THE STORM BEFORE THE LULL

It's not what the doctor ordered. Sedatives being used to get a high, drugs
being sold without a prescription. Admittedly, a bitter pill to swallow.

Sedatives and tranquillisers are in great demand these days. So, what's new?
They have a calming effect. They lull one into sleep. They have always been
prescribed for medical reasons. Point taken. But sedatives and
tranquillisers are disappearing off chemists' shelves as the rule rather
than an exception. And health reasons have nothing to do with it.

Phenobarbitone, carisoma, diazepam, .... sedatives all, but thanks to them
the local chemist's shop is a buzz of activity. A sedative is asked for. The
sedative is given. Money is exchanged over the counter. Something missing?
Yes, a doctor's prescription. But that's illegal isn't it? So it is, but the
man behind the counter at a drug store in south Delhi has his own
interpretation of the law. ``If we insist on a prescription for each and
every tablet sold, then we won't be able to sell medicine for even common
ailments such as cold, cough, dysentery and muscular sprains. Tell me, who
goes to see a doctor to find out if he has a cold?'' he says. But surely
sedatives aren't in the same league as the friendly headache-relieving pill?
``No, they're not. Some people might have managed to sneak out sedatives
without a prescription during rush hour,'' he adds, sounding satisfied at
his logic. By the same logic, it must be rush hour throughout the day (and
night) at drug stores in the Capital. After all, those addicted to sedatives
get a regular supply of the medicine they want. Over the counter.

When doctors prescribe sedatives for a patient, giving him a `high' isn't
exactly what they have in mind. While phenobarbitone is prescribed for
patients suffering from repeated convulsions, carisoma is supposed to help
relieve the patient of arthritis and other related muscular pains.

The paperback version of the leather-bound world of heroin, sedative tablets
are cheaper than drugs proper and, for drug addicts, probably just as
effective a way to play Alien with the rest of the world. That's for the
`high' side. On the low side, which is the common denominator for drugs of
all kinds, prolonged consumption induces serious side-effects and excessive
intake leads to death.

Popping in pills to get one's kicks is certainly not what the doctor
ordered. And medicine being sold over the counter without a prescription
seems to be a bitter pill to swallow for the Capital's medicine men. Satish
Jain, head of the neurology department at AIIMS, says he is aware of this
practice. ``Greater control should be exercised over the sale of certain
drugs and in no case should they be sold without a prescription. The chemist
is to blame for sedatives being sold without a prescription and the
subsequent repercussions,'' he adds.

One way of putting a full stop to the problem would entail the government
machinery putting a spanner in the works of `you name it, we sell it' drug
stores. And this is a suggestion echoed by H S Kukreja of Kukreja Nursing
Home. ``The situation has already acquired menacing proportions. The
government should step in before things get worse. It's high time chemists
selling sedatives and the like without a prescription were pulled up,'' he
says. Apparently, the government is lying low, ``but it isn't lying so low
that it can't strike. From time to time, we conduct raids on drug stores to
check if they are violating laws,'' says deputy drug controller R D Garg.
Apparently, the raids were never conducted during rush hour. Meanwhile,
somebody has just asked the man behind the counter at a drug store in south
Delhi for some phenobarbitone tablets. And he doesn't have a prescription.