28

37. Yes, charas is much more intoxicating than
ganja.

40.   Bhang is sometimes prescribed by Baids
on account of its medicinal qualities. I do not
think any of these drugs is. used in the treatment
of cattle disease.

41.   The moderate use of bhang is beneficial,
as it gives appetite and is digestive. It keeps off
the cold and keeps the body warm. The moderate
use of ganja and charas gives staying-power
under severe exertion or exposure. They keep off
the sleep, and for this reason the chowkidars who
have to be up all night and the fakirs who want
to pray all night use these drugs.

42.  The moderate use of these drugs is harm-
less. The reason for my saying so is simply this,
that I have not yet come across a single moderate
consumer of these drugs who had in any way suf-
fered on account of the consumption of these
drugs.

43.   Yes, they are inoffensive to their neigh-
bours, because they never make any row and
always keep quiet.

44. Bhang is refreshing and slightly intoxi-
cating. Ganja and charas are not refreshing, and
more intoxicating than bhang. The use of these
drugs creates appetite. The effect of bhang lasts
for about 8 or 10 hours, while the effects of ganja
and charas only last for about one hour.

45.  The moderate consumption of these drugs
does not in any way injure the digestion or
impair the constitution or moral sense. It does
not induce laziness. On the other hand, it makes
a person more active. It does not cause dysen-
tery, bronchitis, or asthma. It never deadens
the intellect or produces insanity.

46.  The excessive use of these drugs is most
injurious. It causes dysentery, bronchitis, and
asthma. It encourages habits of immorality and
weakens a person and deadens intellect. It makes
a person absent-minded, and in some cases produces
insanity.

47.   The habitual moderate use of any of these
drugs is not hereditary, and does not in any way
affect the children.

48.  The same of No. 47.

49.  The moderate use of hemp does not tend to
produce impotence.

50.  The excessive use of hemp tends to produce
impotence.

51.  The greater number of bad characters are
habitual moderate consumers of these drugs. The
use of these drugs enlivens them and makes them
more active. They can exert themselves more in
their pursuits and can keep off the sleep and
fatigue.

52.   The habitual bad characters are never ex-
cessive consumers, as the excessive use produces
cough, which would interfere with the commis-
sion of those offences which are committed secretly.

53.  I do not know of any case in which the
excessive use has led to homicidal frenzy.

54.   Ganja and charas are invariably used by
dacoits before they commit dacoities. These
drugs make them more active and enable them to
walk long distances.

55.  I have not heard of a single case where any
criminal induced his victims to partake of these
drugs and stupefied him. I remember a case
where a criminal gave some ganja mixed with
dhatura to two or three persons who became in-
sensible.

58.  The excise administration in these Provinces
is working well, but is capable of slight improve-
ment.

59.  In my opinion there should be a clause in
the License Form for the retail vend of intoxi-
cating drugs to the effect: "That in no case
drugs shall be sold to any person below the age
of 16."

The bad habits of smoking are generally formed
when a person is between 12 and 16, and if in this
period of life a person does not take a liking to
drugs, it is very likely that he would not take
them in after-life.

63.   The present system is working well, and
there is no objection of any kind.

64.  There is no objection to the existing re-
gulations. I have been in charge of the Excise De-
partment for over five years in three districts, and
I never experienced any difficulty or heard any
complaint in this connection.

69. The wishes of the people are not consulted
before a shop is opened in any locality. There is
no necessity to consult the local public opinion in
this matter. The sale of drugs is not offensive
to any class of the community, and I do not re-
member a single instance where the local public
opinion was. against the opening of a drug shop.

                            Oral evidence.

Question 7.—I was appointed to the Statutory
Civil Service in February 1887. I have served in
Aligarh for nearly a year, in Jaunpur for eighteen
months, in Basti for two years, and in Jalaun. I
was educated in the Muhammadan College, Ali-
garh, and Balliol College, Oxford. I have been
called to the Bar.

Question 19.— I have not seen the manufacture
of oil from hemp seed, I have inspected hemp
drugs shops, but have no other experience of the
subject.

Question 25.—A boy starts tobacco-smoking
at a very early age, and easily falls into the hemp
habit. Tobacco smokers are 75 per cent. of the
adult male population, and one-third of them take
to ganja and charas. These are for the most part
people of the lower classes. I mean that the
tobacco smokers who take ganja and charas are
one-third of the number of the lower classes who
smoke tobacco. The lower classes are three or
four times as numerous as the higher classes. The
higher classes do not take to ganja and charas so
commonly. In the result 20 per cent. of the
adult male population become ganja and charas
smokers. This estimate would be true for Bandel-
khand, but it would probably be too high in some
other parts of the province. I attribute the in-
crease of hemp smoking to the increase of tobacco
smoking and to the dearness of liquor. My state-
ment that hemp is being substituted for liquor is
based on general observation and not on statistics.
It is literally the case that liquor is becoming
more expensive, The material for manufacturing
liquor is rising in price.

Question 29.—The fakir told me he always
mixed dhatura with his ganja. The case was one
in which the fakir was accused of having adminis-
tered stupefying drugs to others. He pleaded in
defence that he always mixed dhatura with ganja
for his own smoking, and that he had warned the
others that the mixture was in the pipe. My ex-
perience is that majum is made up at home by the
Hindus. My statement that it is made in nearly
every Hindu house in the Holi may be a little
exaggerated.