HYDERABAD: Pentazocine vials, one of the powerful pain killers and sedatives, procured to reportedly sell to drug addicts in the city, were seized by Telangana Prohibition and Excise department officials on Monday. While MRP of the highly regulated vial is Rs 6, it was being sold by the accused Y Sunil Dev at `1,500 to `2,000. Senior anesthetists said medically, it is used during and after surgery to relieve patients from pain and to put them to sleep. However, regular usage leads to addiction.
The Excise department’s inspector P Sridhar and sub-inspector M Prasanna worked for six-days on a tip-off and raided home of Sunil Dev in Serlingampally and seized 30 vials of Fortwin vials (Chemical name is Pentazocine). Assistant Excise superintendent K Pavan Kumar said that Sunil Dev procured it from a person by name Ashok in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. “Sunil used to shuttle between Vizag and Hyderabad. It is one of the regulated drug and there is a possibility to know source of pilferage: a hospital or a medical shop,” Pavan Kumar said. Sources in State Drug Control Administration said that to avoid constant checks by drug inspectors, most of the wholesalers in the city have stopped stocking Pentazocine vials.
“90 per-cent of medical shops stopped selling it. Even if the licensed seller does not violate any rule, the pharmacists fear they will entangled in inquiry or questioning sessions if somebody else buys it from them and peddles it. The Morphine derivative drug has to be sold only on prescription,” sources said, adding that DCA officials regularly conduct checks on medical shops to know if there is pilferage of Pentazocine, Codeine Phosphate, which are habit forming drugs. “If a wholesaler wants to sell it, they will use their drug licence to procure the drugs from other States, store it and sell it to peddlers,” DCA sources said.