Pubdate: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 Source: Times of India, The (India) Copyright: Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 2000 Contact: http://www.timesofindia.com/ Author: Lalit Kumar CHEMISTS SELLING ILLEGAL DRUGS TO BE BOOKED NOIDA: The Noida police will book under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act any chemists who sell potentially lethal narcotics and tranquillisers without proper prescriptions. The decision follows the death of a domestic help, Pritam Singh, in Sector 30. The death appears to have been due to an overdose of buprenorphine injections. Gautam Budh Nagar police chief Anand Kumar told The Times of India News Service that a search was on to trace the chemist who sold the synthetic opiate to Pritam Singh. Two vials of the injection were found among his belongings. As reported earlier, buprenorphine addiction is on the rise in Noida. Singh's death appears to establish that the economically weaker sections are also becoming addicted to the drug also known as Norphin or Tidigesic. Meanwhile, according to prominent Noida physician and local Indian Medical Association unit vice-president Dr Sukhendu Roy Pritam Singh's death is being taken ``very seriously''. ``We will speak to the district chief medical officer very soon. And we will jointly decide what steps can be taken against chemists selling such drugs without prescriptions,'' he said. Dr Roy said buprenorphine tends to cause respiratory depression (stoppage of breathing) in certain patients. It can also heighten the effects of other drugs used alongside. District CMO Dr Vinod Kumar has promised action against the offending chemists. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens