162

he nominally sells at an average of Rs. 10 a seer,
but he cheats his customers as far as he can in the
weights and gets Rs. 12 a seer.

   45. Fifteen days ago I saw a man, Naga Baba,
smoke himself alone in two hours a pound of ganja.
At the end of it he was quite in his senses and
could sit upright and speak, and he ate food that
evening.

   33. Strong disapprobation is felt in respectable
circles against the habit of ganja smoking, because
ganja is generally smoked by low and disreputable
persons.

   35. I think it will be impossible to stop ganja
altogether. It would always be smuggled in
from somewhere. In my contract, I remember,
when the price of ganja went up, the Madras Re-
giment stationed here smuggled ganja from
Bellary in boxes of dried fish. Again, if we raised
our duty, we should have ganja smuggled in from
such States as Panna and Maihar. The price of
ganja there now is from 8 annas to Re. 1, but I
believe the smuggling from there is very small.

   45. I think that the ganja habit is more inju-
rious than the opium or the country liquor habit.
Ganja intoxication is instantaneous in most cases,
not gradual like that induced by other drugs.

84. Evidence of SHEW NARAIN, Bajpai Brahmin, Public Works Contractor,
Jabalpur.

   41. I think the habit of ganja smoking to be
beneficial to the poor labouring classes, but injuri-
ous to the well-to-do. The former cannot afford
to buy much, and they work off the effects, so
that they derive no harm from it. The latter
suffer in health; they get a persistent cough, and
their blood dries up (sic).

   33. A respectable man will incur social odium
if he takes ganja in public with regular ganja
smokers, but not if he takes a little in the pri-
vacy of his own house.

   53. I have never had any experience of any
person having lost his reason or committed any
crime of violence in consequence of over-indul-
gence in ganja.

   25. I cannot give any opinion whether the con-
sumption of ganja here is on the increase or no.

   65. I am opposed to any increase in the duty,
because I believe that people who have formed the
habit will obtain the drug somehow, by smuggling
if they cannot get it otherwise.

   35. I should deprecate the total abolition of
ganja. Many working people would be wholly
unable to work without it: neither opium nor
country liquor would satisfy their cravings.

   32. Bhang is drunk by all Hindus at several
religious festivals, such as the Ram Lila. Ganja
is not smoked in connection with any religious
festival or family ceremony, as far as I have ever
heard.