DRUG IN CIGARETTES

Manawatu Herald, Volume LV, Issue 4491, 14 May 1935, Page 1

DRUG IN CIGARETTES

HEMP FROM PARROTS’ FOOD.. A young man, having read in a popular phemistry book of the properties of Indian hemp, separated the hempseed from some parrots’ food mixture, and planted it in his garden. 'The seeds germinated, and in the course of a few months the plants grew to a height of 4ft. or sft. and flowered. The youth plucked the leaves and tops, dried and chopped them, and made them into cigarettes. These he smoked on several occasions, and experienced mild symptoms of cannabis intoxication, including hallucinations and drowsiness. His fiancee, who also tried a hemp cigarette, was less fortunate. Within an hour of inhaling the smoke she was taken to hospital, and it was nine hours before she could leave. The story is told in an article in the Lancet by Dr. E. T. Balker-Bates, of Liverpool. The youth concerned, it is understood, is unemployed and wished to make cheap cigarettes. Indian hemp is actually a most dangerous drug. It is widely used in the East and in Mexico and South America, where it rivals hashish in popularity. “Frequent indulgence,” says Dr. Baker-Bates, “results in loss of judgment and restraint, and is accountable not only for eases where natives ‘ran amok,’ but also for various types of insanity.” Although it has been stated that Indian hemp grown in England is more or less harmless, the doctor adds the warning: “There is a possibility that if the fact that hemp seeds could be grown with ease in England were wjdely known, hempsmoking might become a national menace.” Another medical man stated: “I have not heard of any case where hemp has been grown in similar circumstances in England, and usually it has been thought the plant in this country has no poisonous properties. Among the queer effects of the drug is that of making people of a pleasurable disposition more pleasurable, and morose people more morose. The fact that people can purchase hemp seeds in a shop, since they are contained in bird foods, may lead to a menace.”