The Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration (UPFDA) has detected cases of illegal sale of medicines worth over Rs.one lakh without license at Unnao, Muzaffarnagar and confiscated drugs worth Rs.20,000 in violation of NDPS Act from Kanpur City.

The offenders have also been booked under sections 417, 420 of IPC and sections 18 and 27 Drugs & Cosmetics Act in cases detected at Unnao and Mujaffarnagar. Cases of violation under section 22B of NDPS Act, Section 420 of IPC and Sections 18 and 27 of Drugs & Cosmetics Act has been detected at Kanpur.

Drugs seized include generic medicines, physician samples, narcotic and psychotropic substances and habit forming drugs.

A total of 33 FIRs and 51 arrests and drugs worth over 29 lakhs were seized for non-compliance to Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 in the period 2013-14.

A total of 76 arrests and 70 FIRs were filed during the previous year and drugs worth of over Rs.82 lakh was seized the previous year. The offenders were booked under sections 274, 275, 276, 419, 420 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 18 and 27 of Drugs & Cosmetics Act.

To enforce compliance with Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, out of around 104 posts sanctioned in the state, there are plans to recruit 14 more drug inspectors. The state currently has 70 drug inspectors to inspect over one lakh drug retail stores in the state. This also includes inspections of 500 manufacturing units and 300 plus blood banks in the state. According to Hathi Committee, there is a need for one drug inspector to properly inspect 200 retail drug stores.

Since Narcotic and Psychotropic substances are also covered under Schedule H of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 and Rules thereunder, except the 15 covered under Schedule X, the effective monitoring of these products is tedious and time consuming by the regulators. Schedule X comprises of 15 drugs currently as compared to 17 earlier. Meprobamate, methylphenidate and amphetamine are some of the drugs which are often misused. Schedule H of the Drug and Cosmetics Act contains a list of 536 drugs which are required to be dispensed on the prescriptions of a registered medical practitioner.

In order to have separate regulation to check unauthorised sale of antibiotics, a separate schedule as Schedule H1 has also been introduced under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules to regulate sale of 46 drugs exclusively. This according to regulators needs to be strictly enforced through upgradation of manpower.

Drugs covered under Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 are also included in Schedule H of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act like alprazolam, chlordiazepoxide and clobazam which are habit forming drugs.

Regulations impart a stringent control over products covered under Schedule X with respect to those covered under Schedule H for purchase, stocking, distribution and sale criteria. This directly implies a more rigid accountability in the supply chain of drugs covered under Schedule X with a focus to prevent and control abuse of the products.