The Trend of Tramadol Vending in Retail Pharmacies and Negative Impact of Abusing Drug on its Purchasers in Mosul City, Iraq
Keywords:
tramadol, drug abuse, dependence, pharmacy, Mosul, IraqAbstract
Since 1998 tramadol was introduced to the Iraqi markets as a nonscheduled centrally acting analgesic with low abuse potential. Many patients (or customers on their behalf) purchased the drug from retail pharmacies without medical prescription which may raise a strong need to investigate the suspicion of potential trmadol abuse among those customers who visited those pharmacies in Mosul which is one of the biggest cities in north Iraq.
Methodology: Under the supervision of the pharmacists in ten retail pharmacies (which were selected randomly from different areas in Mosul), a closed-ended questionnaire constructed by the researches and designed to detect the trends of purchasing tramadol from private pharmacies besides the International Neuropsychiatric Intervew version-5(module L), were filled out for every patient or (someone on their behalf) who purchased tramadol from those pharmacies during six months period (June 2012-December 2012). Sociodemographic characters of the purchasers were obtained in this study and subjected to descriptive statistics to make comparison with other studies.
Results: Of 163 patients or (someone purchased the drug on their behalf) who seek tramadol from the pharmacies, 84 (51.53%) purchasers did not have prescription. About 98(60.12%) patients reported abuse or addiction criterias on tramadol after interviewing them through M.I.N.I. international neuropsychiatric interview version- 5.  Most of the purchasers were males and females below thirty (73.3%, 74.1% consecutively). Participants who were unemployed (83.9%), singles (92.6%) were aging below thirty. Approximately (60%) of the patients reported a history of addiction or drug abuse. Most of the patients with no prescription(46%) had abuse criteria on tramadol.
Conclusion: Patients who request tramadol from private pharmacies in Mosul seem to have a high potential for drug abuse, dependence, in particular those who do not have prescriptions. The high prevalence of people under 30 years of age seeking tramadol could be a worldwide trend. Construction of detoxification units is highly recommended in Mosul.
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