En route to addiction via Hyderabad  Premium

The police have also been keeping a close watch on the dark web, where drug dealers are using encrypted messaging services to peddle their contraband. Hyderabad: On a humid Thursday in Aug 2021, Shekhar, 27, got lost in the labyrinth of drug addiction after a chance encounter in Goa. In 2022, 932 consumers were booked in 86 cases in Hyderabad alone, with Telangana having over 29 lakh drug users. Despite police efforts, Hyderabad is an emerging transit hub for narcotics, with 1,176 cases registered under the NDPS Act in 2022.

On a humid Thursday evening in August of 2021, a chance encounter in Goa’s buzzing Mapusa town set off a chain of events that led Shekhar (name changed to protect identity), 27, into getting lost in the labyrinth of drug addiction. The popular tourist destination unwittingly drew the multinational company employee from Hyderabad into its casual drug scene, and he eventually got hooked to ganja and LSD. Soon, he started peddling drugs among his friends in Hyderabad. 

In February 2023, Cyberabad police caught Shekhar peddling contraband at KPHB Colony, a tiny locality in Hyderabad. As a practice, the police provided counselling and advised his family to send him to rehabilitation. 

Shekhar is just one of the thousands of drug users/peddlers caught by the police in Hyderabad. Hyderabad’s Narcotics Enforcement Wing (H-NEW) alone booked 932 consumers in 86 cases in 2022 while seizing ₹2.3 crore worth of drugs. 

A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment’s report revealed that Telangana, with a population of 3.5 crore, has over 29 lakh drug users. Of these, 1.90 lakh adults are regular cannabis users, 5.47 lakh consume opioid drugs like heroin and codeine, and 16.63 lakh resorted to sedatives. While Telangana tops the list of Southern States, it is followed by Andhra Pradesh with over 17 lakh drug users, the report stated.

De-addiction therapist Dr. V.S. Gideon from the city says there has been a significant rise in the number of youngsters seeking drug rehabilitation in recent years. “Earlier, it used to be alcohol addiction, but over the last few years, we started getting calls seeking help for children as young as 12 and 13 years,” he says. 

Every week, the tri-city police Commissionerates of Hyderabad, Cyberbad, and Rachakonda announce one drug bust or the other, painting a worrisome picture of Telangana as an emerging transit hub for narcotics. Herbal contraband like marijuana and cannabis oil enters from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. At the same time, synthetic drugs like cocaine, heroin, MDMA, LSD, and ecstasy are trafficked from Karnataka and Goa, and drug runners from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh funnel poppy and opium. 

Overall, in Telangana, 1,176 cases were registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act during 2022, of which 1,104 were ganja cases and 2,582 individuals were arrested. The remaining 72 cases were pertaining to other synthetic drugs.