Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, are typically spread by three agents - bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Infectious diseases have existed from as far back as these agents have existed. When we humans descended from the chimpanzees, we carried along with us a host of these agents as well as our relationships with them. Many agents are beneficial for us, while some are benign, and others are harmful. There are possibly thousands of types of these agents residing in our bodies. We also come into contact with trillions of them in the course of our lives from our environment. I suspect that only a small fraction of these agents has been discovered by humans. The majority of them are unknown to us. These agents exist in a microcosm that is as vast as the macrocosm with its stars and galaxies and other heavenly bodies. There are theories that humans and other animals and plants are just vehicles through which these microscopic organisms rule the world.
Evolution has equipped the human body with various defensive mechanisms against harmful microbes that assail it. The skin, the white blood corpuscles, digestive enzymes, our mechanisms of sweating, mucus formation, sneezing and control of body temperature are some of the natural defensive mechanisms that protect us from harmful microbes. Just as we evolve to protect ourselves from the harmful microbes, they themselves evolve to penetrate our defense mechanisms and enter our systems. The microbes mutate not only in the external environment where conditions are conducive for their development, they also mutate inside the bodies of different species of living beings. When they have gained sufficient characteristics, they are able to jump from one species to another through suitable carriers that form the bridge between species. There is a perpetual game of cops and robbers being played out beyond our senses. When a new mutation of a microbe or a microbe that we are unfamiliar with penetrates our defenses, it often overrides us and spreads throughout the body, as well as from person to person, sometimes wiping out large numbers of humans and other living beings in the process. Over time, a relative level of stability is reached where, in a sort of give-and-take, a certain number of living beings perish to the harmful microbes till the immune system adapts to the microbe and renders it relatively harmless. As stated, there are numerous microbes that are beneficial to us. It is said that a certain virus was responsible for enabling mammals to internally fertilize the egg with the sperm and develop the embryo in utero. Our digestive systems house numerous beneficial bacteria which comprise the microbiome. These work closely with the enzymes and hormones in our bodies to ensure that we stay healthy.
Typically, we see higher concentrations of microbes and the tendency to mutate easily in warm, humid conditions, such as the tropical regions, and so a higher prevalence of infectious diseases in these places. We also see higher concentrations and mutations in places where the density and proximity of carriers, such as humans and other animals, are higher. Often, the presence of unhygienic conditions, such as unhealthy food, water and sewage facilities, further increase the risk of increase of infectious diseases. Populations that live in close contact with infectious diseases develop immunity to them over a period of time. The spread of infectious diseases quite often happens when infected carriers move to new locations and come in contact with populations that have not been exposed to the infection-causing microbes. A classic example is the spread of infectious diseases from Europe to the Americas, resulting in the wiping out of large numbers of Native Indians through disease - numbers much larger than those decimated by the colonizers through war.
Natural calamities like famines, floods, fires, etc., also contribute significantly to the spread of infectious diseases primarily through the resulting damage to food, water and sewage facilities, and the inability to dispose dead human, animal and plant matter in time.
In recent times, the human contribution to the spread of infectious diseases has increased greatly. For one thing, humans now live in greater concentrations in smaller areas. People from multiple geographic locations settle together and intermingle. There is great stress on food, water and waste disposal facilities. We also have the ravages of human-induced climate change that increasingly create events that are conducive to the growth and spread of infection-causing microbes. As if all this was not bad enough, humans engage in pursuits that increase the likelihood of mutation and spread of infectious disease. Among these pursuits, some of the primary ones are war, use of synthetic pharmaceutical medicines and chemical fertilizers and pesticides. War destroys a habitat's food, water and waste disposal systems and creates an environment conducive to the mutation and spread of infectious disease-causing microbes. The misuse, overuse and abuse of synthetic pharmaceutical drugs and chemical pesticides and fertilizers create mutations and microbial resistance to these synthetic compounds, besides wiping out beneficial microbes and lowering the immunity levels of all living beings that come in contact with it. It is estimated that around 8 million humans will die from anti-microbial resistance (AMR) by 2050. The number of other living beings is unknown, with potentially millions of species going completely extinct. War, the use of synthetic pharmaceuticals and chemical fertilizers and pesticides are driven by powerful industries that wish to profit from the sale of their products. These industries proactively work to create conditions that promote the increased sale of their products. Just the process of manufacturing these products - with the disposal of byproducts into the environment - creates conditions conducive to mutation and spread of infectious disease.
In the past few decades, pharma companies posted huge profits and growth based on their antibiotic drug sales, and they milked the antibiotic cow extensively. Over time humans and animals stopped responding to antibiotics. Even when pharma companies brought out new variations of these drugs by basically tweaking their compositions, they worked for a while but eventually became ineffective. What was happening was that the antibiotic was killing all bacteria, both good and bad, leaving the body with a depleted microbiome or bacterial ecosystem. People were losing their body's innate ability through their immune systems to fight bacterial infections. A vastly depleted microbiome, subjected to repeated wipe outs from frequent doses of antibiotics, was unable to restore itself to its original diversity, resulting in the human falling ill more frequently. To make things worse, bacteria mutated repeatedly to get around a particular type of antibiotic. What has happened now is that manufacture of antibiotics has hit a blank wall, in terms of how to introduce new variations to keep up with bacterial mutations. Even worse, combinations of various antibiotics now fail to work. Recently, new antibiotic-resistant bacterial varieties, called 'super bugs', have emerged which do not respond to conventional antibiotics. Many of these are being discovered in hospitals from where they spread rapidly causing complications and death. MRSA and XDR-TB are two such examples. Pharma companies, physicians and hospitals keep these outbreaks out of the public eye, as they face loss of credibility and business due to this. The problem of antibiotic resistance has reached such levels today that MSN reports - 'The problem of antibiotic resistance is described by the World Health Organisation as “one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today”. Such infections already claim more than 35,000 lives each year in the US alone, and the UN warns this annual death toll could rise to 10 million globally if no solution is found.'
The World Health Organization (WHO) says '8 of the top 10 causes of death in 2021 in low-income countries were communicable diseases.' Lancet says that 'In 2019, 13·7 million people worldwide died from infectious syndromes, 5·2 million of which co-occurred with non-communicable diseases. 3 million of these deaths occurred in children under the age of 5 years. Globally, respiratory infections and bloodstream infections are the deadliest.'
Interestingly, WHO ranks Covid-19 as 2nd in the leading causes of death in 2021 globally. Covid-19 was a fake pandemic created by the pharmaceutical and medical industry, in conjunction with the petrochemical industry and autocratic leaders from countries like the US, UK, China, Russia and India, to boost the sales of pharmaceutical drugs, including opioids, and the sale of petrochemical-based medical equipment. The deaths attributed to Covid-19 are, in reality, deaths caused by the misuse and overuse of synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, including the so-called vaccines, developed by these countries. The result of this deceit on the global population resulted in a significant widening of the gap between the rich and the poor, specifically the wealth of the pharmaceutical, medical and petrochemical industries, and enabled autocratic leaders to tighten their control over the people of the world. We saw a significant rise in anti-microbial resistance (AMR) in all three areas - antibiotics, antivirals and antifungals. The misuse of steroids lead to an epidemic of mucormycosis, a deadly fungal disease. The production and use of all Covid-19 related synthetic medicines and medical equipment resulted in significant contamination to the environment, and drop in human immunity levels, thus further increasing the ability of deadly microbes to mutate and gain significant ground on other living beings. Millions of persons suffering from infectious and other diseases were denied treatment during the phase of this fake pandemic resulting in their death. Diseases like tuberculosis and HIV, which was being reasonably controlled, increased dramatically due to the denial of treatment. To add to that, the wealth sucked up by the rich upper classes of the world from the fake pandemic enabled Russia to go to war with Ukraine, and Israel to wage war in the Middle East with the support of weapons provided by the US. These wars significantly increased the spread of new mutations of deadly microbes in a climate that was conducive for them.
The human immune system (and those of other living beings) is key to survival against the constant onslaught of the microbes. Some of the basic requirements for the human immune system to be in top condition are adequate nutrition, sleep, rest and evacuation of waste toxins from the body. It is in these areas that cannabis is a key aid to the prevention of spread of infectious diseases among humans and other animals such as elephants, horses, cattle, camels and even the birds that we domesticate as poultry. Cannabis keeps the digestive system in a healthy condition, increasing appetite, possibly working with the microbiome to digest food, and enabling the elimination of toxins through perspiration, micturition and feces. Cannabis relieves fatigue and pain. It enables a person to sleep well and rest. In reduces stress and anxiety.
In the recent past, the role that cannabis plays in the prevention of infectious diseases has not been focused on to a large extent. This is, obviously, due to maligning of cannabis as an evil, harmful drug and its global prohibition. In the past, large numbers of the cannabis using communities had a strong belief in the infectious disease preventing abilities of cannabis. This belief arose from thousands of years of cannabis usage and the perceptions that this fostered. Native physicians in cannabis consuming communities were firm believers in its properties to prevent infections and prescribed cannabis for a range of diseases including malaria, cholera, dysentery, tetanus, gonorrhea, influenza, leprosy and the common cold. Most patients who used cannabis for the prevention of infectious diseases were from the poorest classes of society who could not afford any other type of medicine other than the freely available cannabis. Over time, with the advent of western medicine that arrived with the colonizers from Europe, cannabis as medicine for infectious diseases started to decline. This decline was primarily driven by the western physicians who were unfamiliar with cannabis on the one hand, and their desire to promote their own medicine on the other. The upper classes and castes of society joined hands with these western physicians and promoted western medicine at the cost of cannabis. Most of these medicines were expensive and consisted of compounds that were not as easily available as cannabis. The extent of cannabis usage as medicine in 19th century India led the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95 which was set up by the British government to study the feasibility of regulation and prohibition of cannabis in India to state that 'Cannabis indica must be looked upon as one of the most important drugs of Indian Materia Medica.' In the summary of medical uses of cannabis in its report, the Hemp Commission stated that 'In the class of specific infectious diseases, hemp drugs are stated to be used in hydrophobia, ague, remittent fever, cholera,"to relieve burning symptoms in phthisis," dysentery, erysipelas, and gonorrhœa. O'Shaughnessy more than 50 years ago used hemp resin with more or less success in hydrophobia and cholera. In the treatment of dysentery the resin has been found of much value by many European doctors, and excellent results have been obtained with it. In addition to the medicinal use of the drug for the treatment of cholera during epidemics, hemp drugs appear occasionally to be used as prophylactics, and for a similar purpose the use of the drugs is recommended in malarial areas to counteract the effects of "bad air and water." In both cases hemp drugs probably act as indirect prophylactics, stimulating the nervous system and allaying depression, thus serving much the same purpose as the popular use of alcoholic beverages by the lower classes in European countries during the prevalence of epidemics.' The Commission further stated that cannabis was extensively used as a febrifuge or preventive of infectious diseases by large numbers of the working classes and poorer sections of society. It stated in its summary that 'Febrifuge. 471. There is also a large body of evidence showing that hemp drugs, both as smoked and as drunk, are used as a febrifuge or preventive of the diseases common in malarious tracts or arising from the use of bad water. This is the justification alleged for the habitual use of these drugs in certain localities. Here, of course, the experience of the witnesses is more limited; but the evidence is very considerable. Labourers in malarious tracts and cultivators of wet and marshy lands, jungle tribes, and those who have to work or reside in jungle tracts, are among those who are said to use the drugs for these purposes. It is impossible also to shut the eyes to the evidence which often comes up unexpectedly, showing that respectable and intelligent people going on duty to such tracts, and sepoys sent on foreign service or garrisoning comparatively unhealthy districts, often take to these drugs for these purposes.'
This summarization of the use of cannabis as a prophylactic or febrifuge in the prevention of infectious diseases by the Hemp Commission was primarily derived from the vast evidence provided by individual witnesses to the Commission's questions regarding the medical uses of cannabis. In many cases, we see that most of the witnesses themselves were not convinced of the benefits of cannabis to prevent infectious diseases. Most witnesses to the Commission belonged to the Indian upper classes or were British citizens employed in administration in India. Both these sections of society were largely unfamiliar with the usage of cannabis and mostly relied on hearsay regarding how Indian native physicians and the people used cannabis. Most of these witnesses were themselves familiar with western medicine more than cannabis. Many witnesses were biased towards cannabis as bhang and prejudiced against cannabis as ganja or charas. This bias arises from a completely irrational belief that bhang and ganja were two different drugs with bhang being medicinal and ganja being harmful when, in fact, bhang was cannabis drunk (with the addition of milk, spices, nuts and other ingredients) whereas ganja was the cannabis plant smoked. The upper classes and castes consumed cannabis as bhang, primarily because they could afford the additional ingredients that went into making it, their religious sanctions that prohibited smoking, and because they had created the propaganda that ganja was an evil drug that only the lowest classes and castes smoked. The lower classes and castes smoked cannabis as ganja primarily because they could not afford the luxury of the additional time and ingredients that went into making bhang. The word 'bhang' is also seen as used by the later migrants into India from Central Asia to describe the cannabis plant, whereas the original inhabitants of India appear to have used the word 'ganja' to describe the plant. In this sense, the separation of cannabis into two different drugs - bhang and ganja - is a sort of discrimination against the original inhabitants of India by the later arrivals.
Let us look at a number of the witness statements to the Indian Hemp Drugs Commision of 1894-95. Mr. W. H. Grimley, Commissioner of Chota Nagpur, says, 'It is also taken as a medicine for the cure of diarrhœa, dysentery, asthma, and rheumatism in the form of a pill, the leaves being finely ground and mixed with a little water and black-pepper. Sometimes it is taken as a drink by diluting it with mere water. In a Sanskrit work ...Ganja in moderation is said to be a preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Mr. F. H. Barrow, Magistrate and Collector of Bankura, says, 'All parts of the plants, the roots, the stem, the large leaves, the flowering tops and resin are all either alone, or mixed with other things, largely used for various diseases —gonorrhœa, diarrhœa,...tetanus...cholera...I have also seen it largely used in malarious districts to counteract exposure to malarious influences and to evade attacks of fever or malarial rheumatism and neuralgia. During epidemic or endemic appearance of cholera it is not only used as an effective medicine mixed with other things, but also alone as a prophylactic by those who are accustomed to it.' Mr. J. Kennedy, Magistrate and Collector of Murshidabad, says, 'Many use it occasionally as a febrifuge.' Mr. T. L. Jenkins, Magistrate and Collector of Dacca, says, 'Both ganja and bhang, but specially the latter, is used as a prophylactic for cholera.' Babu Gopal Chunder Mookerjee, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Diamond Harbour, says, 'Yes; in malarious places bhang is used by some respectable people, ganja always by the low classes—moderately by the former, excessively by the latter, who use it to give staying power under severe exertion or to alleviate fatigue...Moderate use of bhang beneficial in cases of diarrhœa.' Babu Pran Kumar Das, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector and Personal Assistant to the Commissioner of Burdwan, says, 'Ganja is used with cocoanut oil as a medicine for itch and fresh sores. Ganja is smoked for gonorrhœa, asthma, and hydrocele... It is also considered efficacious to withstand malarial effects and damp climate and exposure. My ganja-smoking servants had less malarious fever, and they said it alleviated pain.' Babu Gobind Chandra Basak, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Brahmanbaria, Tippera District, says, 'Ganja is used as a preventive of disease in malarious tracts.' Babu Dina Nath De, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Nadia, says, 'It is said, however, that ganja smokers do not suffer much from fever...It is said malarious diseases do not so much approach him.' Babu Ganendra Nath Pal, Kayasth, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Naogaon, says, 'Its use acts as febrifuge and preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts...Among the consumers whose ordinary pursuits make them liable to exposure, work in water or colliery, use it as preventive. Under advice of native doctors, some people are seen to get rid of chronic fever by smoking ganja.' Babu Bhairab Nath Palit, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Birbhum, says, 'It proves a prevention of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Babu Jogendro Nath Bandyopadhya, Brahmin, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Jalpaiguri, says, 'Preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Babu Manmohan Chakravarti, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Jajpur, Cuttack, Orissa, says, 'In Puri and the adjoining saliferous tracts bhang is believed to prevent the formation of mucus and dysentery. ...moderate habitual use is believed to act as preventive of dysentery and diarrhœa. ..Taken with sugar or molasses; it removes stomachic spasms springing from acid-bile (amlapitta) humour, allays diarrhcea, puts a stop to cough and asthma, and prevents chronic dysentery rising from ambat. etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.' Babu Navakumar Chakravarti, Brahmin, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Jangipur, Murshidabad, says, 'As a febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious or unhealthy tracts;' Maulavi Abdus Samad, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Purulia, Manbhum, says, 'Charas and ganja in moderation may serve as febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Babu Surendranath Mozoomdar, Brahmin, Special Excise Deputy Collector, Monghyr, says, 'Ganja.—There is no general opinion, but North Gangetic people living in damp and malarious tracts think so. The people of Purnea around the Kosi banks use ganja largely for this purpose. I got fever once in the interior. On the next occasion on taking ganja I did not get any fever. This may be accidental, because I have seen people getting fever who take ganja.' Babu A. K. Ray, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Bangaon, Jessore District, says, 'Ganja-smoking has been known to nip an attack of cholera in the bud. I have heard an old planter say that where no other medicine was available the moderate smoking of ganja cured no less than 60 per cent. of the men attacked with cholera.' Babu Kanti Bhushan Sen, Baidya, Special Excise Deputy Collector of Cuttack, says, 'As regards patti, its moderate habitual use is considered a febrifuge and antimalarious.' Babu Abhilas Chandra Mukerjee, Brahmin, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, on deputation as 2nd Inspector of Excise, Bengal, says, 'Ganja and bhang are prescribed on account of their medicinal properties by native doctors in the affections of ...diarrhœa...gonorrhœa (second stage), hysteria, and it is a household medicine for scabies. Ganja— (1) In scabies ganja is fried in mustard oil, and the oil is applied to the sores...Bhang— (1) In bowel-complaints and in strengthening and invigorating the system...In Mymensingh, where there are no karbirajes, wild bhang is used as a medicine for cholera by the people themselves. It is smashed and made into boluses. No other ingredients are mixed with it. A bolus of bhang weighs one to one and a half tolas....In the Dacca District people drink bhang as a preventive in the cholera season, or when cases of cholera appear. Bhang is smashed with water collected by washing atabchaul (rice)... In cholera seasons bhang is drunk in small quantities as a preventive against cholera.' Babu Roy Brahma Dutt, Kayasth, Excise Deputy Collector, Darbhanga, says, 'as a febrifuge and preventive of diseases in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Babu Gour Das Bysack, Retired Deputy Collector, Calcutta, says, 'In malarious diseases a native kabiraj of repute tells me bhang has been prescribed in fever cases with success.' Babu Sir Chunder Soor, Satgope, 1st Assistant Supervisor of Ganja Cultivation, Naogaon, Rajshahi, says, 'as a febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts;... Persons suffering from malarious fever use ganja or its extract as a febrifuge.' Mr. R. L. Ward, District Superintendent of Police, Rajshahi, says, 'I certainly think that it is beneficial as a febribuge or preventive of disease in malarious tracts. I saw it used with marked effect in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and in Naogaon. It is also said that, owing to cultivation of ganja, there is much less malaria than in adjoining places.' Babu Jadub Chandra Chukerbutty, Brahmin, Civil and Sessions Judge, Kuch Behar, says, 'also as a febrifuge in malarious, damp, and unhealthy tracts.' Babu Sreenath Chatterjee, Brahmin, Cashier, Public Works Department, Darjeeling Division, says, 'Yes; it (ganja) is preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts of Bengal.' Surgeon-Major R. Cobb, Civil Surgeon and Superintendent, Lunatic Asylum, Dacca, says, 'I have found the moderate use of Cannabis indica very useful in the prevention and treatment of attacks of chronic dysentery. ..I have allowed patients to take the drug when they have been suffering from dysentery. Medicinally I use the "extract" of the pharmacopœia, and sometimes prescribe it as a preventive to patients liable to dysentery, though they may not have the disease upon them.' Rai Bahadur Kanny Loll Dey, C.I.E., late Chemical Examiner to the Government of Bengal, Calcutta, says, 'Hemp is acknowledged in British Pharmacopœia as a good febrifuge, and is reputed to be prophylactic of malaria in the steamy swamps of Lower Bengal.' Assistant Surgeon Upendra Nath Sen, Officiating Civil Medical Officer, Malda, says, 'ganja boiled in mustard oil is used in certain form of skin diseases, such as scabies, pruritus, etc.' Assistant Surgeon Norendra Nath Gupta, Baidya, in Civil Medical charge, Rangpur, says, 'as a preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy districts;' Assistant Surgeon Chooney Lall Dass, Teacher of Medical Jurisprudence and Therapeutics, Medical School, Dacca, says, 'Many up-country people take ganja and bhang as a febrifuge.' Kailas Chundra Bose, Kayasth, Medical Practitioner, Calcutta, says, 'Extract of ganja sometimes acts as antiperiodic and febrifuge.' Kedareswar Acharjya, Brahmin, Medical Practitioner, Rampur Boalia, says, 'Ganja and bhang appear to exert some influence—a preventive of malarial fever. Ganja-smokers appear to be less liable to malarial attacks than other people. Sanyasis say that ganja-smoking protects them from the evil effects of bad water. This appears to be significant. As a febrifuge, I know one instance in which bhang stopped an attack of tertian ague which formerly resisted treatment.' Trailokya Nath Majumdar, Baidya, Medical Practitioner, Bankipur, says, 'but it is said that, in malarious districts, people using ganja are, comparatively speaking, more free from malarious poison.' Prasad Das Mallik, Subarnabanik, Medical Practitioner, Hughli, says, 'Ganja-smoking may act as a febrifuge in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Nocoor Chander Banerji, Brahmin, Medical Practitioner, Bhagalpur, says, 'It might be used as a febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy climates.' Guru Charan Ghosh, Medical Practitioner, Monghyr, says, 'Yes; as a febrifuge and preventive.' Annada Prasanna Ghatak, M.B., Private Medical Practitioner, Arrah, says, 'These drugs are not known to have any direct febrifuge or anti-malarious property, though Cannabis indica is sometimes used for its indirect effect in cases of chronic fever.' Rakhal Das Ghosh, Private Medical Practitioner, Calcutta, says, 'In countries like Bengal, Orissa and Assam, where poor inhabitants in their daily life are constantly exposed to all vicissitudes of temperature, now burning under a scorching sun, at the next moment being drenched by a heavy shower, it cannot be gainsaid that all sorts of tropical diseases are rampant. Malarious fevers, diarrhœa, dysentery, cholera, influenza, eruptive fevers, are all endemic, and it is a wonder how the people of such places could survive the dire ravages of these diseases. Though thousands of men succumb annually to these maladies, still a large percentage is left to prevent the countries being made deserts. How this large per cent. of people escape the jaws of death amidst such insanitary surroundings? The poor sufferers who cannot either afford to have medical help or medicines, or to travel miles to avail themselves of the benefit of the charitable dispensaries, are saved from their untimely deaths by the use of those drugs which are now the subjects of two Government Commissions. It is a fact beyond dispute, that those who moderately use ganja or opium can tide over or pull through an epidemic better than those who do not. Tetanus, rheumatism, ague, diarrhœa, dysentery, cholera, dyspepsia and many painful disorders of the urinary or generative organs yield to the anodyne, soporific, antiperiodic, antispasmodic, and other properties of ganja or opium. Aided by these remedies the inhabitants combat for life and death.' Bijoya Ratna Sen, Kaviranjan, Kabiraj, Calcutta, says, 'I believe siddhi is preventive of disease in malarious or unhealthy tracts. Monks, peasants, cultivators, and native sailors, etc., use ganja and charas to obtain staying-power under exposure and to alleviate fatigue. This remark is applicable to moderate consumers only...The moderate use of siddhi is rather harmless. It increases the intellect of the man and does improve the health.' Gopeze Mohun Roy, Baidya, Kabiraj, Calcutta, says, 'In some malarious localities, bhang has been moderately and successfully used as a febrifuge or preventive of disease.' Binod Lal Sen, Baidya, Kaviraj, Calcutta, says, 'It is rather preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts, but not as a febrifuge.' Maharaja Girijanath Roy Bahadur, Kayasth, Zamindar, Dinajpur, says, 'An occasional consumer of ganja is found to become moderately habitual consumer when he goes to malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Rai Radha Govinda Rai, Sahib Bahadur, Kayasth, Zamindar, Dinajpur, says, 'It is, they say, febrifuge to prevent disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Babu Hari Krishna Mazumdar, Baidya, Zamindar, Islampur, District Murshidabad, says, 'as a febrifuge in malarious tracts;' Babu Raghunandan Prasad Sinha, Brahman, Zamindar, District Muzaffarpur, says, 'The use of bhang prevents and cures many diseases, such as piles, indigestion, and fever, and also has refreshing effect.' Babu Surendra Nath Pal Chowdhury, Zamindar, Ranaghat, District Nadia, says, 'It is said to be a preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Babu Rughu Nandan Prasadha, Zamindar, Patna, says, 'As a febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious tract, it is well known that sometimes a draught of bhang taken a few hours before the "paroxysm in tertian quotidian" and other kinds of malarial fever cuts short the attack, and it is not uncommonly used for this purpose.' Babu Nundo Lal Gossain, Brahmin, Zamindar, Serampore, says, 'Moderate use of ganja and bhang is beneficial as giving staying power under severe exertion or exposure, as alleviating fatigue, and as febrifuge; they possess also medicinal virtues. Bhang is believed to be beneficial in cases of chronic diarrhœa.' M. Kazi Rayaz-ud-din Mahamed, Zamindar, Commilla, Tippera, says, 'Ganja is used as a preventive of disease in malarious tracts.' Mr. L. H. Mylne, Zamindar and Indigo-planter, Justice of the Peace, President of Independent Bench of Honorary Magistrates, Chairman of Jugdispur Municipality, District Shahabad, says, 'Occasionally used as a febrifuge.' Mr. John D. Gwilt, Tea Planter, Longview Company, Limited, Darjeeling, says, 'The people who consume them state they act as a food accessory; that they do give staying-powers and alleviate fatigue; that they are also of use in unhealthy tracts of country, and there is decidedly a certain amount of truth in these statements.' Babu Parameshwar Dan, Kshetrya, Pleader, Judge's Court, Vice- Chairman, District Board, Dinajpur, says, 'It is also used as a preventive in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Babu Beprodas Banerjee, Brahman, Pleader, Newspaper Editor, and Chairman, Baraset Municipality, says, 'It is a remarkable fact that ganja smokers were free from attacks of fever when malaria appeared in Baraset, etc. In cases of diarrhœa bhang is used by all classes of the people and with effect.' Babu Nobo Gopal Bose Rai Chowdhoory, Kayasth, Talukdar and Judge's Court Pleader (late Munsiff of Nator), Memari, Burdwan District, says, 'also low classes, Bagdi, Hari, and Chandáls, use ganja as preventive of fever.' Babu Abinas Chandra Dass, M. A., B. L., Pleader, Judge's Court, Bankura, says, 'as a preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Babu Anango Mohan Naha, Kayasth, Judge's Court Pleader, Comilla, Tippera District, says, 'In cholera epidemics I have seen lower classes of people use bhang as a preventive and also as medicine with success. Small number of low class people use bhang in epidemic cholera.' Babu Bhuvan Mohun Sanyal, Brahmin, Government Pleader, Purnea, says, 'I have often observed that ganja-smokers are generally free from malarious fever, From this I conclude that it is a febrifuge, but I don't think anybody uses it as such.' Babu Jadubans Sahai, Pleader and Vice-Chairman, Arrah Municipality, says, 'The use of these drugs is sometimes considered as a febrifuge in malarious or unhealthy districts, but I am not sure how far this belief is grounded on actual facts.' Babu Gowree Sunker Roy, Kayasth, Secretary, Cuttack Printing Company, Cuttack, says, 'Bhang is preserved by many as a household medicine for all sorts of bowel complaints and colic pain, and as a cooling beverage in the hot season. Indeed, some go so far as to say that the restriction of the sale of bhang by the Excise Department has deprived many of a ready cure in cases of bowel complaints and even cholera.' Babu Gurudayal Sinha, Kayasth, Honorary Magistrate, Municipal Commissioner and Secretary, Total Abstinence Society, Comilla, Tippera, says, 'Bhang is prescribed by native physicians as medicine in cases of dyspepsia, dysentery and diarrhœa, but the lower classes of people only use it.' Rai Bahadur Raj Kumar Sarvadhikari, Secretary, British Indian Association, Calcutta, says, 'Bhang is beneficial in cases of chronic diarrhœa;' Umagati Rat, Brahmin, Pleader, and Secretary to the Jalpaiguri Branch, Indian Association, says, 'I have seen many persons suffering from dysentery and bowel complaints using bhang under the directions of the kavirajes. Bhang is also used by the kavirajes in the preparation of medicines for dysentery, grihini (chronic dysentery) and diarrhoea. I had to use such medicines myself for some time for similar affections.' Babu Akshay Kumar Maitra, Secretary, Rajshahi Association, Pleader, Judge's Court, Member, Rajshahi District Board, Commissioner, Rampur Boalia Municipality, says, 'Sanyasis and mendicants of all denominations claim for ganja the peculiar virtue of preventing disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts, but I do not know how far this virtue actually resides in the drug. I have observed during my sojourn to the North-Western Provinces, Oudh and Rohilkhand that the people there daily take a small quantity of bhang as a cooling draught, and allege that such moderate daily consumption wards off an attack of diarrhœa which is induced by the excessive heat of summer.' Babu Nobin Chandra Sarkar, Kayasth, Wholesale and retail vendor of ganja and bhang, Barisal, says, 'A mixture of ganja with oil is used for itches and other skin diseases.' District Board, Monghyr (Sub-Committee), says, 'in instestinal disorders by native physicians; also very useful in dysentery. Ganja used as a preventive of the effects of damp and exposure to malaria and said to be very efficacious...Ganja is a good preventive of malarial disease.' Surgeon-Major H. C. Banerji, Civil Surgeon, Sylhet, says, 'It is said to be anti-malarial and antirheumatic; ..I am not prepared to say that ganja is anti-malarial, but as it is a nerve tonic I think it would be beneficial in cases of fever. I understood my informants to say that they took ganja when they got rheumatic pains and that it relieved them. I was told this by habitual smokers, and also by people who never smoked except to relieve pain. A native practitioner showed me two cases which he said had been dropsical, and had been under treatment by various remedies for some time. Finally he administered the tincture of Cannabis internally and ordered the patients to smoke ganja. When I saw the patients they were dried up and there were no dropsical appearances. On the contrary, they appeared atrophied. The practitioner was a failed student of the Medical College. He is a good practitioner, and has been working in Sylhet for some seventeen years, so that I place reliance on his statements. I did believe that the cure was due to this, and therefore put it down. I did not enquire what the dropsy was due to. I have heard that effusion into cavities does undergo spontaneous absorption, but I have no experience.' Prosunno Koomar Das, Baidya, Medical Practitioner, Silchar, Cachar, says, 'Are anti-malarious.' Colonel M. M. Bowie, Commissioner, Nerbudda Division, says, 'The belief is also very prevalent that it is of use to ward off malaria. The people tell me that they use it when they have to go to jungle tracts where the water is bad.' Mr. B. Robertson, Deputy Commissioner, Nimar, says, 'is useful as a febrifuge. ...The use of ganja as a febrifuge is distinctly believed in in this district.' Trimbak Rao Sathe, Extra Assistant Commissioner, and Diwan of the Sonepur State, says, 'The moderate, occasional consumers take it as a febrifuge or preventive of disease, when they go to malarious and unhealthy tracts, or when cholera epidemic or such other disease breaks out. In the latter case persons are persuaded to take the drug (ganja or bhang)...I have not tasted ganja myself; but I know the people think it prevents cholera. They say they use it ; but I do not know myself.' Batuk Bharthy, Superintendent of Kalahandi State, says, 'Ganja is considered as preventive of diseases in malarious and unhealthy climates.' Alam Chand, Superintendent, Bastar State, says, 'Yes, it is used in the treatment of dysentery. diarrhoea, etc.,' Chintamani Nand Vidhya Bhushana, Uria Brahmin, late Tahsildar, Sonepur, Sambalpur, says, 'It cures dysentery, and is to some extent preventive of cholera if used with some medicine. It has been observed that when cholera prevails in any place, many of the people residing therein generally take ganja with a view to puss off fear.' Anandi Pershad, Excise Daroga, Hoshangabad, says, 'Its use saves a man from falling sick when the climate is not good.' Munshi Mahomed Ghouse, Extra Assistant Conservator of Forests, Raipur, says, 'It is a common belief that ganja and bhang are beneficial in their effects. The former is said to be preventive of diseases in malarious and unhealthy places.' Surgeon-Major H. K. Mckay, Civil Surgeon, Nagpur, says, 'Bhang is used as a febrifuge pretty generally.' Surgeon-Major W. A. Quayle, Civil Surgeon, Nimar, says, 'I am also told that consumers working in or travelling through malarious jungles are less liable to attacks of fever.' Apothecary J. Prentie, Civil Surgeon, Bhandara, says, 'Both used during prevalence of cholera to some extent by nervous and timid people.' Gangadharrao Madho Chitnavis, Honorary Magistrate, Nagpur, says, 'It also acts as a febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts. Pilgrims and wanderers generally use it for these purposes.' Mir Imdad Ali, Honorary Magistrate, Damoh, says, 'Bhang is sometimes taken in fever before the expected return to prevent it returning.' Kapur Chand, Honorary Magistrate and Gumasta, Raipur, says, 'Both are useful as febrifuges. ..Bhang is a cure for cholera if given in time. It is used by waids of Marwad. I gave it to my child.' Hari Har Singh, Zamindar and Honorary Magistrate, Sambalpur District, says, 'We hear that in unhealthy tracts ganja is used in sufficient quantities.' Pandit Narayan Rao Gobind, Brahmin, Zamindar, Hurda, says, 'As a febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Rao Sahib Balwantrao Govindrao Bhuskute, Brahmin, Jagirdar of Timborni, Barhanpar, Nimar District, says, 'It also acts as a febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Rev. I. Jacob, Church of England Missionary, Chairman, District Council, etc., Chanda, says, ' Ganja is used as a preventive of maladies arising from impure water in malarious and unhealthy districts. Hence its extensive use in the Zamindaris and Feudatory States.' Onkar Das, Agarwalla Bania, Mahajan, Seoni-Chapara, says, 'Also ganja certainly enables the Gond to live under conditions of bad water, and malarial exhalations, which would soon kill a non-smoker of ganja.' Husen Khan, Pathan, Abkari Contractor, Seoni-Chapara, says, 'The moderate consumption of ganja is certainly beneficial to the labouring classes and to those who are exposed to malaria...The Gonds and cultivating classes in malarial tracts and all weathers could not get on without ganja ; it enables them to live under conditions of water-supply and decaying vegetation which would kill others.' Mr. R. Sewell, Collector of Bellary, says, 'My own opinion is that it has a distinct effect as a febrifuge in feverish tracts, and that natives often use it for that purpose. For instance, the people in the Godavari district, which is feverish, are great consumers of tobacco. In the streets of Coconada the smell of tobacco-smoke is everywhere. Children are made to smoke, and the reason probably is that the natives believed smoking to be a good preventive against fever. I think they consume these drugs for the same reason, very often.' Mr. J. Thomson, Collector of Chingleput, says, 'As a febrifuge in ease of fevers arising from, cold.' Mr. G. S. Forbes, Collector of Tinnevelly, says, 'Ganja is prescribed by native physicians for ...tetanus, hydrophobia, cholera, diarrhœa, and dysentery.' Mr. L. C. Miller, Acting Collector of Trichinopoly, says, 'It is said to prevent illness due to change of water.' Mr. K. C. Manavedan Raja, Collector, Anantapur, says, 'It is said that these drugs are prepared as a stimulant for asthma, fever, dysentery, and externally for colic.' Mr. H. Campbell, Acting Sub-Collector, Guntoor, says, 'it is said of smoking ganja that it serves as a prophy-latic against diseases contracted in malarious climates.' Mr. J. H. Merriman, Deputy Commissioner of Salt and Abkari, Central Division, says, 'Majum is said to assist digestion, to give staying-power, and to act as febrifuge. In diarrhœa it is also said to be used. I refer to moderate use.' W. Venkatappiah Pantulu Garu, Brahmin, Deputy Collector, Chatrapur, Ganjam, says, 'in the prevention of cough and other complaints due to change of water and climate.' M. R. R. Dewan Bahadur S. Venkata Ramadas Naidu, Deputy Collector, Godavari, says, 'Ganja is considered a prophylactic, but bhang is a febrifuge and is used in cases of fever and ague. .. People in malarious places use the drugs in this manner.' Mr. W. E. Ganapathy, Retired Deputy Collector, Palamcottah, Tinnevelly, says, 'for preventing malarious diseases.' G. Jagannayakulu, Acting Tahsildar, Gooty, says, 'Bhang and ganja are used as a preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' A. Katchapeswara Iyer, Brahmin, Stationary Sub-Magistrate, Cuddapah Taluk, says, 'I have ascertained from ganja consumers as well as native doctors that the use of ganja acts as a prophylactic against fever.' K. Rama Kristna Bramham, Brahmin, Stationary Sub-Magistrate, Kudlighi, Bellary District, says, 'very moderate use will act as a prophylactic to certain diseases, especially fevers, cold, etc.' M. Seshachala Naidu, Baliya, Pensioned Tahsildar, Vellore, says, 'Purnathy is also used as a preventive of disease in malarious tracts. I refer to the moderate occasional use by people travelling in malarious tracts.' N. Soondramiah, Brahmin, Deputy Tahsildar, Ootacamund, says, 'Many of the Bairagis and fakirs use ganja moderately to alleviate fatigue or to subside hunger, and the hill tribes of various tracts use it as a preventive of disease.' P. Lakshminarayana, Brahmin, Manager of Court of Wards' Estate, Nuzvid, says, 'Smoking ganja prevents any change coming over the system of a man by frequent change of climate and water used for drinking.' Mr. R. W. Morgan, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Ootacamund, Nilgiris, says, 'The smoke of bhang is probably a germicide and disinfectant, and this may act as a preventive of disease.' Surgeon-Major John Lancaster, District Surgeon, North Arcot, says, 'in tetanus, in malarious dysentery.' Surgeon-Major K. C. Sanjana, Parsi, District Surgeon, Tinnevelly, says, 'Ganja is prescribed by native doctors in the form of halwa ...for ...tetanus...cholera, diarrhœa and dysentery.' Civil Apothecary T. M. Cheriyan, Manantoddy, says, 'Yes, it is used by some native doctors in diarrhœa, colic, cholera, etc.' Dr. Arthur Wells, Medical Officer, Chicacole, Ganjam District, says, 'A preparation of the hemp plant, called halwa, is used in the treatment of dysentery, chronic cough, colic, etc., by native doctors. ...Supposed to be preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts. It is generally used in these instances by the lower classes and by moderate habitual users.' K. Jagannadham Naidu, Medical Officer, Parlakimedi, Ganjam District, says, 'Those living in malarial places smoke ganja under the belief that it prevents malarial fever.' Assistant Surgeon Saldhana, Salem, says, 'is reputed to have the power of preventing disease in malarious and other unhealthy tracts; so that habituals can travel from place to place of different climatic and other conditions with impunity from such trivial complaints as are incidental to such a fugitive life.' Hospital Assistant T. Ranganaya Kulu Naidoo, Rajahmundry, Godavari District, says, 'Yes, native doctors prescribe for dysentery, chronic diarrhoœa, and cholera, mixing with poppies, pepper and sugar. Headaches, tetanus, and menorrhagia...Yes. It is considered as a preventive when travelled in malarious tracts.' Hospital Assistant I. Parthasarathy ChettyA, Penukonda, Anantapur District, says, 'Yes, as febrifuge against malaria.' Mirza Davood Beg, Pensioned Hospital Assistant, Trichinopoly, says, 'it acts as a prophylactic measure for some time in malarious tract.' H. S. A. M. Munjumiah, Native Medical Practitioner, Cuddapah, says, 'as a preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts. Several native sepoys who are tossed about from one place to another use ganja for smoking to prevent fevers, etc. ...On several occasions I have prescribed the use of ganja as a means of digesting food and with other medicines preventing malarious fevers, asthma, abdominal irregularities of some kind.' Sagi Rama Sastry, Brahmin, Inamdar and Native Doctor, Rajahmundry, Godavari District, says, 'By a moderate use of the drug, the consumer feels pleasant and gets rid of cough, if he has any.' Mr. W. Taylor, Chairman, Municipal Council, Parlakimedi, Ganjam District, says, 'The moderate use of these drugs is considered a prophylactic against malarial fevers, and other diseases incidental to life in the Indian jungles.' Rev. H. F. Laflamme, Canadian Baptist Mission, Yellamanchili, Vizagapatam, says, 'It is the fact that the drugs are more used in malarious tracts, and probably the users do believe in their protective effects against fever;' Rev. J. Heinrichs, Missionary, Vinukunda, Kistna District, says, 'In malarious and unhealthy places it is supposed to prevent disease. Most of the consumers are seen among invalid sepoys who practised ganja smoking when they were engaged on foreign expeditions.' N. Kothundaramayya, Brahmin, Editor of "Suneeti" Rajahmundry, Godavari District, says, 'Bairagis and sanyasis use the drug with a belief that they will not be subject, in their wanderings from the Himalayas to Rameswaram (Cape Comorin), to the bad effects of different climates and waters.' Hon'ble A. Sabapathy Moodelliar, Rai Bahadur, Merchant, Bellary, says, 'Decidedly it is a preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Mirza Mehdy Ispahani, Merchant, Madras, says, 'It does prevent disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Appala Narassiah Chetty, Vaisya, Merchant, Berhampore, says, 'Ganja is used in pills as a febrifuge in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Mokhalingam Appanna, Ganja Vendor, Coconada, says, 'The moderate use of ganja is beneficial, as it removes the effects caused by a change of climate.' Mulagula Kondiah, Goldsmith, Rajahmundry, says, 'It serves as a preventive of malarious fevers, etc.' Samdasu Bavaji, Brahmin, Priest in the Matt of Sri Jagannadha Swamy, Rajahmundry, says, 'May serve as a febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Mr. E. J. Ebden, Collector, Ahmednagar, says, 'Popular opinion is that ganja smokers escape fever and many other complaints.' Mr. C. G. Dodgson, Assistant Magistrate and Collector, Khandesh, says, 'Ganja is sometimes used by native doctors as a febrifuge and sedative in cases of fever and asthma...It is also used by them to check diarrhœa.' Rao Bahadur Narayan Ganesh Deshpande, Brahmin, Deputy Collector, Belgaum, says, 'It is said that ganja smoking and bhang eating serve to prevent fever more or less.' Rao Bahadur Bhimbhai Kirpa Ram, Brahmin, Huzur Deputy Collector of Surat, says, 'it is a febrifuge in malarious districts.' Rao Bahadur Vyankatesh Bapuji Wadekar, Deputy Collector, Ahmednagar, says, 'It destroys the bad effects resulting from unwholesome water.' Khan Bahadur Dadabhai Deenshah, Parsi, Huzur Deputy Collector and Magistrate, 1st Class, Kaira, says, 'Bhang is drunk in fever cases by some persons, though not a large number, with a view to keep down the temperature of the body. ..To ward off the effects of bad water -supply, ganja is considered by all smokers to be a sovereign remedy. Travellers in tracts where the water-supply is not good use it, according to their opinion, with beneficial results, as far as the effects of bad water are concerned.' Rao Bahadur Sitaram Damodhar, Huzur Deputy Collector, Khandesh, says, 'By native doctors it is used as specific for dysentery...It is also used in cholera cases.' Khan Bhadur Ratanji Erdalji Kanga, Parsi, Deputy Collector and Magistrate, Dharwar, says, 'It is a popular belief here that the use of ganja in malarious and unhealthy tracts is a febrifuge and preventive of disease.' Rao Bahadur Rango Ramchandra Bhardi, Deputy Collector and Native Assistant to the Commissioner, Poona, Central Division, says, 'Persons who actually consume the drug say that the moderate use of it is beneficial in its effects as preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts;' Rao Bahadur Rajaram Mule, Deshastha Brahmin, Administrator of Jath, in Southern Mahratta Country, says, 'It is a popular belief that smoking of ganja is preventive of disease in, malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Balkrishna Narayan Vaidhya, Parbhu, State Karbhari of Sangli, says, 'acts as febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts. Most of the gosains, bairagis, and fakirs use ganja as a febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Dadabhai Burjorjee Guzder, Parsi, District Abkari Inspector, Ahmednagar, says, 'It destroys the bad effects resulting from bad water in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Yashvant Nilkanth, Patana Prabhu, Superintendent, Office of Survey Commissioner, and Director of Land Records and Agriculture, Bombay, says, 'It is sometimes used as an alleged preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts, ganja smoking for this purpose being not quite unknown in the lower ranks of survey subordinates, whose work causes much exposure to unaccustomed climate.' Mr. G. P. Millet, Divisional Forest Officer, West Thana, Thana, says, 'Would have a beneficial tendency in a malarious climate.' Mr. H. Kennedy, District Superintendent of Police, Ahmednagar, says, 'Both ganja and bhang are said to be recommended by native doctors for diarrhœa, dysentery, and piles.' Mr. J. E. Down, Districts Superintendent of Police, Satara, says, 'Is sometimes prescribed by native doctors as a febrifuge and for dysentery;' Mr. F. T. V. Austin, District Superintendent of Police, Surat, says, 'The moderate use of ganja is supposed to be beneficial in the prevention of fever and in reducing the ill-effects likely to follow the habitual use of bad water; while from bhang a cooling drink is prepared which is said to be very beneficial in intermittent fever. Bhang and ganja are so used by the poorer classes, both habitually as also occasionally.' Khan Bahadur Nanbhoy Cowasji, Parsi, City Police Inspector, Surat, says, 'Ganja is not used as a febrifuge, but bhang is sometimes used in cases of fever by some persons... Persons in well-to-do circumstances do not, except in some cases when travelling, smoke ganja to counteract the effects of bad water.' Surgeon-Major D. C. Davidson, Acting Civil Surgeon, and Superintendent of the Jail and Lunatic Asylum, Dharwar, says, 'It is used extensively by the people themselves in malarial fever...diarrhœa...' Surgeon-Major K. R. Kirtikar, Civil Surgeon, Thana, and Medical Officer, Thana Depot and District Jail, says, 'The old standard Sanskrit writers, who are generally studied by native doctors, recommend Cannabis indica, or the hemp plant and its products, for the following diseases :— ...diarrhœa...and quartan fevers. .. of ganja gives relief in chest complaints, such as asthma, by acting as an antispasmodic, and reduces the excessive discharge of phlegm (mucous and muco-purulent expectoration)....I know of no practical use of this drug in fevers, either as a preventive or curative agent ; but it is recommended by native writers for quartan fevers, as already stated in answer to question No. 40.' Rao Saheb Bhicajee Amroot Chobhe, Brahmin, Assistant Surgeon, Poona City, says, 'European doctors prescribe extract and tincture of ganja in cases of diarrhœa, dysentery,...tetanus, etc. Native Vaidyas prescribe ganja and its preparations in some of the above maladies.' Khan Bahadur Dossabroy Pestonjee, Parsi, Assistant Surgeon, Parakh Dispensary, Surat, and Honorary Assistant Surgeon to His Excellency the Viceroy, says, 'It is said to be a febrifuge in malarious districts.' Rao Bahadur Thakordas Kikabhai, Bania, Assistant Surgeon, Wadhwan Civil Station, Kathiawar, says, 'I have no personal experience of its beneficial effects as a preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthly tracts, but it is believed to be so.' Hospital Assistant Jamiatram Jeyashunker, Nagar Brahmin, West Hospital, Rajkot, Kattiawar, says, 'Bhang is also tried with more or less success in many diseases, as in tetanus,... and in cholera.' Uttamram Jeewanram, Itchapooria, Audesh, Brahmin, Native Doctor (Vaidya), Bombay and Surat, says, 'Ganja and bhang are used in malarious tracts to prevent the malarious attacks. I have experienced that the consumers of bhang and ganja very rarely suffer from malarious fever.' Keshowram Haridat, Chcepooria, Audesh Brahmin, Native Doctor (Vaidya) , Render, Surat and Bombay, says, 'In malarious and unhealthy tracts use of ganja protects the man from malarious attacks.' Mr. Purbhuram Jeewanram, Nagar Brahmin, Native Doctor (Vaidya), Bombay, says, 'It prevents disease, and is known to prevent fever. Brahmins and banias use bhang as a food accessory. People in the mufussal use it to prevent attacks of fever.' Ramchandra Krishna Kothavale, Brahmin, Inamdur, Taluka Wai, in Satara District, says, 'It is used as a febrifuge in some malarial countries, but the use is not so well marked.' Rao Bahadur Govindrao Ramchandra Garud, Pleader Dhulia, Khandesh, says, 'Yes ; according to native works on medicine bhang has febrituge properties and is used in malarious and unhealthy tracts with such object.' Rao Bahadur Huchrao Achut Harihar, Deshast Brahmin, Pleader, District Court, Belgaum, says, 'as preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts;' Naro Dhakadeo, Brahmin, Pleader, Jalgaon, District Khandesh, says, 'as a preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts ; (d) to prevent diseases from dirty water.' Gurappa Rachappa, Lengayet, Office of Shetti (Revenue and Police), Dharwar, says, 'As febrifuge or preventive of disease to a certain extent in malarious and unhealthy tracts when mixed with cloves, dried ginger, jagri, and pipli.' Laldas Laxmonji, Kshatriya, Solicitor's Clerk, Bombay, says, 'It acts as a preventive of disease in unwholesome climates and where unwholesome water is only obtainable.' Mr. C. E. S. Stafford Steele, Officiating Deputy Commissioner, Thar and Parkar District, says, 'to induce perspiration in ague fits, when dry leaves are placed on embers and the smoke inhaled.' Khan Bahadur Kadirdad Khan Gul Khan, C.I.E., Deputy Collector, Naushahro Sub-division, says, 'the use of hemp liquid is considered as a preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Muhammad Murid, Police Inspector, Naushahro, says, 'Bhang is prescribed by native doctors ...for stopping dysentery and diarrhœa.' Assistant Surgeon G. M. Dixon, Medical Officer and Superintendent, Nara Jail, says, 'acts as a febrifuge in malarious tracts....While this jail was in Thar and Parkar district in some malarious places, but very few of the surrounding free population came to be treated for fevers at this jail hospital, and among these men the moderate drinking of subzi was prevalent. In April and May last, when my camp was at Khadi, Barogoza Bund, a malarious and outof-the-way place in Shah Bunder subdivision of Karachi district, there were over a thousand free labourers working on the Bund, and among them there were but a few cases of fever, and no case of sunstroke, although they used to work in the sun under a temperature varying from 130º to 140ºF., the temperature in the shade being about 110ºF. Although I was not in direct medical charge of these free labourers, still, in order to pro tect the general health of my prisoners, I used to go about amongst the free labourers to find out if there was much sickness or epidemic among them, and good many of these free labourers used to take moderate quantity of subzi in the day time after finishing their work. Khadi is a small village containing about 60 fishermen, who have their temporary huts at the place during the fishing season. These people used to take subzi in moderate doses and all appeared to me to be heathy. Sunstroke and fever were almost unknown among them.' Pesumal Narumal, Farmer and Merchant, Hyderabad, says, 'Bhang is used as a febrifuge.' Waman Ganesh, Tahsildar, Wun, says, 'as a preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts;' Vimayak Appaji Kaur, Brahmin, Officiating Tahsildar, Darwa, Wun District, says, 'Moderate use of ganja or bhang is beneficial... is also effective as a medicine in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Laxman Gopal Deshpande, Brahmin, Naib Tahsildar, Mangrul Taluk, District Basim, says, 'as a febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Surgeon-Major C. L. Swaine, Officiating Sanitary Commissioner, and Inspector- General of Dispensaries, says, 'In the Melghat forest and malarial district ganja is much used as a preventative against malarial fevers;' Surgeon-Major R. B. Roe, Civil Surgeon, Amraoti, says, 'It (ganja) is also used as a febrifuge with good results.' Mr. Dinner Narayen, District Superintendent of Vaccination, Buldana, says, 'It is a preventive of diseases in malarious tracts.' G. V. Kot, Brahmin, Medical Practitioner, Amraoti, says, 'nearly 10 per cent, of the occasional moderate smokers use it as a febrifuge. I have been informed of cases in which attacks of intermittent fevers (ague) have disappeared by a single process of smoking ganja—cases I mean of jungle fevers, in which the administration of even large doses of quinine have failed to ward off the attacks or in districts in which quinine is not obtainable.' Yeshwant Vaman Dighe, Pleader, Basim, says, 'Ganja wards off the injurious effects of impure and unfiltered water (germicide).' Niamat Khan Bilan Khan, Merchant, Balapur, Akola District, says, 'I don't know about fever ; but I have heard from many sadhus that the use of bhang and ganja protects them against diseases in unhealthy tracts, by which I mean places where water is bad.' Lakshman Atmaram Mahajan, Merchant, Manjrul Pir, says, 'acts like a prevention of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Khab Bahadur Dr Sheikh Elahi Bux, Government Pensioner and Honorary Magistrate, Ajmere, says, 'Vaids, hakims and native doctors do prescribe the use of these drugs on account of their medicinal properties for dysentery, diarrhoea, cholera, ...tetanus...They serve as febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious tracts.' Asghur Ali Khan, Hospital Assistant, Ajmere Dispensary, says, 'Moderate use of bhang is beneficial in its effects as ...preventing malarious diseases in unhealthy tracts.' Jati Amar Hansa, Baid, Ajmere, says, 'In cases of intermittent and other fevers, such as continued, quotidian, tertian, etc., it is very useful when given with cathartics.' Mr. A. Bopanna, Planter, Bepunaad, Green Hills, Coorg, says, 'I think it is preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts.' Lieutenant-Colonel C. B. Cooke, Commissioner of Pegu, says, 'Maung Lu Maung, Thugyi of Yindaw (Yamethin district), states :— Ganja is said to keep off cold and fever. It is still used medicinally by some suffering from long-standing dysentery and diarrhœa...Maung Gyi, Head Constable of Wundwin (Meiktila district), states: I was told that it was an antidote for fever...Maung Lat, Myook of Wundwin (Meiktila district), states :—Ganja I am told keeps away cold and fever. I have seen children suffering from dysentery cured by rubbing ganja pounded and mixed in water on the navel.' Surgeon-Major S. H. Dantra, Civil Surgeon, Mandalay, says, 'It has been also recommended as well as often used as a preventive against malaria and bowel complaints caused by change of climate or water or by marching through unhealthy districts.' Surgeon-Captain R. H. Castor, Civil Surgeon, Yemethin, says, 'Native doctors use it for diarrhœa and cholera'. Army Witness No. 83 says, 'The moderate use of these drugs is considered beneficial in the prevention of malaria and disease.' Army Witness No. 116 says, 'a regular consumer of bhang is said to be comparatively free from the diarrhœa and slight dysentery which non-consumers amongst natives are so liable to on the march or in a new station from drinking water with properties they are not accustomed to.' Army Witness No. 137 says, 'Indian hemp is of great value in cases of obstinate malarial fever, though not usually prescribed by English physicians.' Army Witness No. 162 says, 'If taken in moderation, the use of these drugs is supposed to be beneficial, inasmuch as it is said to promote digestion, create appetite and nullify the effects of bad water.' Army Witness No. 179 says, 'Ganja—Beneficial; taken in cases of men suffering from malarial fevers.'
Siva, the god of ganja, is also known as the god of fever. According to the Note to the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95 by J. M. Campbell , C.I.E., Collector of Land Revenue and Customs and Opium, Bombay, on the Religion of Hemp, 'The Kashikhanda Purana tells how at Benares, a Brahman, sore-smitten with fever, dreamed that he had poured bhang over the self-sprung Ling and was well. On waking he went to the Ling, worshipped, poured bhang and recovered. The fame of this cure brings to Benares sufferers from fever which no ordinary medicine can cure. The sufferers are laid in the temple and pour bhang over the Ling whose virtue has gained it the name Jvareshwar, the Fever-Lord.'
Today, the world faces a situation where all the actions of the ruling upper classes of the world only further enhance the climate conducive for the thriving and proliferation of infectious diseases that are mutating to even more deadlier versions. The world faces a dead-end in terms of antibiotics, and a rapidly losing battle in the field of antivirals and antifungals. Increasing contamination of air, water, food and the soil threaten to unleash newer forms of deadly microbes, even as human and animal immunity levels drop. The stress caused by the actions of the world's elites is a major factor for the spread of infectious diseases worldwide. As if all this was not bad enough, rising global temperatures thaw and melt the icesheets that cover large areas of the Arctic and Antarctic, releasing prehistoric microbes that are frozen in the earth into a world that has forgotten how to deal with them.
We saw in the reports from 19th century India regarding the use of cannabis as prophylactic, febrifuge and antibiotic for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. The people who used cannabis as medicine against infectious diseases were the poorest sections of society, who formed the majority and who could afford nothing else as medicine. The global legalization of cannabis will enable the poorest people in the world, who form possibly 70% of the world's population, to use it as a means to combat infectious diseases. But this step is continuously blocked by the synthetic pharmaceutical, medical, chemical fertilizer and petrochemical industries that are today responsible for the heightened state of danger to all life. The products of these cannabis-opposing industries only benefit the top 10% of the world's people - the elites. But the power over decision-making that these elites hold prevents cannabis from reaching the people who need it the most. Opium may be an effective medicine in the treatment of infectious disease - primarily as a painkiller - but it is highly addictive and harmful. This is clearly evident from the increasing number of deaths from opioid overdoses worldwide. But this has not prevented the world's elites from positioning opium as the preferred medicine at the cost of cannabis. This is primarily because the global elites are addicted to opium and profit greatly from its use and sale. It does not matter to the elites that opium is difficult to procure for most of the people of the world, or that it is expensive and deadly. I believe that the Covid-19 fake pandemic was also created to boost the flagging opioid sales as global awareness increased regarding opium's harms, and global efforts to legalize cannabis as a replacement for opium increased. Today, to make matters worse, we see that the same culprits who were responsible for the fake pandemic Covid-19 are still in charge of world affairs - Xi, Narendra Modi, Vladmir Putin, the recently reinstated Donald Trump (only Boris Johnson has been decommissioned) - resolutely working to keep cannabis prohibited.
Recent scientific studies have started to show the potential of cannabis as an antibiotic. Cannabis legalization will have far-reaching benefits in the treatment and control of infectious diseases. Cannabis is universal medicine that addresses a wide range of health issues. Cannabis can be grown in almost all the countries of the world, unlike opium, thus enabling it to reach the poorest people in the remotest parts of the world. Cannabis legalization will have far-reaching benefits in the treatment and control of infectious diseases. It will even address the man-made sources of infectious diseases i.e. the contamination of the planet through wars, petrochemical-based products, synthetic pharmaceuticals, chemical pesticides, etc. It will enable humans and other living beings to boost their immunity levels through addressing stress, anxiety, nutrition, sleep, digestion, pain, etc. It will enable humans to raise their levels of thinking to creatively and inclusively address the problem of infectious diseases. It will enable humanity to be more alert to dangerous life-threatening endeavors like Covid-19 that the charlatans among the elites deploy to keep the world in chains and increase their own wealth and power - two most useless possessions that can be rendered meaningless by the smallest organisms that nature has created, organisms that exist all around us and within us, organisms that make a mockery of human intelligence and the delusions that come with it...
We live in a time when all life on earth, not just human, is at threat by the foolish actions of humans in their blind and relentless pursuit of wealth and power...We must deploy all possible defensive mechanisms against this threat, the likes of which the planet as we know it has never witnessed in living memory...Cannabis is one of the most potent defense mechanisms that nature has provided for the benefit of numerous life forms, not just humans...The longer we ignore cannabis and place our trust on the delusion that human intelligence - and the synthetic products that it creates - is far superior to nature, the closer we get to our collective demise...
