July 17, 2013, 7:05 pm


Ganja, known as cannabis and marijuana in the West, has many names such as weed, pot, dagga, grass, reefer and boom. You find these names in western movies and novels that refer to cannabis smokers as stoners, bakers, pot heads and tokers. The name, weed, is more appropriate as it is a combination of dried leaves, stems and flowers of the cannabis plant. Ganja is the most seized drug in Sri Lanka and it is the most commonly used illicit drug in the world. Active ingredient of ganja or cannabis is THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and it is stored in fatty tissues of the smoker. Even weeks after smoking, it can be detected in drug testing.

Marijuana is smoked in cigarettes called joints. Parts of cannabis plant can be ground to powder form and pressed in to bricks or cakes. The buds of this plant can be compressed to get resin and oil called hashish.

Peer pressure is too strong to withstand and when they say come fit in, be cool, have fun and chill out, it is the cordial invitation to a deadly addiction. Perhaps you may think after all, weed is from a natural plant, so why worry? It is like a fly getting near a spider’s web. Once one becomes addicted, he’ll go for more at any cost.

There are varieties of cannabis. Cannabis sativa can grow up to 14 feet. Cannabis Indica is shorter and grows in cold highlands. What we find in Asia is wild cannabis that thrives well in wet and dry lands.

Cannabis harvested from female plant contains 400 different chemicals that affect human brain function, organs and hormones. The main ingredient THC affects nervous system and makes the smoker feel, respond and perceive differently than he normally would. Small packets of cannabis are sold by secret street vendors but large scale supply and distribution tasks are carried out by gangs called cartels.

Drivers after smoking weed are very slow to react and many lives are lost on the road daily because of their addiction. When your son’s grades start to fall, be watchful. In a survey conducted last year, 85% of high school students in the US have said that ‘weed is easy to obtain.’ students are very vulnerable to this drug and let us be vigilant all the time.

Rufus Randeniya

island.lk