CANNABIS 



SATIVA 



Narcotic 



THE INDIAN HEMP PLANT 



Claras 



versus Ganja. 



Kashmir Ganja. 



Intoxicating 

 Oil. 



Central Asia. 



Ganja. 



The Poddar. 



of coming across, in the ruins explored by him, either samples of charas 

 or of the hemp plant in any form, and further that in neither The Bower 

 Manuscript nor the voluminous records found by Stein is there apparently 

 any mention of the hemp drugs. This is the more significant since, while 

 discussing the modern trade in charas, Stein (I.e. footnote, 133) observes 

 that the heavy import duty now imposed by the Government of India 

 has caused the traders of Turkestan to turn to Khotan silk as a substitute 

 commodity to be conveyed to India and there disposed of in exchange for 

 the return of Indian goods. 



The line of separation between what should be called charas and what might 

 be accepted as ganja is, however, a very narrow one indeed. It would seem 

 highly probable, in fact, that on the moister southern slopes of the Himalaya 

 the resinous substance produced by rubbing the fruiting panicles between the 

 hands is more frequently ganja than charas. The definition that charas is the 

 pure resin without any admixture of vegetable tissue is true no doubt, but is 

 perhaps not the whole truth. If both articles were freed from foreign matter, 

 the question might still have to be asked, In what respects do they differ ? 

 Physically more than chemically very possibly, and as the direct consequence 

 of production in a cold-dry or warm-damp atmosphere. \Cf. Marshall, Contrih. 

 to Pharm. of Cannabis Ind., 1899 ; Holmes, Mus. Rept. Pharm. Soc., 1903, 47.] 



Sir Walter Lawrence (Valley of Kashmir, 67) has expressed astonishment 

 that the drug produced in Kashmir is in trade called charas, whereas " recent 

 inquiries show that in the south of the valley the drug known as gard bhang 

 or churu charras, is extracted from the female plant, and Indians who consume 

 it declare that it is real ganja and utterly distinct from the Yarkandi charras, 

 which is also procurable in Srinagar." " If the 'Kashmiri drug is ganja and not 

 charras it is somewhat surprising, and I have taken some pains to verify the 

 statement made by the official, who investigated the subject of hemp drugs. 

 He and the men employed in the trade maintain that the drug made in Kashmir 

 is ganja." Lawrence then adds that contrary to the experience in Bengal, 

 Kashmir ganja is produced from plants that are allowed to mature seeds, the 

 oil from which is also intoxicating. It is thus highly probable that the true 

 charas is a foreign article exclusively derived from Central Asia, and, as it came to 

 India through Kashmir, was in ancient times called Kashmiri. Formerly it came 

 also via Nepal, but at the present day the chief emporium is Hoshiarpur, the 

 supply coming both via Kashmir and Kullu. It would thus seem highly probable 

 that we do not even now possess an accurate account of the production of this 

 substance, nor all the information desirable of the condition under which the 

 dry resin charas or the moist adhesive ganja is produced. Prain holds that the 

 former being comparatively permanent once on the surface, it is not affected by 

 the subsequent fecundation and development of seed. 



It may be here observed that there is at least one important difference be- 

 tween the South Himalayan so-called charas and that from Central Asia, namely 

 the former is taken from the green plant before it is reaped, and the latter from 

 the dried plant. The possibility of adulteration with actual dust and with 

 fragments of the plant is very great with the Central Asiatic charas, and this 

 circumstance may account for the higher price often paid for the purer qualities 

 of the Indian so-called charas. For methods of collection consult the Dictionary 

 (ii., 115-7); and Baden-Powell (Pb. Prod., 1868, 293, etc.). 



Charas is almost exclusively used in smoking, though some of the finer 

 qualities are employed for medicinal purposes. It is admitted on all hands to 

 be a more pernicious drug than either bhang or ganja. 



3. Ganja. This is the dried flowering tops of the cultivated female 

 plants, which become coated with a resinous exudation from glandular 

 hairs, very largely, it would seem, in consequence of being deprived of the 

 opportunity of setting seed. To secure this result, therefore, the male 

 plants are deliberately removed from the field at an early date, by an 

 expert known as the poddar. (Compare this with the account above of 

 the removal of the males from the fibre-yielding crop.) One or two visits 

 are paid by the poddar, with the result that every male plant is uprooted. 

 As the female plants begin to form ganja, all the large leaves on their 



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