To prevent addicts from consuming branded syrups containing 'habit formatting' drug - codeine, the state Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) has suspended licences of nearly 15 chemists in Ahmedabad over the last one week.

The department has warned the chemists not to provide such syrups to people without a prescription from a registered medical practitioner.

FDCA commissioner H G Koshia said codeine is an element which is extracted from opium and which has delirious impact on human body. He said that recently the department's intelligence wing had conducted investigation in various areas like Sabarmati, Jamalpur, Behrampura, Odhav and Maninagar. And there they found many chemists selling cough syrups having codeine without mandatory prescription from a registered medical practitioner.

"Syrups having codeine in it are drugs of Schedule 'H', for which the doctor's prescription is must. But many people get addicted to it as many chemists sell it in open without fulfilling the statutory condition. So, we've carried out the exercise to prevent this," said Koshia.

According to Koshia, the department has also freezed around 10 lakh bottles of syrups containing codeine, worth Rs 4 crore, of different drug manufacturing companies.

He said under the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, it is mandatory for drug manufacturers to prominently put the generic name of the respective drugs on their product. "But these companies are found manufacturing syrups without putting the generic name prominently on the bottles. So, we have prohibited their 10 lakh bottles and issued them notice," Koshia said.
He said the exercise was launched after discovering that Corex - a cough syrup brand - was found as one of the top-10 drugs in demand in the country in an authorised survey.

"Corex is a cough syrup and Gujarat is a dry state. So, it can be presumed that there won't be too many patients of cough. However, our intelligence officers have come to a conclusion that people are consuming it even without the illness due to the habit formatting codeine in it," Koshia said.