Club drug Etizolam has agencies fretting

Clubbers i n the southernmost provinces have adopted a new recreational drug that sources claim is 10 times more potent than Valium, and the spike in recent seizures is raising calls to control it through proper regulation.

Etizolam, an anti-anxiety medicine, is not registered in Thailand but related agencies are considering registering and imposing controls on it so those who abuse the drug can be punished, according to the Department of Medical Sciences (DMS).

Law enforcement agencies recently mounted a crackdown on entertainment venues in several southern provinces and found the pills in containers printed with labels stating they were made in Japan.

Police in Narathiwat and Songkhla sent samples for testing as they initially suspected they were “Happy 5” pills, Sukhum Kanchanaphimai, director-general of the DMS, said yesterday.

Happy 5 (Erimin-5) is the street name for Nimetazepam manufactured in Japan. The drug has an intermediate-acting hypnotic effect and is prescribed for the short-term treatment of patients with severe insomnia.

However, the sample tablets tested negative for this drug and were not produced in Japan.

At least 10 of the samples turned out to be Etizolam, the abuse of which is now rampant at clubs and night spots in the deep South, Dr Sukhum said.

Etizolam, which can cause sedation and mild euphoria, has not been registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for legal use in Thailand, said Wachira Amphon, head of the DMS’s narcotics control division.

The FDA is now compiling paperwork to classify it as a stimulant so it can be brought under legal control, he said.

Those found involved in its production, import and export, or sale will be liable for legal punishment, he said.

Pol Maj Gen Daoloi Mueandet, deputy commissioner of the Provincial Police Region 9, said the pills were seized along with other drugs in 13 crackdowns at clubs in the region in recent months.

They were probably smuggled in from a neighbouring country, he said.

Etizolam can be dissolved in alcoholic beverages but not water, he added.