A new finding by the British Broadcasting Center, BBC Africa, has brought to the public glare, an illegal pharmaceutical product known as " Tafrodol ".
“The drugs from all investigation consume the sanity of those who abuse them, “like a fire burns when kerosene is poured on it.”
The report says, " In the city of Tamale, in Ghana, so many young people are taking illegal opioids, that one of the city’s Chiefs, Alhassan Maham, has created a voluntary task force of about 100 citizens whose mission is to raid drug dealers and take the pills off the streets.
According to him, "One addict in Tamale put it even more simply. The drugs, he said, have “wasted our lives”. With a population of 225 million, Nigeria provides the biggest market for those pills.
The Chairman, of Nigeria Drug and Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig Gen Mohammed Buba Marwa, told the BBC, that opioids are “devastating our youths, our families, it's in every community in Nigeria.” In India, pharmaceutical companies cannot legally manufacture and export unlicensed drugs unless these drugs meet the standards of the importing countries.
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Aveo Ships Tafrodol and similar products to Ghana, where the combination of Tapentadol and Carisoprodol is, according to Ghana National
Drug Enforcement Agency, unlicensed and illegal, by shipping Tafrodol to Ghana, Aveo is breaking Indian law ".
BBC Eye put the allegations to Vinod Sharma and Aveo Pharmaceuticals, but they did not respond, the Indian drugs regulator, the CDSCO, told us the Indian government recognizes its responsibility towards global public health and is committed to ensuring India has a responsible and strong pharmaceutical regulatory system, noting that, exports from India to other countries are closely monitored and recently tightened regulation is strictly enforced.
It called on importing countries to support India's efforts by ensuring they had similarly strong regulatory systems.
The CDSCO stated, "It has taken up the matter with other countries, including those in West Africa, and is committed to working with them to prevent wrongdoing, promising to take immediate action against any pharmaceutical firm involved in malpractice.
