12
Summing up the evidence, it is found that of 575 witnesses who have
expressed a decided opinion on the subject of prohibition, only 99 advocate it
(paragraph 569 of the Report). Amongst no class of witnesses is there a pre-
ponderance of opinion in favour of total prohibition.
36. On the question of policy, the general conclusions of the Commission
are contained in paragraph 585 of their Report:—
General conclusions in regard to total prohi-
bition of ganja, charas, and bhang.
585. "A general review of the evidence relating to the question of prohibition of ganja
and charas brings the Commission to the same
conclusion as that which they have framed upon
a consideration of the evidence on the ascertained effects alone. The weight of the evi-
dence above abstracted is almost entirely against prohibition. Not only is such a measure
unnecessary with reference to the effects, but it is abundantly proved that it is considered
unnecessary or impossible by those most competent to form an opinion on general
grounds of experience; that it would be strongly resented by religious mendicants, or
would be regarded as an interference with religion, or would be likely to become a political
danger; and that it might lead to the use of dhatura or other intoxicants worse than
ganja. Apart from all this, there is another consideration which has been urged in some
quarters with a manifestation of strong feeling, and to which the Commission are disposed
to attach some importance, viz., that to repress the hemp drugs in India and to leave
alcohol alone would be misunderstood by a large number of persons who believe, and
apparently not without reason, that more harm is done in this country by the latter than
by the former. The conclusion of the Commission regarding bhang has been given in
paragraph 564. Under all the circumstances they now unhesitatingly give their verdict
against such a violent measure as total prohibition in respect of any of the hemp drugs."
37. The prohibition of ganja is an interference with liberty which the Gov-
ernment of India is not justified in undertaking, except upon evidence which
clearly establishes the fact that the harm permitted by non-prohibition is great
and manifest. Not only is this not the case, but the evidence has rendered it
abundantly manifest that those who have hitherto recommended the prohibition
of ganja have done so under an erroneous, or at least a greatly exaggerated,
impression as to its real effects. To a million people in India, ganja affords
a harmless pleasure, and in some cases even a beneficial stimulant. It would,
in the opinion of the Governor General in Council, amount to oppression to take
active measures to suppress it, on the mere ground that it is possible to quote
isolated instances in which individuals have received injury from its use. Nor
can the Government commit themselves to so unequal a measure as the suppres-
sion of the use of ganja (which is the form in which the poor man uses the drug)
and the permission of the use of bhang (which is the milder form in which the
better situated classes enjoy it). There seems to the Governor General in
Council no argument in favour of the prohibition of ganja which would not
equally apply to the enforcement, by State Agency, of total abstinence from
intoxicating or stimulating liquors and drugs throughout India—a proposal which
is not within the range of practical politics.
VII.—DISSENTS.
38. This seems the proper place to notice the dissents of two members of
the Commission, Raja Soshi Sikareshwar Ray and Lala Nihal Chand, which
refer mostly to the question of prohibition.
39. The former sums up his opinion on the evidence in the following para-
graph:—
"Consideration of all these leads me to come to a conclusion which is not quite in
agreement with that of my colleagues. I believe that the injurious effects of the hemp
drugs are greater and their use more harmful than one would naturally suppose to be the
case after reading the concluding portion of Chapter XIII of our Report, although I think
I should say that the facts elicited by our inquiry do not go to support the extreme
opinion held by some well-intentioned people that these drugs in all their forms and in
every case are highly pernicious in their effects. We have seen in almost all parts of
India people connected with temples and maths who are quite healthy, strong, and stout,
who excessively indulge in bhang. Instances were not rare in which habitual ganja-
smokers were seen to be quite healthy and strong. It is among the very poor and the
mendicant classes that shocking instances of human wrecks caused by over-indulgence in
hemp drugs can be found. The general opinion that I have been able to form is that
ganja and charas are no doubt injurious in their action on the constitution of certain
people, specially those who are weak and underfed, even when they are taken in compara-
tively moderate doses, and only for a short time. When they are consumed in excess and