The sacred or divine character attributed to the Indian drugs in spite
of their pernicious effects has thus probably prevented any organised
effort for their prohibition. Buchanan notes that "No more blame
follows the use of opium and ganja than in Europe that of wine; yet
smoking tobacco is considered impure by the highest castes." [295] It
is said, however, that a Brahman should abstain from drugs until he is
in the last or ascetic stage of life. In India opium is both eaten and
smoked. It is administered to children almost from the time of their
birth, partly perhaps because its effects are supposed to be beneficial
and also to prevent them from crying and keep them quiet while their
parents are at work. One of the favourite methods of killing female
children was to place a fatal dose of opium on the nipple of the
mother's breast. Many children continue to receive small quantities
of opium till they are several years old, sometimes eight or nine,
when it is gradually abandoned. It can scarcely be doubted that the
effect of the drug must be to impair their health and enfeeble their
vitality. The effect of eating opium on adults is much less pernicious
than when the habit of smoking it is acquired. Madak or opium prepared
for smoking may not now be sold, but people make it for themselves,
heating the opium in a little brass cup over a fire with an infusion
of tamarind leaves. It is then made into little balls and put into the
pipe. Opium-smokers are gregarious and partake of the drug together. As
the fumes mount to their brains, their intellects become enlivened,
their tongues unloosed and the conversation ranges over all subjects
in heaven and earth. This factitious excitement must no doubt be a
powerful attraction to people whose lives are as dull as that of the
average Hindu. And thus they become madakis or confirmed opium-smokers
and are of no more use in life. Dhimars or fishermen consume opium and
ganja largely under the impression that these drugs prevent them from
taking cold. Ganja is smoked and is usually mixed with tobacco. It is
much less injurious than opium in the same form, except when taken in
large quantities, and is also slower in acquiring a complete hold over
its votaries. Many cultivators buy a little ganja at the weekly bazar
and have one pipeful each as a treat. Sweepers are greatly addicted
to ganja, and their patron saint Lalbeg was frequently in a comatose
condition from over-indulgence in the drug. Ahirs or herdsmen also
smoke it to while away the long days in the forests. But the habitual
consumers of either kind of drug are now only a small fraction of the
population, while English education and the more strenuous conditions
of modern life have effected a substantial decline in their numbers,
at least among the higher classes. At the same time a progressive
increase is being effected by Government in the retail price of the
drugs, and the number of vend licences has been very greatly reduced.
The prohibition of wine to Muhammadans is held to include drugs, but
it is not known how far the rule is strictly observed. But addiction
to drugs is at any rate uncommon among Muhammadans.