Jamshedpur : District civil surgeon, SK Jha has ordered for conduct raid at medical stores suspecting to have been selling analgesic drugs without prescription, the police are trying to find out the places where narcotic substances like heroin and marijuana are being sold.
Jha said that they had recently got complaints of free sale of analgesic drugs and cough syrup from the medical stores located in Mango area.
The civil surgeon said at the moment the East Singhbhum district has two drug inspectors, Alok Kumar and Ram Kumar who have been instructed to conduct raid to any medical stores to ensure whether the analgesic drugs are being sold without prescription.
The younger generation in the city seems to have hit upon a novel and easy way to overcome depression and failure. Cough syrups and tablets, which are available across the counter at any medical store are the new talk among the youths. Consumption of various cough syrups, tablets and injections is the in thing, which gives them a real `high’.
Open places such as hotels and other public spots are safe places for the consumption of such sedatives. The youth is consuming cough syrups and sedatives like liquor. Medical shops are flooded with youth purchasing cough syrups in large number.
Fifteen-year-old Mohan Prasad (name changed) has failed in the class 10 examination. He’s made new friends and is now addicted to cough syrup, which he consumes in high doses to remain sleepy the entire day.
Prasad says his parents do not know about the `secret’. He says liquor consumption is a very costly affair and there are chances of him getting caught.
Concerned over rampant misuse of cough syrups like Corex and Benadryl, the district drug authorities recently also raided a distributer and some medical shops, which were selling them without any sales record here in the city.
Police administration is planning to conduct a special drive in the evenings when most of the youth consume cough syrups in the open public places.
The health department issued a circular informing all the 100 and odd medical shops to sell cough syrups and sedatives only after seeing the prescription of a qualified doctor. They were warned of disciplinary action if they violated the instructions.
An official said that Corex contains codeine, a narcotic with addictive potential. Though it is meant to be sold only on prescription, it is no secret that they are easily available in the shops.
Singh went on to inform that the highest selling brands at the stores are those that are used by drug addicts.
Corex, a cough syrup, is the top selling brand followed by Phensedyl, again a cough syrup. Both these syrups contain codeine, a narcotic.
