Expressing concern over the students’ addiction to ganja in cities and towns, Director-General of Police N. Sambasiva Rao said on Thursday that the State police, with the support of the Excise and a few other departments, would chalk out a plan to break the supply chain.
He told reporters here that cultivation, sale, purchase, and consumption of the cannabis was illegal and punishable.
Its consumption by youth increased in the past few years, he said. Though there was no survey on the extent of cultivation in Visakhapatnam and East Godavari, and in the Andhra-Odisha Border areas in the State, it is estimated to be between 10,000 acres and 40,000 acres.
In the past few years, over 1,600 persons had been arrested in the Visakhapatnam rural areas for their involvement in the trade, Mr. Sambasiva Rao added.
The police would give full security to the Excise personnel to help them destroy ganja plants not only in the roadside areas but also in the remote and Maoist-affected areas. The police would also adopt new strategies to check transportation of ganja and nab the accused in the coming two months.
“Our focus is to break the chain, from financiers to cultivators to distributors, and consumers,” he said.
There would be a review meeting with police officials to find ways of disposal of the seized ganja and vehicles under the NDPS Act, he added.
