Pharmaceutical preparations available without prescriptions (over the counter drugs) have emerged as drugs of serious misuse across India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, a report released last week in New Delhi warned.
The report from the United Nations International Drug Control Programme also said that intravenous drug use and addiction to multiple drugs are escalating.
Processed and synthetic drugs are replacing traditional plant products, such as cannabis and opium, as substances of misuse, according to the South Asia Drug Demand Reduction report. The biggest threat now comes from the mounting misuse of pharmaceutical agents like buprenorphine, diazepam, antihistamines, and cough syrups containing codeine, it said.
The report estimates that there are 4 million drug misusers in the South Asian region, with India accounting for nearly 3 million and Bangladesh another 500000.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, which receives over 2500 new patients at its addiction treatment centre, has recorded a decline in patients dependent on opiates from 72%in 1989 to around 43%in the mid 1990s. Since 1993, however, buprenorphine has accounted for 20%of drug abuse and benzodiazepines for another 17%.
India’s pharmaceutical industry produces large amounts of psychotropic substances for medicinal purposes. But, the report said, they are sold without valid prescriptions, illegally transported to neighbouring countries, and sold for profit.
“Ironically, this shift towards pharmaceutical preparations is the result of stringent anti-narcotics initiatives by governments,” said Dr Rajat Ray, a professor at the institute's addiction treatment centre and the principal author of the report.
“They are far easier to obtain and cheaper than heroin,” he said.
The South Asia Drug Demand Reduction Report is available from: UNDCP Regional Office for South Asia, India International Centre, 40, Max Mueller Marg, 55 Lodi Estate, New Delhi, India 110003.