A Case of Hashish Poisoning in England
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3400700309 |
| Date | 01 July 1934 |
| Published date | 01 July 1934 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
A Case
of
Hashish
Poisoning
in
England
THE Hashish Habit which is prevalent in the East and has
spread to Mexico and South America is fortunately rare
in Great Britain.
The
plant, which gives rise to the habit,
is Cannabis sativa (Family
Urticacece)
and the following in-
stance of its being smoked is of interest because the symptoms
exhibited by the young woman are almost typical of its poison-
ous effects.
It
has also some legal importance because, at
present, only the extract and tincture prepared from the
plant come under the provisions of the Dangerous Drugs
Acts, and the smoking of the herb itself in order to produce
deliriant narcotic effects does not appear to be an offence,
unless the drug be given to another with harmful intent or
result (Offences against the Person Act
1861).
The
initial facts are
that
in May, an unemployed
but
enterprising sheet-metal worker, aged 28, strewed ahandful of
parrot seed over his front garden as he could not afford
flower seeds. He was rewarded by the appearance of a mixed
collection of sunflower and other plants, amongst which was
one unknown to him or his friends. He decided it had grown
from a particular seed and this, from samples seen in a bird
retailer's window, he was able to identify with hemp seed.
About this time he had been trying to find a satisfying sub-
stitute for tobacco and remembered having read somewhere
that hemp leaves were smoked.
He
consulted a book The
Chemistry
of
Common Life which was in his home.
This
book contained not only an illustration of the hemp plant
33°
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