Hyderabad: Drug Control Administration (DCA) officials have busted illegal sale of addictive drugs to youngsters, seized tampered drug labels and seized a quack’s clinic in three separate cases.In the first case, DCA officials raided a pharmacy, Sri Laxmi Ganapathi Medical and General Stores, in Maripeda village, Mahabubabad, and arrested a pharmacist, Upender Maloth. Officials said the accused was selling addictive drugs such as tramadol and alprazolam to youngsters. “He was also not adhering to the drug rules, including selling these drugs without a prescription from a registered medical practitioner. He failed to maintain and produce bills, prescription drug registers and Schedule H1 drug registers, and committed other violations,” an official said. These drugs are often misused for their sedative effects, leading to addiction. Continued misuse or overdose could result in respiratory depression, seizures, coma, and even death.DCA officials also found tampering of drug labels meant for institutional supply in Bhadradri–Kothagudem during an inspection conducted at Sri Laxmi Srinivasa Medical and General Stores, Palvancha mandal. “We detected a suspicious label on a batch of Thyronorm. Samples of the said batch were verified with the manufacturer, who confirmed tampering of the declaration ‘For Institutional Supply Only’ on the label. The stocks were seized,” the official said.In the third case, officials raided a quack’s clinic in Karimnagar and seized drugs, including steroids, illegally stocked for sale, worth nearly 28,000. The accused, Vemula Sai Krishna, was found running a first-aid centre named ‘Hima Bindu First Aid Centre’ at Gattubuthkur village, Karimnagar. During the inspection, officials found 73 varieties of medicines, including 19 forms of antibiotics, steroids, analgesics, antihypertensive drugs, and others, stocked at the premises without a drug licence. Samples were sent for analysis.
