CHEMISTS SELLING ILLEGAL DRUGS TO BE BOOKED

NOIDA: The Noida police will book under the Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substance Act any chemists who sell potentially lethal
narcotics and tranquillisers without proper prescriptions.

The decision follows the death of a domestic help, Pritam Singh, in
Sector 30. The death appears to have been due to an overdose of
buprenorphine injections.

Gautam Budh Nagar police chief Anand Kumar told The Times of India
News Service that a search was on to trace the chemist who sold the
synthetic opiate to Pritam Singh. Two vials of the injection were
found among his belongings.

As reported earlier, buprenorphine addiction is on the rise in Noida.
Singh's death appears to establish that the economically weaker
sections are also becoming addicted to the drug also known as Norphin
or Tidigesic.

Meanwhile, according to prominent Noida physician and local Indian
Medical Association unit vice-president Dr Sukhendu Roy Pritam Singh's
death is being taken ``very seriously''.

``We will speak to the district chief medical officer very soon. And
we will jointly decide what steps can be taken against chemists
selling such drugs without prescriptions,'' he said.

Dr Roy said buprenorphine tends to cause respiratory depression
(stoppage of breathing) in certain patients. It can also heighten the
effects of other drugs used alongside.

District CMO Dr Vinod Kumar has promised action against the offending
chemists.