These drugs are covered under the NDPS Act 1985 and for their legal export, a license from the narcotics Commissioner is mandatory. While such medicines are used to treat certain disorders, their composition has a high abuse-potential.
Customs officials in Chennai have arrested a Madurai-based pharmaceutical exporter for illegally sending commercial quantity Schedule H and H1 drugs (available only with prescription) via postal parcel to cities in the US. T
These drugs are covered under the NDPS Act 1985 and for their legal export, a license from the narcotics Commissioner is mandatory. While such medicines are used to treat certain disorders, their composition has a high abuse-potential.
Two postal parcels bound for the US were intercepted at the Foreign Post office based on intelligence which suggested that the parcels contained psychotropic substances.
On examination, The first parcel was found to contain 20 strips of Alprazolam concealed inside a cardboard packet wrapped with black carbon paper. 300 tablets of Alprazolam were recovered from this parcel that was destined for Gallatin in Tennessee, USA.
The other, parcel 155 contained pills of Lorazepam, Clonazepam, and Diazepam, which were concealed in a manner similar to the first parcel were seized. This parcel was consigned to Alexander, Arkansas, USA.
A total of 455 psychotropic drug pills were recovered and seized under the NDPS Act, 1985.
Follow up searches revealed that the parcels were booked by an individual who was running a pharmaceutical export firm in Madurai. The firm was involved in the export of Ayurvedic, Siddha & Allopathic medicines. The exporter had received payment via PayPal and sent psychotropic drugs to overseas buyers using a fake sender name, without having the relevant authorization from Narcotics Commissioner.
Psychotropic drugs such as these fall under Schedule ‘H’ & ‘H1’ of Drug and Cosmetic Rule 1945 and are also covered under the NDPS Act, 1985. Schedule H and H1 drugs can be identified as the ones that contain a ’Rx’ marking on the packaging. The seized drugs belongs to class of medicine known as Benzodiazepine, which is used in the treatment of anxiety, seizures and panic attack. This class of medicines act on the brain, central nervous system and provide a calming effect. It is dangerous to consume these drugs, except in accordance with medical advise.
While many of these drugs are available from pharmacies on producing a prescription from a registered medical practitioner, they are widely misused after being procured via different legal or illegal channels. While they have a specific medical use, these drugs are based on substances with high abuse potential. The value of the drugs are fairly low when procured via the legal route, however, they have a very high street price in developed nations where they are harder to procure illegally, in large numbers.
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