The Manipur Police arrested two persons, including a 40-year-old woman, from Thoubal district’s Lilong on September 14 in connection with the seizure of addiction-causing pharmaceutical drugs.
The police found in their possession 50 boxes containing 15,000 capsules of “Tramadol Hydrochloride Tramanil”, weighing about 7 kg.
Hospitals and rehabilitation centres also need updated guidance on dependence, withdrawal, and complications associated with its misuse and injection, they said. The consignment, allegedly for illegal distribution to specific clients, was seized almost a month after a youth died at a drug rehabilitation centre in the State’s capital, Imphal. He had reportedly been injecting crushed tablets of Tapentadol, an opioid analgesic thrice as potent as Tramadol. “Tramadol and Tapentadol are painkilling compounds derived from opium alkaloids.
These incidents and the admission of another Tapentadol user at the drug rehabilitation centre with a serious infection due to injections confirmed what anti-narcotic officials and counsellors suspected — drug addicts were shifting to opioid analgesics available as prescription pain management medication from heroin and other narcotic substances made costlier by the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur. 4.
“We are investigating to ascertain the source and intended destination of the Tramadol capsules and to determine the extent of involvement of the arrested duo in the possession or distribution of the pharmaceutical drug,” a Manipur police officer said. The police and drug enforcement agencies in Manipur said data on seizures of opioid analgesics sold or ferried illegally in the State were not immediately available. They, however, said the price factor could have dictated the shift from methamphetamine and heroin, locally known as No. Taken for pain relief, they cause a sense of well-being, but can develop dependence if these are taken continuously for a few weeks,” Krishanu Krori, a Guwahati-based medicine specialist, told The Hindu . Counsellors in Manipur said pharmacists should strictly observe prescription requirements and health authorities should monitor emerging patterns of Tramadol and Tapentadol misuse.
