Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
India - Everyone in Chittilapakkam likes ‘Ganja’ Kaliammal, a 43-year-old woman who spends half her life peddling small quantities of ganja and the other half in jail. Ganja users find it easy to ‘score’ when Kaliammal is around. Police find her an easy catch when they have to show an arrest when the pressure to crackdown on ganja peddlers is high. For the public, Kaliammal is just another harmless face in the crowd.
Abandoned by her drunkard husband and eking out a living by selling ‘small packs,’ Kaliammal is a valuable contribution to the police records of arrests. She was arrested 21 times, the last time being on Wednesday. The previous time she was picked up for the same offence was in April. Often, the ganja ‘haul’ has not been more than 10 gm.
In Kaliammal’s own words, whenever the police wanted to register a case for selling ganja, they approached her. She had always gone with them to be “arrested for being in possession of 10 gm of ganja.” She is now remanded in judicial custody. “My husband, an alcoholic, abandoned me many years ago and I had to take care of three girl children. I got into this trade to bring them up. I have married off all the three girls. Getting arrested 20 times is a price I had to pay,” Kaliammal told The Times of India before being remanded on Wednesday.
Policemen say Kaliammal is very “cooperative” when they have to arrest her. She tells the policemen where she gets the “stuff” from and even the profit margin. “I usually purchase 10 small packs of ganja for Rs 10 each from a supplier in Villupuram and sell each packet for Rs 40 to 50 to my customers in Chittilapakkam,” she said. She is just not bothered why the police always arrests her and never the supplier though she has given all the details of her procurement.
These arrests, according to sources, are done only for the purpose of records to show that the police are indeed cracking down on ganja sellers. “It is a fact that the sale on the streets cannot be curbed unless the main agents are taken to task. Whenever Kaliammal is arrested, another peddler takes her place. Anyway, she is back in business in a couple of months,” said a police officer.
Sale of ganja may not be so visible in the city streets, but ‘junkies’ don’t have much of a trouble scoring at designated places, especially in the suburbs. “Ganja sellers in the city do not do business with strangers. If you are not a regular, you should at least have a reference,” an official attached to the Narcotics Intelligence Bureau said. It is not too difficult to track the network by tracing the calls made by suspects, but often it is not done because the more efficient central agencies are busy chasing bigger consignments of contraband. When the quantity of the street trade is not much, the central enforcement agencies don’t waste their time on nabbing the sellers.
Kaliammal is yet to catch up with today’s mobile-savvy ganja sellers. She feels the money spent on a mobile phone is good enough to apply for bail.
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Times Of India
Copyright: 2008 Times Internet Limited
Contact: Indiatimes.com > Feedback
Website: Meet Kali, the 'good' ganja seller-Chennai-Cities-The Times of India
Abandoned by her drunkard husband and eking out a living by selling ‘small packs,’ Kaliammal is a valuable contribution to the police records of arrests. She was arrested 21 times, the last time being on Wednesday. The previous time she was picked up for the same offence was in April. Often, the ganja ‘haul’ has not been more than 10 gm.
In Kaliammal’s own words, whenever the police wanted to register a case for selling ganja, they approached her. She had always gone with them to be “arrested for being in possession of 10 gm of ganja.” She is now remanded in judicial custody. “My husband, an alcoholic, abandoned me many years ago and I had to take care of three girl children. I got into this trade to bring them up. I have married off all the three girls. Getting arrested 20 times is a price I had to pay,” Kaliammal told The Times of India before being remanded on Wednesday.
Policemen say Kaliammal is very “cooperative” when they have to arrest her. She tells the policemen where she gets the “stuff” from and even the profit margin. “I usually purchase 10 small packs of ganja for Rs 10 each from a supplier in Villupuram and sell each packet for Rs 40 to 50 to my customers in Chittilapakkam,” she said. She is just not bothered why the police always arrests her and never the supplier though she has given all the details of her procurement.
These arrests, according to sources, are done only for the purpose of records to show that the police are indeed cracking down on ganja sellers. “It is a fact that the sale on the streets cannot be curbed unless the main agents are taken to task. Whenever Kaliammal is arrested, another peddler takes her place. Anyway, she is back in business in a couple of months,” said a police officer.
Sale of ganja may not be so visible in the city streets, but ‘junkies’ don’t have much of a trouble scoring at designated places, especially in the suburbs. “Ganja sellers in the city do not do business with strangers. If you are not a regular, you should at least have a reference,” an official attached to the Narcotics Intelligence Bureau said. It is not too difficult to track the network by tracing the calls made by suspects, but often it is not done because the more efficient central agencies are busy chasing bigger consignments of contraband. When the quantity of the street trade is not much, the central enforcement agencies don’t waste their time on nabbing the sellers.
Kaliammal is yet to catch up with today’s mobile-savvy ganja sellers. She feels the money spent on a mobile phone is good enough to apply for bail.
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Times Of India
Copyright: 2008 Times Internet Limited
Contact: Indiatimes.com > Feedback
Website: Meet Kali, the 'good' ganja seller-Chennai-Cities-The Times of India
