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KOLLAM: A teenager arrested by an excise team from here on Sunday with 50 gms of cannabis (ganja) has admitted to taking snake bites regularly for getting a new high. Excise circle inspector B Suresh who led the team said that 19-year-old Mahinshah from Keralapuram on the outskirts of Kollam city regularly travels to Irumbanam in Ernakulam to get the kick from snake venom. Mahinshah turned a drug addict during his early teens and went for snake venom whenever he felt that cannabis was not providing him the required high. For each bite, he pays amounts ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500 depending upon the convenience of the owner of the snake. He told the excise officers that it is a small snake that remains comfortably coiled in a 200 ml bottle. The snake bites when it is softly pressed. The bite is administered under the tongue. He said that its effects last for five to six days. Suresh said that the owner of the snake has been identified and will be arrested soon.

The species of the snake used for this has not identified. But given its description it is suspected to be from the drysdalia species of the elapid family of venomous snakes. Suresh said that the disclosure by Mahinshah shows that many who have been abusing narcotic substances for years could be moving over to snake venom to get a new high. Since long there are reports in circulation that a section of snake catchers are trading in snake venom. The reports also say that the venom which is ‘milked’ from snakes could reach the drug cartels that dilute it and sell as narcotic substances for the addicts.

Mahinshah allegedly confessed that he got in touch with the Ernakulam-based snake owner after desperately searching through the internet for ways to get new highs. He went for it after trying several other methods of cannabis abuse including smoking cannabis after inserting a cannabis filled cigarette into a hole drilled through an apple. After smoking he eats the apple too. He will be produced in a magistrate court here on Monday.