DGDA bans sale of painkiller amid abuse

Amid complaints and police reports centring the abuse of a specific painkiller as substitute for yaba and heroin, Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) has issued a ban on sale of the medicine by pharmacies and hospitals which are not registered to procure it.  

DGDA instructed that the medicine can only be obtained by pharmacies, hospitals and clinics that are registered to obtain it. Only four types of specialists -- oncologists, rheumatologists, orthopaedic surgeons and neurologists – can prescribe the medicine, and it can also be obtained by the government.

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DGDA issued the circular and made it public on Wednesday, after police's detective branch (DB) informed them about people abusing the painkiller.

The medicine is not supposed to be sold at local pharmacies or without prescriptions written by specialist doctors, Maj Gen Mahbubur Rahman, director general of DGDA, told The Daily Star.

"We've already started conducting drives in different areas of Dhaka to monitor the medicine's sale at local pharmacies. If we find anyone selling the medicine, violating the orders, action will be taken against them," he said.

"We've also instructed pharmaceutical companies manufacturing the painkiller to provide monthly reports on the medicine to DGDA," added Maj Gen Mahbubur.

DGDA was informed about the painkiller's abuse in December last year by the Health and Family Welfare ministry. Later, DGDA officials found evidence of this and held a meeting with relevant stakeholders on January 12 this year.

After that, DGDA directed all pharmaceutical companies to withdraw the medicine from market within January 31, and only sell them to registered pharmacies and the government.

But the medicine was still illegally sold by a group of pharmacy owners. DB police learned about this while investigating a theft case.

A DB team arrested two teenagers from the capital's Uttara on March 10 over theft of a laptop.

During interrogation, they confessed that they used to steal to collect money for buying the painkiller, said Mashiur Rahman, deputy commissioner (north) of DB police.

After getting the information, police conducted a drive in Turag's Bottola area and arrested Rafiqul Islam, owner of Islamia Pharmacy, and Ibrahim Mia, owner of Seba Pharmacy.

Police also recovered 1,190 tablets of the painkiller from their possession.

After interrogating the owners, police learned that the actual price of this painkiller is Tk 20 per tablet, but as youths and rickshaw-pullers abused them, sellers would hike the prices, selling them for Tk 60-80 each, said the deputy commissioner.

"We've also come to know that a group of representatives, who work at different pharmaceutical companies, sell these tablets to pharmacy owners for Tk 37-40 each," he said.

As law enforcers are conducting drives against yaba and the price of the pills in Dhaka is Tk 150-280, depending on quality, individuals with low-income are taking this painkiller as alternative, said DC Mashiur Rahman.

"We've got some information about the representatives, and we'll conduct drives against them after investigation," he added.