject. The Punjab Government summed up the results in their letter No. 1, dated 3rd January 1889 (No. 4 in the Proceedings). From this I make the following extract (paragraph 4): " In the Lieutenant-Governor's opinion, however, the whole subject is still rather observe, and is one which should be carefully studied by the new Commissioner of Excise. The Commissioner should therefore be requested to find out exactly what the system of other local Governments is, and from what other places ganja and charas come to the Punjab besides Leh, and in what quantities. The Commissioner of Excise should also study the subject and the system and facts as regards bhang carefully, and report on the whole question after the end of a year."

Report and proposals made in 1890.— Punjab Government Proceedings (Revenue and Agriculture) for January 1892 (Nos.13—16). 

4. I would next refer to the collection of papers in Punjab Government Proceedings, Revenue and Agriculture (Revenue), for January 1892, Nos. 13—16, regarding "taxation of charas and bhang." In accordance with the orders contained in the passage quoted at the close of the preceding paragraph I took up the question early in 1890. My report will be found as No. 14 of the above Proceedings (my letter No. 76, dated 10th April 1890). I would invite a perusal of that report and more particularly of paragraphs 8—11, 14, 15, and 18. The proposals which I made are summarized in paragraph 29, and I submitted a set of draft rules with explanatory remarks. These proposals were referred for opinion to selected officers. During my absence on furlough (April 1890 to December 1891) the replies of the officers consulted were received and my locum tenens, Mr. R. M. Dane, considered the proposals in detail (his letter No. 240, dated 24th December 1890, which will be found in the Proceedings last quoted). The proposals involved inter alia the imposition of a direct import duty at the frontier on all foreign (hemp) drugs; and, on a reference to the Government Advocate, it was pointed out by him that there was no power under the Excise Act to impose such a duty. The orders of the local Government on the proposals are contained in Punjab Government letter No. 8, dated 11th January 1892 (No. 16 of the Proceedings). The Lieutenant-Governor "was of opinion that a tax of Rs. 20 per maund might be imposed upon charas with effect from 1st April 1893. No doubt the retail price of charas will be somewhat raised; but this in itself is an advantage, as the use of the drug is certainly pernicious." Accepting the opinion of the Government Advocate as to the manner in which the tax should be imposed, the letter describes the system to be adopted—the establishment of golahs to which all charas should be taken on entering the Province and which it should be allowed to leave only under a license or pass for which a fee should be levied at the rate of 8 annas a seer. With regard to bhang, "the LieutenantGovernor was not thoroughly satisfied with the proposals made by the Excise Commissioner, and he would prefer to reconsider the question hereafter when the tax upon charas has been actually introduced."

Rules drafted in 1892 and 1893. 

5. In accordance with these orders I drafted a set of rules giving effect to them. The draft was circulated to Commissioners and selected District Officers; and on receipt of their opinions the case was submitted to the Financial Commissioner in October 1892 for orders with regard to several points that had arisen in connection with the draft. In April 1893 Government passed orders calling for a copy of the rules in complete form, and pointing out that a tax on charas only and not on intoxicating drugs [section 3 (h), Act XXII of 1881] had been agreed to. Some further correspondence passed, and last month (August 1893) I submitted to the Financial Commissioner a final draft of the rules. In the meantime the Government of India had taken up the question of amending the Excise Act so as to make the imposition of an import duty on intoxicating drugs legal. With the passing of Act X of 1893 the necessity for the system of golahs and passes accepted by the Punjab Government in their letter No. 8, dated 11th January 1892, ceased. It will now be possible to revert to my original proposals of 1890, at least so far as they provide for a direct import duty on charas.

Present state of the proposals for taxation. 

6. It is probably unnecessary for the Commission to refer to the correspondence dealt with in the preceding paragraph because it relates to a condition of things which has ceased to exist and represents so much labour lost. The present state of affairs may be described as follows:—(i) an import duty at the rate of Rs. 20 per maund will probably be imposed with effect from 1st April 1894 on all charas entering the province; (ii) rules providing for this duty and also putting the system of licensing vend on a satisfactory footing will be submitted shortly to the Government of India; (iii) with regard to bhang, His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor has recently referred to this question in reviewing the Excise Report for 1892-93 (paragraph 6 of the Review). I quote the paragraph in full because it mentions the subject of an import duty on charas also: "The question of levying an import duty on charas was referred to in the 10th paragraph of the Review of the Report for 1891-92. There were legal difficulties in the way of imposing this tax under Act XXII of 1881, but these will be removed when the amending Bill now before the Legislative Council has been passed, and draft rules will shortly be submitted to the Government of India. The question of the taxation of bhang is a far more difficult one, but it must before long be taken in hand. It must, however, be borne in mind that, as remarked in the 10th paragraph of last year's Review, 'in regard to matters of this sort, which involve an interference with ancient and firmly-rooted habits of large masses of the people, it is desirable to proceed cautiously, doing one thing at time'" I will now proceed to give such detailed information as is available with regard to the supply of these drugs, and will then describe the system under which their supply and vend are controlled.

Trade returns of the import of charas, &c. 

7. Dealing first with the import of the drugs, I take the following figures from the Provincial Reports of External Trade. The figures give the amount imported in maunds:—

These figures do not agree very closely with those given in our Excise Returns, which I will examine presently; but I give them because they are in a way from an independent source. It will be seen that there is actually no import of ganja shown, while the quantity of "other kinds" is exceedingly small. With regard to the large quantity of bhang shown as imported from Kashmir in 1890-91 this may be treated as if it were produced in our own districts (e.g., Gurdaspur). The wild plant grows in the sub-montane parts of Jummoo and comes into our districts just as it does from other areas of supply within the Punjab. It will thus be evident that except charas the import of these drugs from beyond our northern and western frontiers is of very limited quantity. 

As regards charas, what is shown as coming from Kashmir is from the same source (Yarkand) as that shown from Ladakh. Most of the Yarkand charas takes the ordinary route through Leh to Sultanpur (Kulu); but a certain quantity of it passes westward through Kashmir territory. This was pointed out by Captain Ramsay, Joint-Commissioner, Leh, in his letter which will be found at page 7 of the printed Proceedings quoted at the commencement of paragraph 3. In paragraph 5 Captain Ramsay says "charas will grow, though not well, in Kashmir; but as a matter of fact it is not grown in Kashmir, and in Ladakh it of course could not be grown. The charas shown under the two heads Kashmir and Ladakh consists of Yarkand charas imported (1) viâ Ladakh and Kashmir to the Panjab, (2) viâ Ladakh direct to the Punjab through Kulu." These trade returns are obviously defective in some respects. They show no drug as coming across the western frontier (from Sewestan) or the north-western (from Bajaur), except that from Kabul, while there is undoubtedly a certain amount of import trade into the Derajat and Hazara. This probably appears under other heads in the trade returns. But the figures given are useful as showing that there is a very large import of charas from Yarkand, and that the import of this drug from other quarters and of other drugs from all sources is unimportant in comparison with this. 

Excise figures of import and consumption of charas

8. The following figures of imports and consumption of charas are taken from the Excise figures of import and consumption of charas.

The figures of imports given above are the totals of the district details, and the same consignments have undoubtedly been shown in many cases twice over. No systematic attempt has been made to obtain correct statistics of the quantity brought across the frontier; and it is one of the incidental advantages which we expect to derive from the proposed new arrangements that we shall be able to register the import trade efficiently and acquire a proper control over it. There has been a great development of the trade in charas during the last three years. The quantity coming into Hoshiarpur by the Kulu route rose from 2,201 maunds in 1890-91 to 3,242 maunds in 1891-92 and to 3,932 maunds in 1892-93. In the last of these years the Kangra district returns give the quantity as 3,765 maunds. These figures are taken from the register of excise passes, and may be relied on as fairly accurate. Allowing for what went by the Kashmir and other routes, it seems probable that the imports in 1892-93 (which was an exceptional year) fell little short of 5,000 maunds. In an ordinary year they have averaged between 3,000 and 4,000 maunds, the trade being subject to great fluctuations. The figures of consumption given above show the quantity retailed by the licensees and are fairly accurate. The licensees are required to keep accounts and furnish returns of their dealings. 

Details of the consumption of bhang.

9. The quantity of bhang shown as sold by retail vendors in each of the last six years is—

There is a certain quantity consumed without passing through the hands of licensed vendors; but this is probably not very great, because the people of the parts in which the plant grows wild are not addicted to its use, while the retail price (three or four annas a seer) is so small that it is not worth while for a consumer to attempt to obtain a supply elsewhere than from the nearest licensed shop. 

Price of hemp drugs. 

10. The wholesale price of charas varies very much in different localities and from year to year, according to the state of the market. The price at Kulu is said to have been Re. 1-4 a seer in 1892-93 as compared with Rs. 3 to Rs. 4 in the preceding year, the prices at Hoshiarpur for the same periods being reported as Re. 1 and Rs. 2 respectively. As already remarked, last year was an exceptional one, and the price of the drug on entering the province varies usually from Rs. 2 to Rs. 4 a seer, increasing at other places with the cost of carriage. The retail price varies from Rs. 7 to Rs. 10 a seer. The cost of bhang to the licensed vendor is only that of collecting on the spot and conveying to the place of sale. It is usually sold retail at the rate of four annas a seer.

Regulation of import and transport. 

11. The rules with reference to the import, transport, and sale of intoxicating hemp-drugs will be found at page 107 of the Punjab Excise Pamphlet. They were framed under Act X of 1871, and are inconvenient in form, besides containing much that is now obsolete. It is sufficient to say that the import into the province of charas and its subsequent transport, and the transport of bhang from the districts of growth to these of consumption, are regulated by a system of passes, no duty or fee of any sort being charged. Importers of charas must take their consignments to the Deputy Commissioner of the frontier district which they enter and obtain from him a pass covering subsequent transport, the packages containing each consignment being closed and sealed. Provision is made for attesting sales en route, changes of destination, and the like. For the transport of' bhang by a licensed vendor a permit from the district of destination and a pass issued on this from the district of production are required. The whole system is rather loose, and the new rules will, it is hoped, give us a much more strict control over the movements of consignments of the drugs.

Licensing of retail vend. 

12. The existing arrangements in regard to taxation and vend are explained in Rule 1: "The excise income from intoxicating drugs in the Punjab is derived from the farm of the monopoly of sale within tahsils or other sub-divisions of districts. In some districts the monopoly of opium and other drugs prepared from the poppy is farmed separately from that of other intoxicating drugs, while in others the same farm includes both." Ordinarily the farm or license is held for the year, the fee payable being determined by auction. The present rules make no provision for the issue of wholesale licenses (section 13, Act XXII of 1881); but licenses have actually been given in the- Amritsar district, although there is no authority for this. The new rules, I may say, will provide for such licenses. As to retail vend, the practice is not quite in keeping with the rules. The hemp-drugs are in fact usually offered for sale at the same shops as opium, though their sale is covered by a separate license. The opium licenses are disposed of by shops, singly, or by groups of shops (by tahsils or smaller areas); and the hemp-drugs licenses go with them as a rule. The combined licenses (except in four districts) are held by the year, fee fee payable for each shop or group of shops being determined by annual auction. As a matter of account the fees paid in each district in respect of the combined opium and hemp-drug licenses, where these are held together, are distributed between the two heads of receipt in a proportion which is supposed to represent the actual value of each set of licenses. This proportion varies from district to district. As a result of the practice described above, the number and locality of the shops are fixed beforehand from year to year (they are as a matter of fact seldom altered). In four districts the combined monopoly of the vend of opium and of hemp-drugs at the authorized shops (of which the number and localities are fixed) have been leased for a term of years (three to five). I may add that in the new rules it is proposed expressly to provide for a system of licensing under which the number of shops and the locality of each shall be fixed, i.e.; each shop will be separately licensed, although the licenses may be disposed of either singly or in groups. 

Statistics of consumption.

13.  As regards the consumption of charas, the following details may be given. The quantity (in maunds) retailed in each of the past two years was:—

It will be seen from these figures that the consumption of this form of drug is heaviest in the Delhi and Jullundur Divisions, while in the Rawalpindi and frontier Divisions it is comparatively small. I am not prepared to give any explanation of these facts. Within Divisions the consumption is distributed on the whole very evenly. For further details I would refer to Provincial Excise Statement C published with the Annual Excise Administration Reports. For bhang the following details (consumption in maunds) may be given:—.

In none of the remaining districts did the consumption exceed 100 maunds. With regard to these figures of the consumption of bhang one very important fact is established. The Muhammadan population of the south-western districts (Mooltan, Muzaffargarh, and Dera Ghazi Khan), who are prohibited by their religion from the use of spirits, are to a very large extent addicted to drinking an infusion of bhang as an intoxicant. It will be observed that the consumption in the two districts of Mooltan and Dera Ghazi Khan is between one-fourth and one-fifth of that of the whole province. In these districts bhang is undoubtedly a substitute with the Muhammadan population for the spirits which their creed forbids them to take. 

Another fact that may be noted is that the districts of Ferozepore, Ludhiana, Lahore, and Amritsar, which come after Mooltan and Dera Ghazi Khan in this matter of consumption of bhang, are those in which the Sikh element is strongest. The Sikh population of the province being 1,389,934, these four districts contribute 781,439 towards this total. It seems likely that the prohibition amongst the Sikhs of tobacco-smoking has a good deal to do with their preference for the drug in a liquid state. 

This question of the distribution of consumption according to locality, religion, caste, &c., is one that will, no doubt, receive a great deal of attention from the Commission, and it seems unnecessary in this memorandum to do more than indicate the general features. Annexed to the memorandum will be found two maps showing the consumption of charas and of bhang separately by districts in the year 1890-91, and these will serve to illustrate the above remarks. It will be seen that, roughly speaking, as regards the use of charas the province divides itself into two parts—the eastern districts, in which the consumption exceeds 5 oz. per 100 of the population, and the western districts, in which the average consumption is less than this. As regards bhang, on the other hand, the districts fall into 3 groups:—(1) the southwestern districts, in which the consumption exceeds 40 oz. per 100 of population; (2) the central districts, in which it averages between 20 and 40 oz.; and (3) the northern and eastern districts, in which it is less than 20 oz. 

Points enumerated in Secretary to Commission's letter. 

14. I will now take the special points mentioned in the note annexed to the Secretary, Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's letter in detail. 

(a) The system in the Punjab is uniform. The arrangements are under the control in due gradation of (1) the Financial Commissioner, (2) Divisional Commissioners and the Commissioner of Excise, and (3) Deputy Commissioners, the actual administration in each district being in the hands of the Deputy Commissioners. The Act is the Excise Act (XXII) of 1881, and the rules are those which will be found at page 107 of the Punjab Excise Pamphlet. 

(b) It is not possible to give any estimate of the extent to which the wild hemp plant grows. It is a mere weed, and cannot be said to cover any particular area, as it is scattered about. So much is taken in the form of bhang as is required for the consumption in our districts (4,000 maunds of dried leaves) and in the Punjab Native States, and the remainder is probably allowed to die down. The dry stalks are sometimes, I believe, used for fuel. No preparation of any sort is extracted from the plant. The manner in which the transport and sale of bhang are controlled has been already described. With regard to possession, section 22 of the Excise Act prevents any one other than a dealer from having in his possession more than ¼ of a seer; but, so far as I am aware, there is now nothing to prevent a person within this limit from collecting and using the leaves of the plant. He could not sell bhang. The Commission might usefully refer to Financial Commissioner's Circular No. 3, dated January 1882, in which the system is explained. 

(c) With reference to the above, it will be evident that the necessity for cultivating the hemp plant for the production of bhang as a marketable commodity scarcely arises. A few patches of the plant are grown in the Mooltan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Shahpur, and Bannu districts, but the total area is probably less than 100 acres. There is no restriction on or regulation of cultivation; and, so far as I can see, there is nothing to prevent a person who grows the crop from using the produce as an intoxicant, provided he is not at any time in possession of more than the quantity allowed by the Act. Where the plant is grown the object is to provide for private consumption. Manufacture of any of the "preparations" is unknown in the Punjab. I may add that I proposed in 1890 either to prohibit the cultivation entirely or to impose an acreage duty that would be prohibitive. No notice has been taken by higher authority of the proposal. It will be easy at the present time to deal with the cultivation and to stamp it out, while there is the danger that, if we adopt measures which will restrict the supply and enhance the price of bhang, the result of these measures may be to encourage the cultivation. It has been suggested that steps should be taken to make persons on whose waste land the wild plant grows responsible for its destruction; but, as already explained, the local Government has not yet agreed to alter the existing arrangements in respect of bhang in any way, and the consideration of the proposal would, therefore, be premature (see Commissioner of Excise, Bengal's Circular No. 6075, dated 26th January 1893). 

(d) Charas is imported by (1) Yarkandis, Ladakhis, and others who bring it in, dispose of it, principally at Hoshiarpur and Amritsar, and return with piece-goods, &c., and (2) merchants of Amritsar and other places who have established trade relations with Ladakh. I would refer the Commission for further particulars (if they are wanted) to paragraph 40 of the Report on the External Land Trade of the Punjab for the year 1891-92. The traders are not licensed. The only control over the trade is in the way of requiring a pass from the Deputy Commissioner of the frontier station where a consignment enters the Punjab, and the subsequent transport is regulated. Rule 7 is as follows: "Merchants bringing charas into the Punjab must obtain a pass (Appendix III) from the Deputy Commissioner of the frontier station where they enter the Punjab, and take it for countersignature to the Deputy Commissioner or Collector of every district in the Punjab or the NorthWestern Provinces, which they may subsequently enter with the charas. The article, its quantity (both gross weight of the package and net weight of the charas being given), and destination are stated in the pass, and the package is sealed up with the official seal of the Deputy Commissioner. It may be opened at any head-quarters station or tahsil while on the way to its destination, and a portion of its contents may be sold to the farmer of excise for drugs, the fact being recorded on the pass, and the package resealed. The owners must be warned that if the package is found open and any charas is sold from it, except as above stated, they will be proceeded against under the Excise Laws, and the package will be liable to confiscation." 

Where a consignment is conveyed by rail, the provision requiring it to be taken to the Deputy Commissioner, &c., of every district through which it passes is dispensed with. Rules 8—13 may also, if necessary, be referred to. 

(e) There is no provision in the existing rules for licensing wholesale vend (section 13 of the Act); but this defect will be supplied in the new rules. The arrangements with regard to retail vend have been already described (paragraph 12 of this memorandum).

(f) As above explained, there is no direct tax on any of the drugs. Indirect taxation is taken in the form of license fees for retail vend in the manner already described.

(g) The system of licensing retail vend has been described in the preceding paras, and it has been explained (paragraph 12) that the practice in the matter is not strictly in accordance with the rules. The rules provide only "for the farm of the monopoly of sale" withing certain areas, the monopoly being either combined with or separate from that of opium. The rules make no provision for fixing the number and sites of the retail shops; but to the form of lease (Appendix I) is added a schedule "showing the names of places at which licensed shops for the retail vend of intoxicating drugs have been ...." and the practice has always been to fix the number and locality of the shops. The arrangements, it should be understood, in respect of licensing the sale of these drugs mostly depend on the ...for the retail vend of opium. In one or two districts the experiment is being tried of licensing for shops for the sale of opium only; but with this exception opium and hemp drugs are almost invariably offered for sale at the same shops, the licenses being in the hands of the same persons. For this reason the number and locality of the shops are usually fixed under the Opium Rules. The number of shops is determined in a general way with reference to area and population, though there is no accepted standard. The number depends in a great measure on the habits of the people in respect of the consumption of opium and hemp-drugs. In the statement appended to this memorandum are given details of the averafe population in 1892-93 to each license for the sale of opium and hemp-drugs; but in considering these figures it should be remembered that, as explained above, there is as a rule only one shop for every two licenses; or, to put the matter in another way, hemp-drugs are usually retailed at the opium shops. There is nothing in the nature of "local option." In practice the shop sites remain as they have been established for a long time, and the necessity for a change in the way of adding new shops or closing existing ones seldom arises.

The license fee to be paid for each shop or each group of shops is determined (except in the four districts where the fees have been formed for a period of years) by annual action. No upset price is fixed. 

(h)No rate is fixed at which the drugs must be supplied by wholesale to retail vendors. The wholesale price of charas depends on the state of the market, and bhang cannot be said to have any wholesale price as the cost to the vendor is only that of collecting and carriage. The average retail price charged to the consumers is from Rs. 7 to Rs. 10 per seer (according to the state of the market and the wholesale price) for charas and four annas a seer for bhang. Both are sold in very small quantities to consumed and the price charged, if worked out on the seer, varies a great deal from district to district within limits of (roughly) Rs. 4 to Rs. 15 for charas and 2 annas to 8 annas for bhang.

(i) The maximum quanity fixed for retail sale to or possession by consumers is that laid down in section 22 of the Excise Act [Section 3... bhang one-quarter of a seer; charas, &c, five tolahs. With regard to sale this is provided for by a condition in the form of license. No minimum price is fixed.

(j) Cases occasionally come to light of illicit sale of charas, &c, or of possession of more than the authorized quantity; but they are rare and unimportant. Illicit practices of other kinds are, I believe, unknown. It will, I think, be clear from this memorandum that there is really no room for such practices. No special measures of prevention have been found necessary.

(k) The modification of the present system, which are under consideration, have been described in the early part of this memorandum.

(l) The sources of supply, the extent of cultivation and trade, as well as the other heads mentioned here, have been examined in the memorandum.

T. G. WALKER, Commissioner of Excise, Punjab.

Extract paragraph 40 from the Report on the External Land Trade of the Punjab for the year 1891-92.

Kulu and Ladakh. 

40. The main portion of the Ladakh trade finds its way into India through Kulu. The Assistant Commissioner in his report makes some interesting observations, pointing out that while the Kulu posts register as Ladakh trade much that is really trade with Thibet and other places, they also fail to include a large portion of genuine Ladakh trade which enters British territory viá Kashmir. He remarks:— 

"In the Provincial Foreign Trade Report the returns furnished by the Kulu registration post constitute what is known as the 'Ladakh' trade. This general term, however, requires explanation. In so far as Leh is the chief emporium of this trade, it may be convenient to describe as imports and exports of Ladakh all merchandise of Yarkand which is exchanged here for goods from India; but, on the one hand, it is to be remembered that at the Sultanpur post all merchandise is registered which crosses the Rohtang pass, so that imports and exports of Thibet, Baltistan, and the British districts of Lahul and Spiti are included in the 'Ladakh' trade, while, on the other hand, all exports from and imports to Leh which take the Kashmir route are treated in the Provincial Report as trade with Kashmir and not with Ladakh." 

He makes some further remarks regarding the agency by which this trade is conducted:— 

"The trade with Ladakh is in the hands of four classes:—(1) The merchants of Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, and Sultanpur.—Many of the latter are Lahulis, who deal chiefly in wool. The Indian merchants send up piece-goods or tea in the spring and bring down Yarkand and Ladakh produce, chiefly charas, in the autumn. They use mules for carriage. Latterly the more wealthy muleteers have commenced to trade on their own account. (2) The Yarkandis.— These men generally dispose of their goods at Leh, but some of them come on to India with charas, carpets, and numdahs. Many also, after selling their goods at Leh, bring on for sale in India the horses upon which these goods were laden. Having disposed of their means of carriage, they generally return empty-handed. (3) The Baltis of Baltistan, who visit Simla in the cold weather in search of employment as road coolies and the like.—They are often erroneously called Ladakhis. They do not visit India for the sake of trade, but they take the opportunity of bringing with them dried apricots, which accounts for the entry 'fruits' under the head of imports, returning to their own country with as much as they can carry of brass, copper, and iron vessels. Some of them also carry back with them China cups and saucers, which are in demand in a tea-drinking country. (4) Bhotis, which term includes the Mongolian races inhabiting Ladakh, Zanskar, Chinese Thibet, and Lahul.—The wool and pashm imported by the Bhotis are laden chiefly on the backs of sheep and goats. These sheep and goats figure in the returns of imports. On being discharged of their burdens at Sultanpur they are sold to butchers from Simla. Beyond the various food-grains which are in demand in their desolate, sparsely cultivated country the Bhotis carry little back with them from India. The amount of grain which they can take with them is not much, as they have disposed of their means of carriage."

FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION ON EXAMINATION OF THE ALLEGED HEMP DRUG INSANITY CASES OF 1892.

Reports from Lahore Lunatic Asylum.

Punjab Witnesses to the Hemp Commission

Questions from the Hemp Commission to Punjab Witnesses

Individual Witness Statements to the Hemp  Commission.