If you thought that alcohol was the only things that the young professionals and students from colleges and hostels prefer to get high, then your information needs a recheck.

DNA recently conducted investigations and spoke to few addicts to reveal how our youngsters are still being consumed by the drugs.

For college students, especially the hostelites, marijuana (also known as weed, grass and ganja), seems to be the most preferred drug variety. “The high that one achieves after consuming weed is not only soothing, but the addiction seems to be friendly,” said Rakesh M, a college student.

“Unlike alcohol, you do not stink while smoking weed. Hence, this very reason helps you to not get caught. Besides, it is cheaper as well,” said Rakesh, who ‘scores’ weed from the slums near Patil Estate, Shivajinagar. ‘Scoring’ is the lingo used for procuring or buying drugs.

Apart from marijuana, the very next favourite for the hostelites or the college goers is charas (also known as hashis, kala sona or hash). “Charas is preferred more over ganja because of the sweet smell it emits. But due to its cost, charas is consumed at a lesser rate than ganja,” said Debraj Dutta, a hostelite.

DNA visited the spots in the city where the students buy these drugs from. The biggest hub among the various places is the slum area near Patil Estate in Shivajinagar.

The process of procuring these drugs in the places remains very easy. The peddlers are seated in the lane inside the slum with a huge packet or bucket which has small packs of marijuana or charas. The marijuana is packed in packets of various sizes which cost Rs30, Rs50 and Rs100 accordingly.

Packets with larger quantity are also available. The entire procuring process is a two-minute affair, as through syllabic conversation, the customer quotes the demand and the peddler delivers the respective packet.

Barring charas and marijuana, the other forms of drugs preferred by the youths are whitener and dendrite.

“The best thing about these addictions is that they are available everywhere and can be accessed without secrecy,” said Mandar Dhumavat.

Another variety of drug that is prevalent among the youths are tablets which are sedatives or tranquilizers or pain killers. Ajay Dudhane, president of the Anandvan de-addictioncum-rehabilitation Center, told DNA that this includes tablets like nitravede, librum, spasmo, etc. “These tablets are as used as painkillers. However, its overdose gives the addicts a high by slowing down the nervous system,” he said.

Bhavesh P, who has been addicted to these tablets, said he has been consuming spasmo every day since two months.

“I consume 2-4 tablets a day. Whenever I get irritated or unhappy, this tablet helps me loosen up. And when I get hyper, I use spasmo to calm down,” he said.

At the same time, cocaine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and acids being costly drugs, very few college students prefer it.

Dr Hemant Chandorkar states that charas and ganja are the stepping stones for the addicts to the higher hierarchy of the drugs.

Senior PI of the Anti-Narcotics Cell, Pune Satish Deore, told DNA that every month there are a dozen cases of ganja and charas being seized.

“We have conducted raids at the slums in the Patil Estate in the recent past and have come across many ganja and charas peddlers in the city,” he said.