In the absence of any credible demand survey to assess the genuine medical need for psychotropic medicines prescribed for anxiety and insomnia, the non-medical consumption of these drugs has now overtaken their legitimate use. The recent spate of large-scale seizures by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Punjab and Haryana has exposed a sprawling network of unauthorised markets thriving on this trade.

A case in point is the Kala Amb-based pharmaceutical company Digital Vision, which allegedly supplied over 48 lakh Tramadol capsules and nearly 12,000 bottles of cough syrup to fictitious firms over just 18 months. Investigators uncovered a trail of fake invoices and bank transactions linked to an accused already under arrest, illustrating how the legitimate pharmaceutical system is being

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