The district magistrates across the state have banned the sale and stocking of pregabalin over 75mg, with an aim to curb the misuse of pregabalin tablets.
It was observed that pregabalin containing 150mg and 30mg in capsule/tablet form were highly being misused and people were getting addicted to the formulations, commonly known as signature.
Notably, the said drug which is used to treat neuro pain among humans and animals is not covered by NDPS Act violation.
The crackdown mainly targets wholesalers, retailers, chemists/medical store owners and pharmacies within hospitals.
The state government had written to the Centre to introduce the said drug in the H1 list which means it won’t be sold without prescription by the doctors in a bid to curb its use by drug addicts. The decision from the Centre is still pending.
Punjab director general of police Gaurav Yadav has ordered police heads of all the districts for strict execution of the orders and to conduct regular checks. “After the orders released by the DM’s, we can now register FIR’s against chemists or persons involved in selling the tablets without prescription,” a police officer said.
“Besides maintaining proper record of purchase and sale of pregabalin upto 75mg, they will also mark a stamp on the original prescription slip containing the details of trade name of the chemist/retailer; date of dispensing and number of tablets dispensed. Wholesalers, retailers, chemists/medical store owners, pharmacies within hospitals shall ensure by proper perusal of the prescription slip, that the pregabalin capsule/tablet being dispensed against the original prescription has not been already dispensed by some other drug seller. They shall also ensure that the number of tablets/capsules being dispensed is not more than the period of prescription”, the order by Ghanshyam Thori, DM, Amritsar read.
{{/usCountry}}“Besides maintaining proper record of purchase and sale of pregabalin upto 75mg, they will also mark a stamp on the original prescription slip containing the details of trade name of the chemist/retailer; date of dispensing and number of tablets dispensed. Wholesalers, retailers, chemists/medical store owners, pharmacies within hospitals shall ensure by proper perusal of the prescription slip, that the pregabalin capsule/tablet being dispensed against the original prescription has not been already dispensed by some other drug seller. They shall also ensure that the number of tablets/capsules being dispensed is not more than the period of prescription”, the order by Ghanshyam Thori, DM, Amritsar read.
{{/usCountry}}According to police, a total of 11,64,969 pregabalin pills were seized across the state till August this year.
Mohali DM Aashika Jain said that strict orders have been passed regarding a ban on sale of the said drug beyond 75mg in Mohali.
Any person violating the orders will be punished under section 223 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanita, 2023. This section deals with the legal consequences of disobeying orders given by public servants.
Mohali SSP Deepak Pareek said that police along with the drug inspector will conduct surprise checks across the districts to curb the sale of the said drug beyond permissible limit.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, police in Fatehgarh Sahib along with a drug inspector raided two medical stores and recovered over 700 pregabalin capsules. Two persons have been booked under Section 223 of the BNS in this connection.
“The drug inspector will submit a report to higher authorities to cancel the licenses of these medical stores,” an officer said.