Drug Abuse

Indian hemp Drugs Commission

Volume IV

EVIDENCE OF WITNESSES FROM BENGAL AND ASSAM

TAKEN BEFORE THE

INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION.

 

QUESTIONS FRAMED BY THE COMMISSION.

Evidence before the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893-94.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

1. What opportunities have you had of obtaining information regarding the matters connected with hemp drugs in regard to which your answers are framed ?

2. In the most recent work on ganja (Dr. Praia's report of 21st June 1893) it is stated that " in India three narcotic articles are obtained naturally from hemp. These are, siddhi or bhang, charas, and ganja." They are thus defined by Dr. Praia " Siddhi, bhang, subji or patti are different names applied to the dry leaves of the hemp plant, whether male or female and whether cultivated or uncultivated.

" Charas is the name applied to the resinous matter which forms the active principle of the plant when collected separately.

" Ganja consists of the dried flowering tops of cultivated female hemp plants which have become coated with resin in consequence of having been unable to set seeds freely. The formation of seeds is prevented by the destruction of all the male plants.

" Three varieties of ganja are sold. Ganja is usually manufactured by being trodden under foot, so that the agglutinated flower topsassume a flattened shape. This is Flat ganja.' The other sort of ganja is not trodden, but rolled under foot, so that the agglutinated flower-tops are less closely adherent, and assume a rounded shape. This is Round ganja.' The flower-tops of ganja detached from the twigs, whether of flat or of round ganja, and whether the detachment has been accidental or deliberate, form chur' or `Broken ganja.' "

May these definitions be accepted for your province? By what name is each of these products locally known ?

CHAPTER II.
CULTIVATION. OR GROWTH OF HEMP.
(Cannabis sativa.)

3. In what districts of which you have knowledge does the hemp plant grow spontaneously ? Mention any in which it is abundant.

4. By what different names is it known? Do these refer to exactly the same plant?

5. What special conditions of climate, soil, rainfall, elevation above sea level, etc., are necessary to the growth of the wild hemp ?

6. Is the growth of the wild hemp ordinarily dense, or scattered?

7. Is there any cultivation of the hemp plant in your province—

(a) for production of ganja;

(b) for production of charas;

(c) for use as bhang;

(d) for its fibre or seeds ;

If so, where and to what extent ?

8. If there has recently been any considerable increase or decrease in the area under such cultivation, state the reason.

9. Give any particulars you are able regarding the methods of such cultivation.

10. Do the persons who cultivate hemp for its narcotic properties form a special class? Or are they of the same classes as other agricultural cultivators ?

11. Are the plants cultivated for the production of ganja ever raised from the seed of the wild hemp ?

12. Have you any reason to suppose that the (so-called) wild hemp is anywhere specially cultivated for the production of ganja? If so, give the names of the districts or tracts in which this occurs, and your opinion as to the extent to which the practice exists. Is the male plant extirpated in such cases ?

13. (a) Is the cultivation of hemp plant for ganja restricted in your province ? If so, to what districts ? Why were they selected ? If not restricted, is the cultivation common to all districts?

(b) Are there any special conditions of climate, soil, rainfall, elevation above sea-level, etc., which are necessary for the cultivation of hemp for producing ganja ?

(c) Is there any part of your province where its cultivation would be impossible ?

CHAPTER III.
PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE.

14. Are any of the following products of the hemp plant prepared in your province :-

(a) ganja,

(b) charas,

(c) bhang ?

If so, where and to what extent ?

15. Give any particulars you are able regarding the methods of such preparation, distinguishing specially the methods of preparation from (a) the cultivated, and (b) the wild plant respectively, and distinguishing also preparations for (A) smoking, (B) eating, and (C) drinking.

16. (a) Is bhang prepared generally by the people in their houses ?

(b) Can it be prepared from the hemp plant wherever grown ?

(c) Can ganja or charas also be prepared from the wild plant wherever grown ?

17. By what classes of the people are the preparations of the hemp drug respectively made ?

18. Does any of these three drugs (gauja, charas, and bhang) deteriorate by keeping? Does it quite lose its effect in time? How long does it keep good with ordinary care ? What are the causes of deterioration ? What special measures can be taken to prevent deterioration ?

CHAPTER IV.               
TRADE.
(Statistics to be obtained from Government offices.)               

CHAPTER V.
CONSUMPTION OR USE.

NOTE.—It is very important, in answering the questions framed under this chapter, to distinguish carefully between ganja, charas, and bhang. The answer should deal only with those forms of the drug known to the witness, and should clearly specify in each case the form or forms to which his statements apply.

19. Are ganja and charas used only for smoking ? If not, name any other uses to which either is put, with particulars as to such uses, and the places where they are prevalent.

20. What classes and what proportion of the people smoke ganja and charas respectively ? and in what localities ?

21. What kind of ganja (flat, round or " chur") is preferred for smoking ? If different kinds are used in different localities, give particulars.

22. What charas, native or foreign, is chiefly used ? If foreign, whence is it imported?

23. Is bhang ever used for smoking ? If so, in what localities, by what classes of the people, and to what extent?

24. What classes and what proportions of the people respectively (a) eat or (b) drink bhang, and in what localities ?

25. Is the use of ganja, charas, and bhang, or of any of these drugs, on the increase or on the decrease ?

Give Any reasons you are able.

26. State for each of these drugs what proportion of the consumers are—

(a) Habitual moderate consumers,

(b) Habitual excessive consumers,

(c) Occasional moderate consumers,

(d) Occasional excessive consumers.

27. What classes of the people are each of these mainly taken from, and what in each case are the habits of life or circumstances which mainly lead to the practice?

28. What is the average allowacce and cost of each of these drugs per diem to—

(a) Habitual moderate consumers,

(b) Habitual excessive consumers?

29. What ingredients are (a) ordinarily or (b) exceptionally mixed with any of these drugs by the different classes of consumers ? Is dhatura so used ? What is the object of these admixtures ?

Do you know of any preparation (such as "bhang massala") which is sold for the purpose of being mixed with any of these drugs ? Describe its ingredients.

30. (a) To what extent is the consumption of each of these three drugs practised in solitude or in company ?

(b) Is it mainly confined to the male sex or to any time of life?

(c) Is it usual for children to consume any of these drugs ?

31. (e) Is the habit of. consuming any of these drugs easily formed?

(6) Is it difficult to break off ?

(c) Is there a tendency in the case of any of these drugs for the moderate habit to develop into the excessive ?

39. (a) Al ention any customs, social or religious, in regard to the consumption of any of these drugs. Give an account of every such custom.

(b) Is the use of the drug in connection with such custom regarded as essential ?

(c) Is it generally temperate or excessive?

(d) Is it likely to lead to the formation of the habit, or otherwise injurious ?

33. (a) How is the consumption of each of these drugs generally regarded?

(6) Can it be said that there is any public opinion (social or religious) in regard to the practiee? If so, what? If you think that the use of any form of the narcotic is generally in disrepute, to what do you attribute that sentiment ?

(c) Is there any custom of worshipping the hemp plant on certain occasions by certain sects of the people?

34. Would it be a serious privation to any class of consumers to forego the consumption of the drug they use? Give your reasons in each case. Give some idea of the probable numbers of each class. •

35. (a) Would it be feasible to prohibit the use of any or all of these drugs?

(b) Would the drug be consumed illicitly ?

(c) How could the prohibition be enforced ?

(d) Would the prohibition occasion serious discontent among the consumers?

(e) Would such discontent amount to a political danger ?

( f) Would the prohibition be followed by recourse to (a) alcoholic stimulants or (6) other drugs?

36. Is there any reason for thinking that alcohol is now being to a certain extent substituted for tiny of these drugs? If so, to what causes do you attribute this change, and what proof is there of its reality ?

CHAPTER VI.
EFFECTS.

NOTE.—It is very important, in answering the questions framed under this chapter, to distinguish carefully between ganja, charas, and bhang. The answer should deal only with the form of hemp known to witness, and should clearly specify in each case the form or forms to which his statements apply, and the particular experiences on which they are based. Question 56 deals with the effect of admixtures. This should also be referred to in answering any question where any such admixture generally affects the case. But the answer ought, in the first instance to deal with the effect of the hemp drug apart from any such admixture.

37. Are the effects of charas smoking different in any particular from those resulting from ganja smoking ? If so, state the difference.

38. Have the three different preparations of ganja (round and flat ganja and " chur") any different effects in kind or degree on consumers ?

39. Is the smoking of any preparation of the hemp plant iu any way a less injurious form of consumption than drinking or eating the same or any other preparation ? Give reasons for your answer.

40. (a) Is the use of any of these drugs prescribed on account of its medicinal qualities by any school of Native Doctors ?

(b) Are any of them used in the treatment of cattle disease?

41. May the moderate use of charas, ganja, or bhang be beneficial in its effects—

(a) as a food accessory or digestive ;

(b) to give staying-power under severe exertion or exposure, or to alleviate fatigue;

(c) as a febrifuge or preventive of disease in malarious and unhealthy tracts ;

(d) in any other way.

What classes (if any) use the drug for any of the above purposes, and in what proportion of such classes ? Is it the moderate habitual use or moderate occasional use of the drug which you refer to ?

42. if not beneficial, do you consider the moderate use of any of these drugs to be harmless ? Give reasons for your answer.

43. Are moderate consumers inoffensive to their neighbours ?

44. (a) What is the immediate effect of the moderate use of any of these drugs on the habitual consumer ?

(b) ls it refreshing ?

(c) Does it produce intoxication ?

(d) Does it allay hunger ?

(e) Does it create appetite ?

(f) How long does the effect last ?

(g) Are there any after-effects?

(h) Does the want of subsequent gratification produce any longing or uneasiness ?

45. (a) Does the habitual moderate use of any of these drugs produce any noxious effects—physical, mental, or moral ?

(b) Does it impair the constitution in any way ?

(c) Does it injure the digestion or cause loss of appetite ?

(d) Does it cause dysentery, bronchitis, or asthma ?

(e) Does it impair the moral sense or induce laziness or habits of immorality or debauchery ?

( f) Does it deaden the intellect or produce insanity ?

If it produces insanity, then of what type, and is it temporary or permanent ?
If temporary, may the symptoms be re-induced by use of the drug after liberation from restraint?
Are there any typical symptoms?
Do insanes, who have no recorded ganja history, confess to the use of the drug?

(g) In such cases of the alleged connection between insanity and the use of hemp as are known to you, are you of opinion that the use of the drug by persons suffering from mental anxiety or brain disease to obtain relief has been sufficiently considered in explaining that connection?

And do you think there is any evidence to indicate that insanity may often tend to indulgence in the use of hemp drugs by a person who is deficient in self-control through weakened intellect?

Give an account under each of these points of any cases with which you are acquainted.

46. Discuss the same question in regard to the habitual excessive use of any of these drugs.

47. Does the habitual moderate use of any of these drugs appear to be a hereditary habit or to affect in any way the children of the moderate consumer ?

48. Discuss the same question in regard to the habitual excessive use of any of these drugs.

49. (a) Is the iroderate use of any of these drugs practised as an aphrodisiac?

(b) Is it so used by prostitutes ?

(c) Is the use for this purpose more injurious than its use as an ordinary narcotic, and, if so, how ?

(d) Does the use of hemp tend to produce impotence ?

50. Discuss the same question in regard to the excessive use of any of these drugs.

51. (a) Are any large proportion of had characters habitual moderate consumers of any of these drugs ?

(b) What connection, if any, has the moderate use with crime in general or with crime of any special character ?

52. Discuss the same question in regard to the excessive use of any of these drugs.

53. Does excessive indulgence in any of these drugs incite to unpremeditated crime, violent or otherwise ? Do you know of any case in which it has led to temporary homicidal frenzy ?

54. Are these drugs used by criminals to fortify themselves to commit a premeditated act of violence or ether crime ?

55. (a) Do criminals, in order to further their designs, induce their victims to partake of any of these drugs and so stupefy themselves?

(6) Can complete stupetiction be thus induced by this drug without admixture.

56. How are the effects of hemp, used (a) in moderation and (b) in excess, modified by the admixture of other substances? Note specially any information you possess regarding the admixture of dhatura for personal consumption or for administration to others.

57. Ganja and charas are said sometimes to be eaten or drunk. Where this is the case, give your experience as to the effects, dealing separately with any of the heads in the preceding questions which seem to require notice.

CHAPTER VII.
ADMINISTRATION—TAXATION: CONTROL.

58 If you are acquainted with the present system of Excise Administration in your province in respect of hemp drugs, do you consider it to be working well, or do you consider it to be capable of improvement ?

59. If capable of improvement, indicate in what direction or directions, giving reasons for your answer.

60. If ganja is produced in your province, do you think that the cultivation of the ganja-bearing plant and the process of its preparation are sufficiently controlled, or that the system requires modification in any respect ? If so, in what respects and why ?

61. If charas is produced in your province, do you think the cultivation of the hemp plant for its production and the process of preparation are sufficiently controlled, or that the system requires modification in any respect. If so, in what respects and why ?

62. Do you think that the cultivation of the hemp plant for the production of bhang should be in any way controlled ? Would this be feasible ? If so, indicate the method by which such control could be exercised.

63. Have you any objection to the present system of wholesale/retail vend of ganja/charas/bhang or preparations of them ? If you have any objections, state them at length, and indicate the improvements you suggest.

64. Have you any objections to the existing regulations governing the export and import of these drugs or of their preparations from and into your province, or their transport within the province ? Give reasons for your answer.

65. Inyour opinion is tyhe taxation of ganja/charas/bhang reasonable with reference (a) to each other (b) to alcoholic or other intoxicants? Give reasons for any alterations in the amount of taxation of any of these articles which you may suggest.

66. In your opinion is it necessary that there should be different rates of taxation for different kinds of ganja (such as the " flat," " round," and "broken " ganja produced in Bengal), or for ganja grown in different localities ? If so, on what principle ?

67. Having regard to the ultimate incidence of the tax on the consumer, have you any objections to the present method of taxing :1 ganja 2 charas 3 bhang?

68. Are there in your province houses or shops licensed for the sale of these drugs or their preparations where they may be consumed on the premises ? What is your view in respect to such houses or shops ?

69. Are the wishes of the people consulted or considered in any way before a shop is opened in any locality? What measures are taken for this purpose ? Ought local public opinion to be thus considered ?

70. Are there any facts regarding the importation or smuggling of hemp drugs from Native States into your province to which you wish to draw attention ? Is duty really paid in respect to the ganja and other hemp drugs used ? Or is there any general use of untaxed drugs, and by whom ?

INDEX

TO

BENGAL AND ASSAM WITNESSES.