In the grip of intoxication and addiction Premium

Alprazolam, meant to be sold by licensed medical shops with a prescription, has found its way into the illicit market, setting off the public health alarm.

Amid the rural landscape of Fasalwadi, around 50 kilometres from Telangana’s capital city Hyderabad, stands a single-storey building with four apartments. The house on the upper right side, designed as a one-bedroom, hall-and-kitchen unit, has the unmistakable smell of a chemical factory. In the kitchen lies a synthesiser coated with a white powdery substance — alprazolam, a drug commonly used to treat sleeping disorders and anxiety.

The illicit manufacturing operation, targeting a 10-kg yield of pure alprazolam, was disrupted midway by a group of 20-odd police officers in the early hours of December 27 last year. Alprazolam, meant to be sold by licensed medical shops with a prescription, has found its way into the illicit market, setting off the public health alarm.

Officials stress the danger of this chemical, highlighting its addictive nature comparable to cocaine. “Just 1 gram of pure alprazolam, priced at ₹1,000, can yield 2,000 to 4,000 doses, given that 0.25-0.5 mg is sufficient to make it an intoxicant,” explains an official of the Excise department.

The apartment in Fasalwadi was leased by Kamal Brahmananda Goud (47), Cheruguri David (59), both Chemistry degree holders, and Kondapuram Shivaraj (29), a private company employee. The property was rented from Sakinala Vinod Kumar (35), who himself had leased it from the owner two years ago. Just three months into their ‘rental agreement’, the trio were in the third stage of drug production; the alprazolam would have been ready in about five days. Their cramped bedroom had an air conditioning unit with huge thermocol sheets plastered across the vents. Their neighbours had no inkling of what was happening next door. 

Over 2022-23, up to 43 cases of alprazolam seizures have been reported in Telangana. Last years, about 150 kg has been brought into Telangana from across the country. The State could be dealing with a whopping 13.6 crore doses of this drug, say officials of the Telangana State Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TSNAB).

According to data shared by Telangana’s Excise and Prohibition Department, 38.25 kg of alprazolam was seized in the State in 2023 alone, including 26.3 kg in Sangareddy, 7.6 kg in Kamareddy, 3.6 kg in Nizamabad, and 0.75 kg in Saroornagar. This year too, 1.74 kg of alprazolam was seized in Kamareddy district. In Hyderabad, the TSNAB caught 66 shops selling alprazolam-adulterated toddy, code-named ‘special toddy’, last year. There are about 5,000 shops selling toddy across the State.

Highlighting the concern, M. Padmanabha Reddy, secretary of Hyderabad-based Forum for Good Governance, has written to the Chief Secretary seeking a complete ban on toddy sale in the city. The forum alleges that the toddy sold in the city is adulterated, given the absence of palm trees within a 50-km radius. Juice tapped from the palm tree is fermented and drunk locally as toddy, ideally consumed within the same day. “The non-availability of toddy palm trees in parts of Telangana has resulted in the preparation of synthetic toddy by mixing urad dal paste, water, foaming and colouring agents, and citric acid, and adding substances such as chloral hydrate, diazepam, and alprazolam to induce intoxication,” he explains.