After massive crackdown on ganja, Drug users now hooked on hash oil in Hyderabad

Hash oil, one of the costlier derivatives of marijuana and which is different from hashish, is now in demand among drug users in the city, courtesy the crackdown by law enforcement agencies on plain marijuana.

The oil, extracted from fine quality marijuana through a technical process, is known to give a more high potent than one given by dry ganja, with police officials saying gangs in the agency areas of Andhra Pradesh are now actively involved in extracting the hash oil.

“Hash oil is easy to conceal and transport compared to dry ganja. After suffering losses due to the crackdown on marijuana, the syndicates are changing the way they do business,” Excise and Prohibition Superintendent (Dhoolpet) K Naveen Kumar said.

The hash oil is sold to a network of smugglers who supply it to different parts of the country. The local peddlers again pack it in small containers of 5 ml and 10 ml and sell them. “Compared to dry marijuana, hash oil is costlier. A 5 ml bottle of hash oil is sold at a price



ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500,” Ranga Reddy Prohibition and Excise Inspector P Sreedhar said.

For users, while smoking marijuana means rolling it into cigarettes and lighting up, hash oil can just be rubbed on to the cigarette or like some others do, just dip the cigarette in the oil a bit before lighting it up.

Most of the consumers of the hash oil are college going students and professionals, police officials say. “For the sake of profit, youngsters are sourcing it from some places and selling it to colleagues. Many of those involved in selling it were arrested in recent days,” Sreedhar said.

In recent days, police in the three commissionerates of Hyderabad, Rachakonda and Cyberabad apart from Prohibition and Excise sleuths arrested several persons for trading hash oil.

The Telangana police had launched a massive crackdown on ganja in the State and across cities and towns, seizing hundreds of tonnes of contraband, thus forcing smugglers and users to look for alternatives.