Rs 1 Lakh Worth Ganja Sold in Visakhapatnam Everyday

In Visakhapatnam, Rs 50,000 – 1 lakh of ganja is sold every single day, stated the President of Jana Jagrana Samrithi and former ABVP leader from AU. He further stated that only a small amount of the drug worth Rs 2.2 crore annually; that has been procured from an agency is sold in the city for local consumption.

The ganja that is being exported from Visakhapatnam stands at Rs 25 – 75 crore per annum. Much of the ganja sold in the city are in areas like Kobbari Thota, Assam Gardens, Poorna Market, East-Point colony, Gnanapuram and Gajuwaka. Vasu states that Kobbari Thota seems to be a major distribution centre.

10% of students are easily addicted to ganja as it is sold at a cheaper price than alcohol. What they don’t seem to realise is addiction to the narcotic and craving the high eventually gets them to peddle the drug and get involved in several other crimes.

What they also don’t seem to realise is that while weed isn’t technically addictive, the craving for a high never goes away. The high has the capability to turn 10 – 20 % of ganja smokers into hard drug addicts, with the number reportedly growing at an alarming rate.

On Saturday, the City Task Force (CTF) arrested a Nigerian – Charles Chuks – for his involvement in ganja smuggling. They recovered 24 KG of weed worth Rs 96,000 from the Nigerian who stays in Hyderabad, but was in Visakhapatnam for ‘business’ purposes. He has visited the city five times in the last 18 months and managed to smuggle ganja to Hyderabad, Nagpur, Delhi and Chennai.

But the city police, desirous of knowing the contacts held on the Nigerian’s phone, expressed their frustration on being unable to unlock it. They announced the same last night and are yet to unlock the phone to find out the contacts.