Hooked on de-addiction pill

Much to the chagrin of the agencies working to crack down on the illegal drug trade in Punjab, the unauthorised sale of a de-addiction pill is undermining their efforts. In fact, the menace is only growing as youngsters of Haryana, too, seem to be getting hooked on buprenorphine, a drug that is cheap and easily available on the black market. Especially trapped are the party-going crowds of the IT hub of Gurugram, according to a recent The Tribune report. This is not only a cause of worry for the victims and an increasing headache for the authorities concerned, including the cops, but it also belies the claims of successive governments of being on the path of tackling the problem that has destroyed countless youngsters and their families over the past few decades.

Buprenorphine has long been prescribed and provided in Punjab for the treatment of drug addicts in private and government de-addiction centres. At the same time, its misuse and abuse, too, has been rampant. Many patients, during their journey of ridding themselves of habit-forming substances, often find themselves sinking deeper into the morass as they become addicted to the very medicine that was meant to cure them. An opioid derivative, buprenorphine is far more potent than morphine. That the authorities have failed to regulate its sale and consumption points to a nexus of pharma companies and de-addiction centres.

Despite efforts of the Punjab Government to cap the medicine’s cost at Rs 7 per tablet (its cost price being around Rs 3.80), influential private players have managed to circumvent the rules and it remains a profit-making drug priced at Rs 40-60. By the time it crosses the border to Haryana, its value shoots up to Rs 100-200. Tighter control by Punjab and Haryana is needed over the dispensation of buprenorphine, the pill that has a good safety profile for de-addiction purposes, but also the potential for being addictive if abused.