Teen dies of suspected painkiller overdose

CHENNAI: A 18-year-old boy allegedly died due to painkiller overdose in Pulianthope on Thursday night after injecting himself with eight painkiller tablets mixed in water, police said.

The deceased was identified as Sanjay of Basin Bridge, a college drop-out who has been living with his grandmother in Pattalam after his parents died four years ago.

On Thursday night, the teenager was found unconscious on a platform near Pattalam market. He was taken to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. Officials from Pulianthope station, who began probing into Sanjay’s death, found four used syringes in his pant pockets along with a strip of prescription tablets.

Off the strip, eight tablets were used, which led the police suspect that Sanjay had injected them. Investigations with his grandmother and friends to revealed that Sanjay used to buy prescription tablets.

Sanjay’s body was handed over to the family on Friday morning after autopsy.

The usage of prescription drugs - sleeping pills and painkillers - to get high is not a novel method among drug addicts, but the rise in their usage in recent times has kept the authorities on their toes. The number of tablets seized by city police in 2017 was nil, while more than 50,000 tablets were seized in 2022 alone.

Police said that it was the peddlers who created a market for these tablets. “As screws have been tightened on the smuggling and peddling of ganja, the peddlers are pushing these tablets as an alternative,” said a senior police officer.