Ludhiana: Deaths on the rise due to drug mixing & overdose, say experts
Psychiatrist Dr Arvind Goyal said, “When someone starts a drug, gradually they stop feeling the intense buzz which was initially felt; to get that feeling again, they first increase the dose and then start trying other drugs as well”
The city has seen a rise in deaths due to an overdose of cocktail of drugs, which according to doctors doesn’t have any antidote.
The city witnesses around 30 deaths every month due to drug overdose and poisoning, of which over five are those who died of an overdose of mixing drugs, according to Civil Hospital forensics expert, Dr Charan Kamal. “I have seen a rise in the trend of mixing drugs, called as drugs cocktail. People are dying of its overdose as there wasn’t any antidote available,” he said.
Psychiatrist Dr Arvind Goyal said, “When someone starts a drug, gradually they stop feeling the intense buzz which was initially felt. To get that feeling again, they first increase the dose and then start trying other drugs as well.” For example, if anyone was taking opioids, they would taking tramadol tablets, poppy husk, sleeping pills and so forth to keep the intensity up, Goyal added.
Goyal said, the adulterants added to drugs were very harmful there were antidotes available for particular drugs, but in case of a cocktail, we seldom know what the person had consumed and in what quantity. “There is no way to find that out,” he said. For example, if Cocaine was mixed with talc, chalk, and paracetamol to increase the volume, which are not soluble contents, this will block end arteries in the heart, brain and eyes and led to organ failure, added Goyal.