Abuse of prescription drugs is on the rise in the country due to easy availability in the market, A. Venkadesh Babu, Assistant Narcotics Commissioner, Central Bureau of Narcotics, Chennai, said on Wednesday.
Prescription drugs were increasingly being mixed with alcohol to give a high, Mr. Venkadesh Babu said, speaking at an awareness programme on “Drug and Addiction Do Your Know Enough” at the National College and Bharathidasan Institute of Technology here.
With strict surveillance being mounted on illicit drug trafficking and crackdowns being carried out by the enforcement agencies, prescription drugs had become an easier option for abuse, given its availability in the pharmacy shops, he said.
Prescription drugs containing psychotropic substances manufactured in India were in great demand in countries such as Australia, where it was being used as party drugs for mixing with alcohol. Such drugs were being smuggled to other countries at huge price, Mr. Venkadesh Babu said.
Mr. Babu cited a case of an attempt made by a woman passenger to smuggle prescription drugs abroad through the Tiruchi international airport a few months ago, which was thwarted by the Central Bureau of Narcotics eventually leading to her arrest.
As India was the fourth highest producer of pharmaceutical products, the manufacturing cost of prescription drugs was cheap prompting smugglers to sneak them out to countries where they were in great demand, he said. The most prominent smuggling route was through the ‘Golden Triangle’ – Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, he said.
Giving an overview of drug abuse, its side effects and illicit trafficking, Mr. Venkadesh Babu said 90 per cent of addicts were highly educated with sound financial background, citing a study.
The Central Bureau of Narcotics was the oldest drug law enforcement agency in the country mandated with the task of preventing illicit drug trafficking. It had embarked on the task of sensitising masses to the ill effects of drug abuse, he said.
Addiction to drugs was recognised globally as one of the real dangers that could cause considerable damage to individuals and society, he said adding that the focus globally was on demand reduction strategy to combat the menace.
