South Asia Fears On Addiction To Rx Drugs

Pharmaceutical experts are worried about a new trend that has emerged in the South Asian region - abuse of prescription medicines - which they fear is likely to spread further. Of particular concern is the abuse of certain anticancer drugs, now easily available on prescription, reports the Marketletter's correspondent in Sri Lanka.

According to officials, the spread of this trend, especially among young people, was noted at a recent Asian Multicity Substance Abuse Research meeting held in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, and attended by experts from many countries, including Malaysia, Turkey, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh, Pakistan and India have confirmed the increasing abuse of pharmaceutical products prescribed for the treatment of cancer patients. One such drug is said to be the opioid analgesic buprenorphine, which is expensive and dispensed only on prescription in most countries. However, in the South Asian region buprenorphine is cheap and freely available. Several youths are reportedly already addicted to the product.