248 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. XII.
of toxic insanity by
which it can be recognized just, or nearly as readily, as
those
of delirium tremens distinguish alcoholic intoxication. To enable
me to do so
clearly, it is necessary to distinguish between acute ganja
intoxication due to a
single debauch or to continuous excessive use of it in what might
be called a bout
of ganja drunkenness, and the effects of its continued immoderate
use over
a lengthened period of time. Acute ganja intoxication is marked by
the extreme
vehemence of the mania. In its mental, moral, and muscular
manifestations, it
bears no resemblance to alcoholic intoxication whatever. The maniac
is excited
in every fibre. His aspect is infuriated, his eye glares and is
tense and glistening,
while at the same time the conjunctiva is red and injected. He
shouts, vocifer-
ates, sings, walks quickly up and down or round his cell, and
shakes the door out
of its fastenings. If at liberty, he is violent and aggressive, and
may run amok. In
other cases the mental disturbance is less marked, but the
demeanour is excited,
and he suddenly seizes some weapon, and slays one or more of the
people in his
neighbourhood without apparent reason. The attack is of short
duration, being
limited to a few days. Then there is perfect recovery, and the
patient is oblivious
of things which took place
during the period of intoxication............The
insanity
produced by the
long-continued immoderate use of ganja has also features of
its
own. The patients are hilarious, attitudinise, and are full of the
sense of well-
being; they are as a rule good-natured and trustworthy, and recover
in a large
proportion of cases under confinement and deprivation of the drug.
These cases
characterize Indian asylums by the large number of happy amusing
lunatics
they contain. They are, however, very subject to relapses even
after lengthened
periods of freedom from symptoms."
The alleged shorter
duration of hemp drug cases is to some extent borne
out by the statistics obtained by comparing the accepted and
rejected cases for
1892. In the accepted cases (98), after deducting the ten patients
who were
not insane on admission, the percentage of recoveries has amounted
to 56.8 per
cent. of the total admissions, while of the rejected cases only
32.4 per cent. of
the admissions have recovered. The Commission consider, however,
that too
much stress should not be placed upon rapidity of recovery as a
diagnostic sign
in attempting to differentiate between hemp drug and ordinary
mania. It is
well recognized that as a rule ordinary uncomplicated cases of
mania rapidly
recover. Moreover, bearing in mind that hitherto hemp drug cases
have been
accepted as such as a rule on untrustworthy evidence, and that
consequently
many of the cases on which Superintendents of Asylums have based an
opinion
as to the relative rapidity of cure of hemp drug and ordinary mania
were not
actually toxic cases, "rapidity of recovery" can only be accepted
tentatively
as a means of discrimination. It is scarcely necessary to observe
that this so
called "diagnostic mark" has not been used in diagnosing hemp drug
insanity in
the asylums, as it has been shown that diagnosis was made on the
admission of
the patient and not after his recovery.
In connection with the
alleged greater recoverability of cases of hemp drug
mania, it may be of interest to quote statistics of cases in an
English asylum.
In the West Riding Asylum the percentage of recoveries in acute and
simple
mania were respectively 65.5 and 61 per cent., while 8.4 and 11.9
per cent.
were relieved and 11.9 and 16 per cent. formed a chronic residue.
Taking all
maniacal forms in the same asylum (including the simple, acute,
hysteric, chronic,