398
servation. Besides the point of heredity, I con-
sulted the man's Medical Sheet, which was all right.
That was all the enquiry I made, and I thought
that was sufficient to exhaust other causes. The
medical history sheet only covered the period of his
service, about four years. I had no knowledge
of his medical history before that time. This is
the only case of true insanity from the hemp drugs
which I have known. The other cases referred to
in my answer to question 45 were slighter, and I
cannot say if they were due to moderate or exces-
sive use of the drug. Among the slight cases
I remember a young sepoy going off his head and
walking round the mess table. After two days
he was all right. He said he was off his head,
and did not know what he was doing, and the
sepoys said his condition was due to ganja. He
himself denied that he had smoked ganja. The
sepoys said lie had smoked on that occasion, not
that he was an habitual smoker. Under the in-
fluence of alcohol, people do not behave in the same
way. You might say that the above sepoy was
intoxicated with ganja, not rendered insane. My
experience of hemp drug insanity is confined there-
fore to one case. My answer to question 46 is
based on that case.
40. Evidence of SURGEON-MAJOR S. H. DANTRA, Civil Surgeon, Mandalay.
1. Having come across consumers of drugs in
gaols, military police and regiments.
2. These definitions are quite in accordance with
my knowledge of the drugs. I am not acquainted
with these varieties. I have only known of one
kind, viz the dried flowering tops, etc.
19. As far as my knowledge goes, ganja and
charas are used only for smoking.
23. Bhang is generally used for drinking, but
very rarely, when ganja and charas (both of which
are dearer than bhang) are not obtainable, it is
smoked by poorer classes. Smoking bhang is not
restricted to any locality or class of people as far as I know.
28. (a) About twenty grains, worth one anna in
Burma, and half an anna in India;
(b) Varies a great deal, bat about a drachm
in majority of cases, costing from two to three
annas.
29. Ordinarily ganja and charas are mixed with
tobacco; and bhang is mixed with bhang massala.
Exceptionally the first two are mixed with
dhatura and nux-vomica; may be with cantha-
rides or betel-nut, but never with opium.
The object of mixing ganja and charas with to-
bacco is to increase the quantity and prolong smok-
ing by the poorer classes. Bhang is never drunk
alone, but always with massala, which is supposed
to produce a nice cooling feeling in the stomach.
Dhatura is mixed with ganja and charas by jogis
and ascetics with a view to increase the effect of the
latter two and reduce their virile power. The
object of nux-vomica I am not in a position to say.
The number of ingredients used to form bhang
massala varies a great deal. It ranges from black
and white pepper, sugar and milk, to poppy seeds,
seeds of water-melon, almond, pumpkin seeds,
dried rose petals, fennel seeds, sugarcandy, corian-
der, cardamoms, etc.
30. These drugs are not used by all classes of
people, but those who do use, are in the following
proportion: —Bhang about 50 per cent., ganja
about 25 per cent. and charas about 10 per cent.
All of these are generally practised in company,
rarely in solitude. Generally confined to male sex
and after about 35 years of age, but bhang, is at
times used by females and the young, but not
ganja or charas.
31. (a) Yes.
(b) No.
(c) Among well-to-do people there is a tend-
ency for the ganja smokers to go to excess, but
majority of working classes use the thugs under
moderation.
32. I am not aware of any religious custom in
regard to the consumption of any of these drugs;
but the consumers of these drugs, when they pay
friendly visits among themselves, are expected to
offer a smoke to one another, as is customary
among Europeans to offer a cigar or a peg. The
custom is regarded as essential, and is generally
temperate. It generally does lead to the form-
ation of the habit afterwards, but it does not do
harm in any other way.
36. Majority of men deny having substituted
alcohol for any of these drugs; but from a few
cases that have come under my notice I feel certain
in my mind that the sale of ganja and charas
being stopped, and they being so expensive in
Burma, that it is quite beyond the means of many
to procure them, that they resort to alcohol instead,
and the consequences have been very serious on
account of their going to excess in the hope of
getting the same effect as that of ganja or charas.
I have no actual proof to show at present, but I
remember some cases that have come under my
observation among gaol warders and prisoners.
37. The difference in the effects of all the three
drugs is, as far as my information goes, one of
degree, charas being the strongest and bhang the
mildest of the three.
39. Smoking charas and ganja is less injurious
than eating. By the latter process the stomach
is upset. It produces vomiting, sometimes purg-
ing too, and the individual, instead of feeling
happy and comfortable, feels very miserable. I
make the statement from what has been told to
me by men who when on duty or long marches,
when they could not get fire and chillum (the
smoking utensil or pipe) for smoking, had to resort
to eating, and the above-said was the result. Ex-
cessive use of charas and ganja has produced in-
sanity in a few cases.
40. In small doses it has been prescribed as an
aphrodisiac, but in large doses it has been used in
combination with dhatura as well as by itself, by
jogis and ascetics as an anaphrodisiac. It has
been also recommended as well as often used as a
preventive against malaria and bowel complaints
caused by change of climate or water or by march-
ing through unhealthy districts.
41. (a) (b) and (c) Yes, it is decidedly beneficial.
(d) In bowel complaints, beneficial.
44. Immediate effect is very pleasing. He feels
happy and forgets his troubles and trials for the
time being. He does feel refreshed. It produces
intoxication which is, unlike that of alcohol, of a