Students turn to over-the-counter drugs

Using such drugs has advantages. “It’s economical”, says Rohit, “and it does not smell. When you have no money for anything else, you still can have these drugs. Of course, one gets everything here charas, ganja, heroin. But they are illegal. And half a bottle of Phensy and three or four Dizos are equivalent to a heroin dose.”

Rohit is aware of the ill effects of these medicines. “Prolonged use makes you slow,” he says. “You also become forgetful. Dimaag kharab ho jata hai.”

Rohit said that the drug was addictive. One doesn’t feel normal if one hasn’t taken it after a week of regular use. “Everything becomes ulta, till one takes another dose again. But I’m sure no one has died because of this.”

Students are getting more adventurous. In Vadodara they try out cocktails of drugs. Some combinations could be deadly.

Joe, another student, has been on Phency and tablets since he was in the tenth standard. He picked up the habit in boarding school. Now he is a hardcore addict. He was recently caught stealing books from a hostel room and beaten up. Joe wanted the money to buy tranquilisers.

Joe says he can’t sleep unless he has taken the medicines. “And it has sapped my strength. I was a badminton champ in school. Now, I can’t run even a few yards.” He has tried to kick the habit a few times but failed.

Dr Sagun Desai, head of the pharmacology department at the Pramukh Swami Medical College here, says that cough syrups like Phensydyl have anti-histamine which induce a calming effect. Tablets like Diazepam and Nitrozepam are sedatives. Neither category is highly dangerous or addictive, he says.

But Desai asserts that these medicines create psychological dependence as opposed to hard drugs like heroin, which create physical dependence. Used in combination their kick’ may be magnified, he says.

Head of the psychiatry department, Dr Sameer Desai, says that because this kind of substance abuse does not lead to any physical symptoms it is possible for a person to be a closet addict for years. “People will use what is cheap and easily available”, he says.

Jigar Dave, a young doctor who is in touch with many students, says that one factor could be respectability. “It is more respectable to pop a pill than drink alcohol”.

Medical store owners are also aware of the problem. Ramesh Patel, who runs the Vidyanagar Medical Store, says he does not sell medicines without prescriptions. Addicts obtain these medicines by getting one prescription which they then take around to all medical stores. Thus they can get many times the recommended dosage.

Patel feels that some arrangement should be made so that a prescription can only be used once, as in the case of Schedule X drugs.