Main description:

At the end of the 19th century, and in spite of the British authorities working to regulate practice, laws and controls relating to the use of hemp drugs in India continued to be the responsibility of provincial governments. In response to questions in the British Parliament, a Commission was set up in 1893 to examine the situation in Bengal, and on the initiative of the Governor General the scope of the inquiry was broadened to include the whole of British India. These eight volumes are facsimile reproductions of the findings of the seven-member commission which investigated the physical, mental and personality effects on individuals of the consumption of cannabis products in late nineteenth century India. The focus of the Commission was on the 'popular and common use of the drugs' rather than on what was considered moderate, medicinal, use. Evidence was gathered from witnesses across all social classes, including 'doctors, coolies, yogis, fakirs, heads of lunatic asylums, bhang peasants, tax gatherers, smugglers, army officers, hemp dealers, ganja palace operators and the clergy'. Volume 1 of the Report is an overview, and is available separately. The other volumes are: 2 Appendices - Enquiry as to the Connection Between Hemp Drugs and Insanity; 3 Appendices - Miscellaneous; 4 Evidence of Witnesses from Bengal and Assam; 5 Evidence of Witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab; 6 Evidence of Witnesses from Central Provinces and Madras; 7 Evidence of Witnesses from Bombay, Sind, Berar, Ajmere, Coorg, Baluchistan and Burma; and 8 Supplementary Volume - Answers Received to Selected Questions for the Native Army.