‘Cover-up’ mars probe into 5 cr missing tablets

Tribune News Service

Vishav Bharti

Chandigarh, June 25

The fresh evidence of use of de-addiction drug for recreational purposes in the National Capital Region (NCR) has once again brought the spotlight back on the issue of five crore missing buprenorphine tablets in Punjab.

In 2019, within a span of 11 months, the 23 private de-addiction centres in Punjab sold five crore tablets without any record. The manufacturers’ data suggested the tablets had entered Punjab, but there was no record of where those were consumed.

Easy to get hooked on buprenorphine

• Buprenorphine is an opioid agonist and has an effect mimicking that of opium. It has been termed as a ‘high addiction potential’ drug
• Two years ago, Health Dept data showed 17% of total addicts enrolled for treatment under de-addiction programme reported they were addicted to buprenorphine

The 23 de-addiction centres were mainly found responsible for illegal sale of the tablets but the government failed to initiate action. Then Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had even constituted a committee comprising three members — Special Task Force chief Harpreet Sidhu, Commissioner Food and Drug Administration Kahan Singh Pannu and Director Health Services.

used for recreation

We got evidence from the ground that the medicine, which fell in the psychotropic drug category, was being misused for recreational purposes. — A senior IAS officer

Despite several inquiries, the government not only tried to cover up the matter, but also refused to cooperate with the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which was investigating the money laundering angle in the case. As per conservative estimates, these missing tablets were worth over Rs 100 crore.

The state government refused to hand over the record despite five reminders by the ED.

Even the inquiry committees set up by the government were too “generous” towards the centres and gave them three chances to submit the missing data of patients offline. Even then, it was found they tried to fabricate the data.

A senior IAS officer, who was keen on investigating the matter, said they got evidence from the ground that the medicine, which fell in the psychotropic drug category, was being misused for recreational purposes.

“Following that, we investigated the online dispensing record of the de-addiction drug by private centres. Now, it has been established Punjab was being used as a hub to send the medicine to neighbouring areas as well,” he said.

Experts feel had the state government acted swiftly, the situation arising now in the NCR and Punjab could have been controlled three years ago. Significantly, it has come to the fore that de-addiction pill buprenorphine, an opioid derivative habit-forming drug, has become popular among partygoers across the NCR, largely due to its easy availability.

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