Public sentiment is largely negative, highlighting deep concerns over the escalating drug crisis in India, particularly in Punjab. Users express frustration with ineffective government measures, demand innovative approaches such as legalization with regulation, and call for better rehabilitation and awareness efforts. There is also skepticism about the pharmaceutical industry's quality control, which compounds distrust in regulatory practices. Overall, the comments reflect urgent calls for more effective community engagement to address drug addiction and trafficking issues.

Indian Government

Punjab State Government

Pharmaceutical Industry

I think first step is legalizing weed, lsd, dmt and shrooms. then slowly move onto harder drugs. we can keep meth and heroin illegal. every other drug should legalized slowly.

HoneydewKooky996

&gt;Alcohol and cigarettes kill millions every year, yet they're legal and heavily marketed. Sugar and processed foods contribute to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Yet, they are normalized

All these doesn't incapacitate a person very quickly in most cases. These are all highly addictive stuff but not as addictive or as destructive as drugs are hence the requirement of stricker enforcement. 

Live and let live would not work because a large percentage of people smoke and drink even tho the harms are known there's no doubt they will do drugs and unlike alcohol or cigarettes the effects of drugs are highly destructive for the person using them.

Given all that not all drugs are the same. So if a drug is less destructive or addictive than say alcohol or close to it then why not. We could even promote it I would say so people don't get drawn to harder drugs. Weed is the prime candidate for legalization. I don't know much about drugs so can't say for others

GlitteringNinja5

How did you even come up with this brain dead take? Let me address the monkey's paw in the room. You say drug consumption should be lagalised? Countless people already ruin their lives with drugs when drugs are prohibited. What makes you think that number will not increase exponentially? You can't just pretend to validate your opinoin by giving example of tobacco and alcohol. Yes, millions die due to tobacco and alcohol. So you want that number to reach billions by legalizing drugs as well? Use your brain or knee or whatever

15th_anynomous

There are three factors which affect the decision of the governments

1. Potency of addiction: alcohol is comparatively far less addictive than cocaine/fentanyl etc. and in case of products like alcohol/tobacco it's process, consumption and sale have been regulated (either by govt or society) to curb extreme tendencies which further reduce their addiction or the affects of its addiction 

2. Damage of consumers: while alcohol and tobacco in mild amounts are dangerous ( other than cancer) most of the diseases are very much curable and they also don't cause permanent brain damage. Weed/cocaine/fentanyl have proven to cause permanent damage of brain even on just a one time consumption 

3. Cultural applications: alcohol and tobacco are a very old institution which provide legitimate jobs, and have a complete culture around them. The new designer fashion drugs have no such culture and make it difficult to become legitimate because of who sells them (mafia, cartel etc) this further destroys their reputation 

A minor matter is also of cost, alcohol and tobacco are very cheap (as I mentioned they have a long history) while the rest of them are expensive to produce 

I hope this helps 😁

Potential_Scallion_7

It actually started when the US banned all drugs. Every single country followed it blindly. 

Back in 70's I guess.

[deleted]

Drugs do more harm than alcohols and cigarettes do. Drugs are really potent, even small errors can OD you. Not even a rich man like Micheal Jackson who was being given drugs by a doctor was not safe from OD. What makes you think you're different?

DustyAsh69

HappyDeparture9547

The government earns from alcohol and tobacco, they don't care about their lives.

You can’t ban all addictive substances in the world citing public health because people will always find a new way to get high, often in ways that are even more harmful.

I agree with your point, but to fully understand this issue, you need to consider human psychology. People have an inherent need for addictive substances that give them a certain feeling; otherwise, they may resort to dangerous alternatives with far worse consequences.

It’s similar to letting your child eat fast food once in a while—if you completely forbid it, they might end up getting it from an unhygienic place and falling sick. The same logic applies here. You can see the state of dry states in India, where people are dying from consuming poisoned alcohol or paying exorbitant prices for real alcohol through illegal means, despite it being banned.

Governments often allow addictive substances that cause long-term harm rather than short-term destruction, such as drugs, so that people can get their high without immediately endangering their lives.

mumbei

Palm oil, carcinogenics in foods, No food safety regulations, broken roads/highways, etc etc these things also kills. What are you rambling about booze cigarette and porn.

Natural_Thing_971

Compulsory licensing doesn't override a patent. The patent still exists, hence why a license is required. It just sets a price and an obligation to license, as opposed to the company setting its own rules.

XAMdG

India did not go "rogue" in doing this. This is completely legal for countries that are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). 

WTO members are allowed to take measures, including enforcing compulsory licensing, to protect public health or if it is in the general public interest.

https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/pharmpatent_e.htm

MialoKoukoutsi

&gt;"We did not develop this product for the Indian market, let’s be honest. We developed this product for Western patients who can afford this product, quite honestly. It is an expensive product, being an oncology product.”


Bayer CEO Marijn Dekkers in 2013.

rizx7

Indian Govt now runs a chain of Pharmacy called - Jan Aushadhi (People's Pharmacy) which sell only generic prescription medicines and OTC medicines. As of 2024-25 there are over 14000 stores across the country.

My parents have a few regular prescription medicines and if they purchase the generic version from this shop, the cost reduces from Rs800 ($10) per month to Rs250 ($3). This is super helpful for anyone with lots of prescription medicines needed for long term treatment. 

During my last visit to India, I went to pick up some medicines when I got flu and saw a man who had been in a road accident few months back and has needed regular medical treatment for months and he explained how he hasn't had to skip even one dose due to cost. I felt very happy.

RealityCheck18

When the government works for people , not the other way around.

Free-Strike3

As good as this sounds, $175 a month over and on top of their livelihood expenses is still astronomical for 80% Indian families.

v_patti_ramasamy

Learn CIPLA story from India. Many poor nations benefitted from the generic medicines.

HST2345

daemonengineer

LamarFromColumbus

Two things are true at once: (1) the US gets price gouged unfairly, resold its own public research for a profit, and (2) disease research is expensive and it's a little unfair that the US subsidizes the world with its uncapped drug pricing.

I think the government should buy the patents with a guaranteed profit margin (say 30-50% over research budget) then distribute it at cost. Currently we focus 90% of the burden on dying US citizens for the next 20 years, when the benefits are worldwide and forever. A cure for a disease benefits citizens for infinite future years but we recoup cost from finite group of individuals, perfect place for gov intervention with eye to future.

cococolson

Confident-Grape-8872

Medicine and medical technology shouldn't be patentable.

And before anyone says "Well then why would anyone do it?!?"

That's what the government is for, and why things like the USPS and military don't exist to make money.

epidemica

imminent treatment reply absorbed provide sharp squeal full rainstorm tap

 *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev/home)*

i-Blondie

Socialism. It gets shit done without bankrupting society.

thegodfather0504

The generic drug makers should pay 6% royalty to bayer so some amount of compensation to bayer

mnk_mad

That's why socialism is needed. While capitalism is a very good thing for the very top of the socio-economic pyramid, it's bad for everyone else. Of course if the folks at the top of the pyramid can convince the masses that "socialism" is an evil thing, like the 50's "communism", they'll get to keep it their way.

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My insurance stopped covering Adderall so I have to use generic. Ever since I swapped, my facial motor tics have gotten 100000% worse.

pro185

This is not surprising for two reasons, both clearly outlined in Bottle of Lies by Eban 6 years ago. The TLDR of that book is 1) generic drugs are not exactly equivalent to the name brand because the original mfg intentionally keeps some manufacturing details secret and 2) bc there is a lot of fraud in India and FDA can't fully visit/inspect/review the sites to the thoroughness that they'd like to due to costs, logistics, and politics. As an analytical chemist myself who has personally analyzed products from India, I am well aware of the truth of both of these claims.

yawg6669

From the journal Production and Operations Management: [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/10591478251319691](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/10591478251319691)

Abstract:

Generic drugs provide lifesaving, affordable treatment to millions of people each day. Generic drug manufacturing has been steadily moving from advanced economies, such as the U.S., to emerging economies, such as India. Due to the opacity of drug supply chains, the quality risk implications of manufacturing in emerging economies has not been carefully empirically tested. This study addresses this gap. To do so, we identify a novel source of drug manufacturing location data which allows us to compare the occurrence of serious adverse events of generic drugs made in different locations. Using exact matching analyses based on the equivalency criteria established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), we find that generic drugs manufactured in India, where a majority of emerging economy generic drugs are made, are associated with significantly higher instances of serious adverse events than equivalent generic drugs made in the U.S., where a majority of advanced economy generic drugs are made. We further show that this key result is explained by mature generic drugs, which are particularly susceptible to operations and supply chain cost reduction efforts—efforts that unfortunately may compromise drug quality. Our study finding leads to implications for the FDA in their regulation of generic drugs.

geoff199

I'm not surprised. I even found noticeable difference between two brands of Sotalol which is a very common beta blocker. We're talking first world country here. Doctors couldn't explain it. They said they usually just see this from Warfarin.

archangel_urea

*For now*. The FDA is being gutted right now

wholesomeriots

they can’t even keep heavy metal contaminants out of their spices. There are some huge scandals going over there right now about many people in India get sick from eating contaminated turmeric.

this is half the reason why organic spices are so darn expensive because the people sourcing them have to make sure they aren’t coming from these sort of sources, which are the majority of the sources available.

ashoka_akira

Worked at a Private Equity Fund. 

After the hurricane there was talk of making Puerto Rico a pharmaceutical hub which then would get protected by Jones Act shipping regulations. He could be relighting this pipe dream. Politics aside it’s not a bad idea for the US and the territory. Loads of jobs and infrastructure investing.

JimKatsin

I know that when my pharmacy subs in an Indian generic it's a real crap shoot as to how bad the side-effects will be.

Majik_Sheff

Kwinza

I have questions, the first one is how do you even unravel this? It's fairly common to see a generic medication coming out of a US pharmacy that has an American address on it with some obscure name. If you look into that you will find the company has various portals in different countries, India often being one. So question one would be how do you know you're not just getting the Indian product that is relabeled, question two random batch testing and question three, and this one I'm sure it's too hard to answer in a reply but it seems like very simple drugs, like hormones would have a lot lower rate of issues just because they are chemistry that is simple enough I could manufacturer in my kitchen and there are only a few large manufacturers in the world making the raw powder. More complex drugs, especially like these GLP1s which are everywhere, seems like you have a lot more risk

fairlyaveragetrader

Don't worry. Without an FDA , I'm sure their medicine will be more effective than ours within a decade

You just wait a few months… the drugs in India will be 10x safer than anything made in the US, and not because India will make improvements.

Dangit_Bud

Don't worry! RFK is going to fix that. Soon, the United States will finally compete with India in severe side effects, or we will do away with medicine entirely! Make America Sick Again!

Sigan

This is not indias problem it's just greedy companies refusing to allow generic drugs manufacturing at lower costs so indian companies have to change the product slightly leading to more adverse effects of the medication

Thanks; very interesting. I had thought most generics in the US were by the Israeli firm Teva, which as far as I know has a good reputation. But who knows where the actual plants are located. 

A piece of trivia: A friend of mine was a physician's assistant and told me how he was taught in school to always prescribe tetracycline by brand name, as there were Mexican made generics on the market that were low potency. This was many years ago, so I can imagine the problem worsening. But, this is also to say that prescribers and pharmacists can optionally use brand names of drugs (though I think insurance companies can include a clause that they will only pay for generics). If you know more, please comment.

I can see this being a hidden problem where only 1% of a certain generic causes adverse reactions. And who really is going to track that?

gee

who'd have thought that products manufactured at a lower cost by another country would have \*gasp\* lower quality?

mdandy88

India has a very mature pharmaceutical industry. They make a quarter of the drugs for the UK health service and has had strong ties since the NHS's inception, including external regulatory checks. There needs to be more explanation than this. It's an interesting statistical figure, but if drug testing hasn't found anything, then why? Is it simply that more testing is required? If there is a problem, is it related to one company, a certain number of factories, or is there a wider issue? Are India's regulatory systems no longer up to scratch?  etc etc.

Chronotaru

Obviously. Does India have many heck’s and balances? I’ve heard there are more counterfeit products in India than China. Didn’t the Indian government just re-elect modi, who has said he doesn’t need quality products from the west and they can make what they need?

The sh*thole of the world makes tainted drugs. Color me shocked!

Ashamed_Feedback3843

blablablerg

This was always the plan. 

Otherwise people wouldn't have incentive to buy the name brand ones. I'm sure you could find something about big pharma arranging in some way, shape, or form, for the 'generic' versions to be worse. They probably get a cut somewhere along the line (past the patent money) too.

Mama_Skip

I’m not sure I have ever noticed where meds are manufactured.  Is it clearly labeled on the bottles?  Can we ask the pharmacist?

djhepcat

I wonder how you can find out where a particular drug is manufactured?

ItsGonnaBeOkayish

Is it controlled for socio-economic factors (for example people who are receiving the orignials may be on a better/more expensive insurance).?

secret179

as they deconstruct the FDA there won't be a discrepancy anymore.  our manufactories will be as good as India!

ez_as_31416

This is why not all vaccines are the same. Quality control matters!

Have the authors noted any conflicts of interest? This seems like a pretty blatant pro-Pharma study. A cursory search shows one of the primary authors has ties to P&amp;G.

fyo_karamo

Ok they have noticed a difference im perceived effects. But have they studied the medications themselves and noticed a difference?

LucasRuby

BS propaganda sponsored by Western pharmaceuticals attempting to keep generic meds off the shelf for consumers so that they can continue to profit through high price medicines.

Blackadder_101

This is a country that prepares food on the ground with their hands and feet.

BootsOfProwess

slackfrop

Wait, so I should stop taking tiger penis and the Mumbai riverbath water cocktail that my street pharmacist prescribed?

GreatBayTemple



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India has banned the production and export of a dangerous opioid combination after a BBC sting operation exposed Aveo Pharmaceuticals, a Palghar-based company, for illegally exporting it to West Africa. The tapentadol-carisoprodol mix—a potent and highly addictive cocktail—was found to be fueling an opioid crisis in Nigeria and Ghana. The company’s MD was caught on camera admitting, “This is very harmful for their health, but this is business.”

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