The school (name withheld on request), which get students from nearly 14 slums in the City, had a section of students aged below 12 years, approached by gangs to get ‘box’ from the shops. Once the students buy the ‘box’ (which usually contains whitener, sometimes ganja too), the children are treated with various delicacies, including 'Masala Dosa', which many of these children cannot afford. None of the children are paid in cash.
When Deccan Herald interacted with a few students who were asked to get the drugs, they said they disliked getting them and had compelled their parents to shift their houses to different locations to avoid the drug addicts. The older boys, who ordered these drugs, did nothing but “played cricket and worked out in the gyms”. These children were often approached outside the school.
Senthil, a Class IX student from Parvathipuram, said: “When I was studying in Class VII, I was approached by some older boys who asked me to get a 'box' from the nearby stationery shop. Initially, I hesitated but later I got it for them. They would treat me with food," he said.
Ignorant
He never knew the contents of the box. “But once I found out, I tried to avoid these boys but failed. I asked my parents to change the residence," he added. Currently, they are staying near Mysore Road.
Another student, Rajeev Kumar, too faced a similar experience. He later shifted to Magadi Road. "They would wait for me after school hours or would find me near my house. My mother works in a garment factory, while my father is no more. I have two younger sisters to look after. I don't know who the guys were, but they approached me. They befriended and asked me to get the whitener. Some of them would drink from the bottle while others would inhale it. I didn't like it," he recalled.
The children were convinced the older boys came to them to avoid getting caught by the police. "Police will never suspect if we get them," they contended.
Poverty
The school principal, on condition on anonymity, said children come from economically backward classes and they hardly get proper meals. “For them, if just getting a box can fetch food, then why not? Moreover, parents of these children are daily labourers and they do not keep a check on them.
“We retain the children in the school till 7 pm and then let them go home. That’s when their parents come back from work," he said.
ACP (Women and Narcotics squad) K N Jeethendranath said a lot of cases were booked for carrying ganja. "Cocaine and brown sugar are consumed mostly among the higher level of the society, while ganja is usually consumed by the lower strata. The ganja is mostly brought from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu border, and Mysore and Mandya," he said.
The peddlers attract younger children by mixing the drug with eatables like ice-creams and chocolate. And, they get addicted to it, he added.
Children often get into drugs due to bad company and for some "it's a matter of fashion and curiosity". Most of the children who get addicted are those neglected by parents or get a lot of money through drug peddling, he said.
Medical, engineering and IT employees easily manage to get expensive drugs like cocaine and brown sugar. However, the percentage of girls addicted to drugs is less.

COST FACTOR


*Cocaine - 1gm- above Rs 3,000
*Brown sugar - Rs 500 to Rs 1,000
*Ganja - Rs 20 (small packet) and Rs 50 (big packet)