Drug Abuse

36. Evidence of MR. W. C. TAYLOR, Special Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition, East Coast Railway, and Pensioned Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Khurda, Orissa.

1. About 47 years' residence in India, including 33 years as Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Magistrate, etc., spent chiefly in the mafassal, where I was ia charge of sub-divisions with management of Abkari or Excise matters. Since 1866 I have been in Orissa, but my personal knowledge of the subject is very limited, and most of my answers to the questions have been compiled from replies to enquiries from natives of the district who have some knowledge.

2. Dr. Prain's names and definitions are correct and are used in Orissa. Charas is not much used in Orissa.

The formation of seed does not appear to be prevented entirely in the preparation or rather growth of the plant, as most ganja contains fertile seeds which germinate freely.

The names flat or chipta ganja, round or gol ganja, and broken or bhanga ganja are all used in Orissa. There are no other names.

3. I am not aware of the hemp plant being indigenous in Bengal, Behar, or Orissa, but the plant grows freely from seed everywhere on suitable soil.

4. Ganja or ganjai. The Uri.ya ganja and Telegu ganjai; both names refer to the same plant. There is, I believe, doubt as to the two species, Cannabis sativa and Cannabis Indies, being really distinct.

5. No special conditions, excepting rich light soil, with sufficient moisture, appear to be necessary.

The plant is indigenous in the bills of Northern India, and grows freely, producing flowers and seeds all over India, and, I believe, Asia.

6. I have never seen wild hemp growing.

7. (a) Yes ; in the Tributary States of Orissa and in Ganjam, and Gumsar in Madras.
(b) No.
(c) Yes.    Ditto    ditto.
(4) No.

I cannot give the extent of cultivation in the Tributary Ma.hals. 'the plant is usually grown in the gardens or near the homesteads of the raiyats, but in more or less small plots. No duty is charged on the plant or its products in the Tributary States and in Madras, which presidency adjoins Orissa, ganja is not an exciseable article. All the hill tribes, such as Khonds, Santias, etc., grow and consume ganja and bhang as a preventive of malarious fevers.

8. There has of late years been some decrease in the area under cultivation in the Orissa Tributary States owing to pressure put on the Chiefs to forbid cultivation near the boundaries of the regulation districts of Puri, Cuttack, and Bala-sore. A few years ago I recollect that the Madras authorities refused to check the cultivation of hemp in Gumsar on the grounds that the Khonds required ganja and bhang as a safeguard against malarial fevers. A considerable amount of what is called Gurjat ganja and patti are smuggled into Cuttack, Puri, and Balasore.

9. The hemp plant is usually cultivated in small plots of light rich soil, on the plants getting well up, they are hoed and weeded, roots loosened, and vegetable mould or well rotted cowdung applied as manure.

10. All classes and castes will cultivate the hemp plant. The cultivation, where permitted, is not confined to any particular class.    In the
course of my service 1 have often found a few plants of hemp growing in the gardens of Brahmins and other high caste natives. Unless these plants are found and pulled up by the police, they are invariably used for preparation of ganja and bhang.

11. I do not know.

12. I know nothing of the so-called wild hemp. In the hemp grown in Orissa and Ganjam the male plants are not, I believe, extirpated.

13. The cultivation of the hemp plant for F.,,anja is not permitted in the regulation parts of Orissa. In the Non-regulation parts or Tributary States the cultivation is permitted by the Chiefs of those States, but in States which lapse to Government, or which come under Government management, cultivation of hemp is not, I believe, allowed. In the adjoining district of Ganjam in Madras, I believe that there are no restrictions on the cultivation of the plant or the preparation of its products, ganja not being, I believe, an exciseable article in Madras.

14. Flat ganja is prepared in the Tributary States. Charas is not prepared. Bhang is prepared all over Orissa. 1 cannot give the extent, but it must be very considerable. Gurjat ganja is admitted on payment of a lower duty than Rajshahi round ganja. Patti is also admitted. A good deal of ganja is also smuggled into the three regulation districts of the province from the Gurjats and Madras.

15. The hemp heads are cut on the seeds ripening in November. The beads are tied in small bundles and sprinkled with lime-water, and then alternately buried and exposed to the sun for two or three months, when the ganja is fit for use. In the Tributary States of Barambu and Narsinghpur ganja is not buried, but is first dried in small bundles and then pressed.

The flower heads only are used for smoking and called "kali ganja." The leaves, when dry, are steeped or boiled in water or milk; the water or milk in which they are steeped or boiled is thrown away, and the leaves ground up with black pepper and spices, such as cloves and cardamoms mixed with water, sometimes sweetened, and made into a drink called bhang. Prepared by first boiling in milk the bhang is said to be cooling (thanda), but if boiled in water it is said to retain its heating (garam) or intoxicating properties.

16. (a) and (b) Yes.
(c) I have never seen the wild plant.

17. All classes.

18. Ganja, if not well kept, gets mouldy and loses flavour, but it is said to get stronger by keeping. Bhang will not keep. I know nothing of charas. Damp, fermentation and insects are the main causes of deterioration of ganja. The ganja should be kept in a very dry and airy place and occasionally exposed to the sun. It will keep good with care for two or three years.

19. Ganja is used only for smoking, except in rare cases, when some persons mix a little ganja with their bhang. I know nothing of charas. Ganja is also used in medicine.

20. All classes smoke ganja all over Orissa. Charas is not used in Orissa.

21. The Rajshahi or round ganja is preferred for smoking by regular consumers as being stronger than the local Gurjat flat ganja. Chur is not different; it is merely the flowers detached from their stalks, and before it can be smoked all ganja becomes chur or broken, as with tea and broken tea; the articles are not really different.

22. No charas is imported into Orissa, so far as I am aware.

23. No.

24. All classes. Can't give proportion, probably as high as 20 per cent, of the males and 5 per cent, of the females. About 100 per cent, of priests and attendants of temples and of Vishnuvite ascetics take bhang.

25. The use of ganja is said to be on the increase ; also of bhang. Can't give reasons, except that the existence of so many ganja shops must have a tendency to attract consumers and increase the consumption.

26. No data to go upon.

27. All classes. I can't say what in each case are the habits of life or other circumstances which lead to the habit of smoking ganja or taking bhang.

28. (a) From pies 3 to 6. (b). From annas 2 to 8 or more.

29, For smoking, tobacco is usually mixed with ganja. Dhatura seeds are sometimes mixed with bhang, especially by ascetics, to make the mixture extremely intoxicating.
Bhang massala is sold in the bazars, and is usually made up of black pepper, cardamoms, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, anise, carraway, poppy seeds, and flowers of the nageswar (Henna ferrea).

30. Ganja and bhang are consumed both in company and in private, and the consumption of ganja is mainly confined to the male sex. Women occasionally take bhang as a cooling and digestive draught. It is not usual for children to take either ganja or bhang except when prescribed medicinally.

31. The habit is easily formed and difficult to break off suddenly. There is a great tendency for moderate consumers to develop into excessive consumers both of ganja and bhang.

32. I do not know of any.

33. The smoking of ganja is looked upon with disfavour as bad for the health and pocket and as leading to crime. No worship of the hemp plant is known in Orissa. The taking of bhan,g in moderation is not so injurious as the smoking of ganja, and is not so much objected to. The word " ganjari," smoker of ganja, is used as a term of abuse.

34. Regular smokers of ganja and takers of bhang would, of course, feel it as a serious privation to forego the consumption of the drugs. I can give no figures.

35. As the hemp plant can only be cultivated openly, and as ganja and " patti " are bulky products, there would be no great difficulty in forbidding production or preventing smuggling. The task would be easier than in the case of salt. Consumers would no doubt be seriously discontented, and would probably revert to some other form of drug. I do not think that the discontent would amount to any serious political danger.

36. No.

37. Charas smoking is not practised in this province.

38. Rajshahi or round ganja is stronger and more intoxicating and more heating than Gurjat or flat ganja. Chur may be of either sort, and, as being the actual flowers and buds, is stronger than round or flat ganja.

39. Smoking ganja is notoriously more injurious than drinking bhang. I allude to the regular habit and not to occasional use.

40. All native physicians use hemp in the preparation of muda,k-, carminative digestive tonics. The use of ganja, etc., does not appear to be known here in the treatment of cattle diseases.

41. (a) Yes.
(b) Yes.
(c) Yes.
(d) Also as a sedative.
All classes. I cannot give any figures, and I only refer to the very moderate use of these drugs.

42. Included in 41.

43. They are usually inoffensive.

44. Refreshing and sedative, not visibly intoxicating. It is said to allay hunger for the time, but after the effects have worn off, say in one or two hours, the appetite is said to be improved.

After-effects unknown, but the want of subsequent gratification at the usual hour is said to produce longing and uneasiness.

45. (1) and (c) Said not to do so.
(d) and (e) Dysentery, bronchitis, and asthma from excessive use, and even the moderate use is said to give a tendency to these diseases. Habits of immorality are said to be induced.
(f) The moderate use of hemp drugs is not thought to produce insanity. I cannot answer this part of the question.

46. The habitual excessive use of these drugs is well known to cause insanity, dysentery, asthma, bronchitis, dropsy, general debility, and great nerve deterioration.    In fact, excessive
ganja-smoking is generally thought to be more injurious than the excessive use of any other intoxicating drug or alcohol. From the well known fact that religious ascetics and mendicants are usually strong and robust, it is probable that good and sufficient food counteracts the evil physical effects of ganja and bhang, for this class are notoriously excessive consumers of hemp drugs, but they live on the fat of the land. They are, however, generally more or less insane.

47. No data.

48. No data, but, as with drunkenness, the excessive use of hemp drugs probably is to some extent hereditary ; and as the parent's general health and strength and moral character are seriously impaired, his offspring must be injuriously affected.

49 and 50. The hemp drugs are, I believe, used as aphrodisiacs. Excessive use is said to produce impotence.

51. Yes; • bad characters are usually ganja- smokers and takers of bhang. I cannot say what connection the moderate use of these drugs has with crime.

52. Same as 51, but to greater extent.

53 and 54. The numerous cases of what is called running " analik " which occur in India are often, if not always, due to excessive doses of ganja and bhang taken with or without admixture of dhatura seeds (Datura stramonium). The word assassin is derived from hashishin or hashish inebriate, and hashish is a preparation of charas.

55. I believe that the records of criminal trials in India will show that many such cases occur. I don't know whether complete stupefaction can be induced by ganja or bhang unmixed with other drugs.

56. I cannot say further than this that the admixture of dhatura renders the drug more violently intoxicating and causes great excitement, amounting occasionally to homicidal frenzy.

57. I have no experience on the subject of the question.

58 and 59. I have not had any acquaintance with excise administration since 1889.

60. There is, so far as I am aware, no restriction on the cultivation of the hemp plant either lathe Tributary States of Orissa or in the adjoining district of Ganjam in Madras. The mann-facture of ganja and the preparation of bhang are entirely uncontrolled. I am not prepared to make any remarks on the system.

61. Charas is not produced.

62. One or two plants of hemp in a raiyat's garden would produce leaves sufficient to supply him with bhang, and it would not, I think, be possible to control this.

63. I have no recent experience.

64. I do not know sufficient of the subject to enable me to answer this question.

65. I have no recent knowledge of the subject excepting that the present rates in this part of the country are-

Even at the low rate of Rs. 3-8-0 very little Gurjat ganja pays duty, although a great deal must be consumed.

66. I do not think that there is any need for different rates of duty on round or flat Bengal ganja. Charas should pay a higher rate, as presumably a stronger and more elegant preparation. The rates on Gurjat ganja must at first be lower, but they can be raised gradually as the cultivation and smuggling is controlled.

67. I have not.

68. The licenses are for sale of the drugs only and not for consumption on the premises.

69. Not that I am aware of. Local opinion should, I think, be taken and considered.

70. A considerable amount of flat ganja and " patti" is smuggled into Orissa from the neighbouring States and Madras, chiefly in small parcels. When brought in on passes granted by the Excise Officers, Gurjat ganja has to pay about half the tax levied on Rajshalai ganja. Details of the amount of Gurjat and Rajshahi ganja imported and of the duty paid respectively can be obtained from the Collector. It is notorious, however, that large quantities of untaxed ganja and bhang are used in all the regulation districts of Orissa, but no figures are available.

Oral evidence.

Question 1.-1 have served in Nadia, Mymensingh, the Southal Parganas, and then came to Orissa. I have visited the Tributary States of Nayagarh, Khandpura, and Ranpur, the States bordering on Khurda, sometimes ca visits to the Rajas, sometimes shikaring, and sometimes settling boundaries. My duties required me to be pretty constantly on tour throughout the year.

Question 6.-1 am speaking of hemp that is really wild, not of that which is self-sown near villages. I have never seen wild hemp, though I have spent a good deal of time in the jungles.

Question 10.—When I was in charge of subdivisions, the police occasionally sent up men on the charge of growing hemp. I have never heard of any particular annoyance to the villagers on this account, though the offenders complained of the hardship of being harassed on account of their having allowed one or two plants of hemp to grow in their compounds. There are men who make part of their living out of the rewards to be got in excise prosecution, and they go about enquiring and sometimes make up false cases. The liability to have their houses searched gives people far greater annoyance than the prohibition to cultivate does. As far as I know, the putting up of plants is a trifling matter.

Question 15.-1 have recently learnt from enquiry in the Gujrats that burying is a part of the process of manufacture. The plants are buried for a week at a time without anything to protect them from contact with the earth, and the process of alternate burying and exposure goes on for two and three months.

Question 21.—I do not remember to have heard about the heating quality of the Gurjat ganja. The information on which my answer is based was given to me by consumers and vendors.

Question 25.—My opinion as to the increase of ganja consumption is formed on information given to me by natives with whom I am constantly conversing on all subjects. My knowledge relates specially to Khurda, which is a sub-division of the Pali District.

Question 35.—Dhatura is a drug which might be used in place of ganja. I do not remember any other drug, but alcohol might of course to some extent take the place of hemp. I have no experience of dhatura being smoked, except medicinally, but I know it is used by Vaishnavite ascetics to increase the intoxicating effect of bhang. Shaivite ascetics have the same habit.

Question 46.—I have in some cases seen people emaciated and anmmic, and their friends attributed their condition to the habit of excessive smoking of ganja. I have also seen people insane, whose insanity was attributed to the excessive use of bhang or ganja. I made no special enquiry into any of these cases. I merely accepted the statements made to me.

Questions 53 and 54.—My answer is based on general report and some experience of my own. Once when passing through a village in the Sonthal Parganas with friends, a man attacked us with a sword and cut off a piece of one of my companion's hoots. He was seized before he could do more mischief. We learnt afterwards that the man was drunk with bhang. That occurred during the Sonthal rebellion in 1856. The villagers and the man himself said he was intoxicated with bhang. I do not recall any other case within my personal observation, but I have read of such cases in the newspapers. I know also that the word assassin is derived from hashish, which is said to be prepared from charas.

Question 70.—I am persuaded of the prevalence of smuggling of ganja by the facts that many cases were brought to my notice, and that the frontier of Orissa marches for hundreds of miles with the Gurjat States and the Madras Presidency, where the drug is grown. Large quantities used to be imported under the name of patti, and I pointed out to the authorities that the stuff was really ganja, but no notice was taken of my representation. I have read what Mr. Metcalfe said regarding the smuggling of Gurjat ganja in his No. 2071-E., dated 9th June 1887. I thoroughly believe that the smuggling of ganja is very extensive, much more so even than is stated in this letter. The Commissioner would find it useful to get returns of the quantity of Gurjat ganja seized and destroyed, though the number of cases detected is not one-twentieth of the whole. The smuggling takes place from the Madras Presidency as well as the Gurjat States, about equally from both sources in proportion to the length of boundary. I include the genie from Madras in all I have said about Gurjat ganja. I fancy there is much more ganja produced in the Gurjat states than they have use for. I have seen small patches as big as a quarter bigha of homestead cultivation myself. I believe the cultivation is unrestricted in Gumsar over the border in the Madras Presidency, though I have never seen it there myself. The whole frontier against the Gurjats and Madras, except a very small opening on the latter border, is forest. I saw the patches of cultivation between 1876 and 1880. I could not have mistaken anything else for the hemp plant.

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