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.
