CH. XVI.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 331
or drugs are supplied by
the producer or wholesale dealer to the retail
vendor, or by the retail vendor to the consumer," In the Central
Provinces
the price at which the wholesale vendor is to supply the drugs to
the retail vendor
has been fixed for all districts, and the subject has been already
consider
This is not done elsewhere in British territory, and any deviation
from the ove-
stated principle seems to the Commission to require special
justificatio. The
privilege of wholesale vend
should not be too restricted. This will res in
great
variations of the prices paid by consumers
owing to the absence of ompetition.
In Assam the "effect of farming the monopoly of a whole dist to a
single
person has been found to result in very high
prices even were smuggling
is known to exist," and this should be obviated if possible freer
competi-
tion in regard to the supply. If this fails, special arrangeme may
be required
for keeping the price at a reasonable figure.
Import, export, and
transport
duties.
679. In some provinces
import, export, and transport duties are levied; and
this practice is not unmmon
in Native States.
This practice arises fr the want of uniformity
which exists in the systems of administration. It s attended with
considerable
difficulties, and serves no useful purpose in itself. If all the
drugs were adequately
taxed at the sources of supply, subject to such additional taxation
as local
circumstances demand, the amount of which is best determined by
auctioning
the licenses for vend, there would be no ned for such duties at
all. As a
supplementary means of taxation, where these requirements are not
fulfilled,
it may be necessary in special cases to maintain them. This must be
the case,
at all events for some time to come, if drugs are imported from
Native States
into British territory. But, if possible, such imports should be
entirely prohibited,
unless the State concerned has assimilated its system to that in
force in British
territory. Transport duties from one place to another in British
territory should
be entirely abolished as soon asadequate taxation of the drugs at
the source
of supply has been provided for. A system of free passes to
licensed persons
is all that is needed. Partil measures of this kind tend to obscure
the real
issue, viz., how far consumption needs to be checked by a
rise in duty.
Retail vend.
(a) Separation of licenses for
different kinds of drugs.
680. The system of retail
vend differs largely in the different provinces.
In some places the licenses
for retail vend of the
drugs are held by the same persons and under
the same contract as licenses for the sale of opium without any
attempt
to discriminate the amount of fees due to each. More frequently
the
licenses cover the sale of all kinds of hemp drugs, and the
relative demand for
the different kinds is not ascertainable. Where the demand is small
there
may be reasons for maintaining the latter system, but the hemp
drug
licenses should, in the opinion of the Commission, be distinct from
all others,
and in most cases it is desirable that the licenses for the
different kinds of hemp
drugs should also be distinct; for it is not the desire of
Government that a
demand for any of the drugs should be created. Shop licenses should
only be
given where the demand exists, and there may be a demand for one
kind and not
for another. The demand for a bhang license, for instance, should
not be
responded to by licensing the sale of ganja or charas in addition,
which may
not be necessary. As a rule the licenses should be sold separately.
As Mr.
Stoker says: "This would enable us to provide for the sale of the
more harmless