M. Emdadul Haque
In a flavoured syrupy base Phensedyl contains codeine-phosphate, chlorpheniramine maleate and ephedrine in variable amounts. The 'magic' substance in the Phensedyl syrup is codeine-phosphate, and this eventually makes users addicted to the drug. The presence of ephedrine hydrochloride in Phensedyl creates high blood pressure and can cause sudden death due to cardiac problem or heart failure. Without realizing the harmful consequences of the above chemical agents many Bangladeshi youths feel that it would be smart and fashionable to take Phensedyl.
As a result of the gap between Bangladesh and Indian pharmaceutical (medical) policies Phensedyl has caused massive addiction problem amongst the Bangladeshi youths in recent years. Phensedyl is produced in India licitly, but banned in Bangladesh, Nepal and Philippines for its sedative properties. This variation in the Indian medical policy has encouraged many cross-border traffickers to increasingly smuggle Phensedyl into the black markets in Bangladesh. The enormous supply of this drug from across the border has created an epidemic with an estimated 1.5 million Phensedyl addicts in the country.
Enveloped from three sides Bangladesh shares a 4,144 kilometers long border with India, which is dotted by smuggling routes for Phensedyl and other contraband items. In this underground trade many cross-border drug syndicates are involved. However, the manufacturer Rhone-Poulenc authority claims that its production is domestic 'market-share' oriented rather than for any export market. Narcotics control authorities in India also maintain their ignorance about any information in regard to the production of illicit Phensedyl along Bangladesh borders. With the frequent seizure of contraband Phensedyl by law enforcement authorities in Bangladesh, the extent of cross-border drug trade has become increasingly evident during the last two decades.
In pursuance of colonial drug policies of the nineteenth century Indian manufacturers rather have created an external market for Phensedyl in Bangladesh. It can be recalled here that throughout the nineteenth century the supply of contraband opium from India had created addiction problem for 30 per cent of the Chinese population. For running Phensedyl traffic Indian traders are copying British traders who owned most of the private companies that took part in the Indo-China opium trade. Recall that to stop the supply of opium from India the Chinese Emperor, as early as 1800, had issued an edict prohibiting the import of the Indian drugs altogether. As in China in the previous century, the increased supply of Phensedyl from India has continued in violation of Bangladeshi laws of 1982. So much so that it is now vandalizing the credibility of the legal measures in Bangladesh.
Contemporary Bangladeshi reports suggest that alongside the licit production, classified traffickers along Bangladesh borders were producing low grade Phensedyl. In April 2000, Brahmanbaria Shangbad reported that to meet the growing demands in Bangladesh fresh Phensedyl factories started running in Agartala, the capital of northeastern state of Tripura. These factories mostly manufacture impure Phensedyl to feed Bangladeshi teenagers. Being attracted by the fabulous underground market, Indian drug traffickers were also selling 'date-expired and waste consignments' of Phensedyl, which were then expeditiously sold to country's customers. Like the nineteenth-century Chinese addicts, who could only afford adulterated opium, the Bangladeshi addicts were mostly grabbing impure Phensedyl. The hazard of adulterated Phensedyl was twice that of normal cough syrups.
As a result of the large profit margins achieved from Phensedyl trafficking, the trade has augmented tremendously. In India, the maximum retail price for this medicine is about Rs.29 for one bottle, while it sold in the bordering districts between Tk.60 and 70, and in Dhaka for Tk.120 or even more. Consequently, once available only in 100ml bottles smuggled into Bangladesh out of India, Phensedyl can now also be found in large barrels, or plastic drums and containers, which smugglers then supply in bottles to the local market to meet the enormous local demand. In an attempt to combat cross-border traffickers, the BDR personnel sometimes arrange 'Flag' meetings with the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) authorities, when the former agree on measures in vain on drug traffickers with their counterparts in India.
As happened with the Indo-China opium trade during the nineteenth century, the economic value of the Indo-Bangladesh Phensedyl trade is mounting. Recall that the Government of British India had earned annually from the foreign market total opium revenue of Rs38 million in the mid-1850s. A similar commercial trend is evident in the Indo-Bangladesh Phensedyl trafficking in recent years. Contemporary reports reveal that the annual distribution of Phensedyl in the Dhaka City crossed 20 million bottles at the turn of the twentieth century. Given that the average cost for each bottle of Phensedyl in Dhaka being about Tk.120, Tk.6.6 million worth of Phensedyl was sold each day and Tk.2,400 million every year in the capital city alone. This amount of money was almost half of the total annual budget of the Dhaka City Corporation. Given the size of the contraband trade in Phensedyl throughout the country, and the cumulative costs of its sedative impact the users, a big threat has been created for the country's economy and the health of its younger generation.
As in India, the patent medicine industries in England and the US in the late eighteenth and throughout the nineteenth century had used opium alkaloid under various brand names. These drugs were popularly known as Dover's Powder, Laudanum, Ayer's Cherry Pectoral, Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, Mc Munn's Elixir, Magendie's Solution, Godfrey's Cordial, and Hamlin's Wizard Oil etc. A similar patent trade was also evident in Turkey and Iran, where pharmaceutical industries marketed opium lozenges with religious labels: Mash-Allah, and the 'Gift of God'. As it happened with the opium and morphine content of these medicines in the West and elsewhere, information about the psycho-physical and bio-chemical reactions of Phensedyl has been ignored by chemists and manufacturers in India for commercial purposes.
In a flavoured syrupy base Phensedyl contains codeine-phosphate, chlorpheniramine maleate and ephedrine in variable amounts. The 'magic' substance in the Phensedyl syrup is codeine-phosphate, and this eventually makes users addicted to the drug. The presence of ephedrine hydrochloride in Phensedyl creates high blood pressure and can cause sudden death due to cardiac problem or heart failure. Without realizing the harmful consequences of the above chemical agents many Bangladeshi youths feel that it would be smart and fashionable to take Phensedyl. Many of them abuse the drug to forget the grim reality of their existence. As a result of the continued misuse, the addicts are becoming victims of many physical ailments: irreversible damage of brain cells, hallucination, manic depression, heart disease, cancer, liver damage and ultimately dying. Despite the availability of medical evidences that the drug has devastating consequences on the body's vital organs, very little is known to the outside world about the escalation of Phensedyl menace in Bangladesh. The country needs a comprehensive approach to address this cross-border issue of a complex nature.
Dr. M Emdadul Haque is Professor of Political Science, Chittagong University
Source: The Daily Star, Dhaka, February 19, 2002