Hyderabad: One thing the police officials found in the lives of the young peddlers was that they all had started using marijuana in their early teens, while they were still in high school, and that was what made them use hard-core drugs. Police say lack of proper parenting turned them into drug users and peddlers.
The Intermediate student, who ran the racket, had started smoking ‘weed’ when he was just 15 years old. “When he was a high school student, he used to visit hookah bars in the city with his friends. His friends introduced him to marijuana at a very young age and that had made him search for more powerful drugs. He met a peddler from Mehdipatnam, who gave him Ecstasy for the first time,” said Task Force inspector S. Mohan Kumar. “To smoke marijuana, he used a room on the terrace of his house. He used to bring friends and smoke hookah mixed with ‘weed’,” said the official.
Most of the youngsters, who are attracted to drugs like LSD and Ecstasy, are from well-off families. “They are expensive drugs. Unlike weed, you have to shell out Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 just for a gram. Only rich youth can afford it,” said another official.
Their troubled past also turns some youngsters into drug users and peddlers. “One young suspect we arrested had a troubled childhood. His father had left him and his mother and he grew up in his grandfather’s house. He first tried ‘weed’ when he was in Intermediate and became a regular user. He later switched to hardcore drugs,” said an official from Hyderabad.
