CEBU, Philippines - Authorities are having a hard time going after those using Nalbuphine hydrochloride or nubain due to the fact that it is a regulated and not an illegal drug.
This was the disgust expressed by lawyer Paul Clarence Oaminal, vice chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board.
Oaminal said that the use of nubain in the city is alarming and late last year four people were reported to have died after using the drug. The four fatalities were all from the barangays in the southern part of the city.
The anti-drug crusader said that only a city ordinance imposes a punishment on the use of nubain where a person caught with the drug is only slapped a P500 fine for the first offense.
Oaminal said that nubain is much cheaper compared to shabu and the drug users can also easily get them.
“We need to act on this,” Oaminal said.
He pointed out that the DDB has appealed several times in Congress on this matter, but because of the lobby by pharmaceutical companies, the move to make nubain illegal remains pending.
DDB Chairman Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III, however, recently gave an assurance that this move in the House can soon take off.
Nubain is a sterile solution suitable for subcutaneous, intramuscular, or intravenous injection. – Johanna Natavio/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)