Prague, Aug 17 (CTK) – The recent introduction of free sales of medicines at petrol stations plays into the hands of drug makers who can buy there medicines with which the drug can be diluted and they can make more of it, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes yesterday.
The paper writes that the medicines with pseudoephedrine which pharmacies only sell on presentation of the identity card can be combined with medicines, which can be bought anonymously in any quantity at petrol stations or at chemist’s.
These are medicines against flu and cold and painkillers, which are freely available, MfD writes.
It writes that though these medicines do not contain pseudoephedrine, the key substance for the production of pervitin (methamphetamine), the drug “brewers” can make drugs without the customers recognising this.
“From freely sold medicines killing pain, substances with effects similar to those of pseudoephedrine can be gained if the ´brewer´ has a sufficient quantity of them and if they know chemical reactions. It is also possible to gain ingredients which cause the end product, pervitin, having certain specific properties. Some will subdue you, others will energise you,” MfD quotes Lubomir Slapka, head of the K-centrum facility for drug addicts in Most, north Bohemia, as saying.
The National Drug Centre (NPC) has confirmed that the “brewers” use freely available medicines for the production of methamphetamine, MfD writes.
“We register the abuse of freely sold substances and preparations for dilution, mainly caffein, methylsulfonylmethan and paracetam. These substances are abused because of their similar consistency and some can even beef up the effects of the drug,” MfD quotes NPC spokeswoman Barbora Kudlackova as saying.
However, the drug brewers’ couriers can buy any number of packets of medicines with pseudoephedrine in pharmacies in one day because the system of control of identity cards does not operate.
“We wanted the system to be centralised and to alert the pharmacist that a courier bought the same medicine elsewhere one hour ago. But we ran into the protection of personal data. This means that one pharmacy can keep a register of the medicines buyers, but it is no interconnected with other pharmacies,” NPC head Jakub Frydrych said.
ms/t/hol
