At least 68 young people were hospitalised on the island of Sulawesi last week after taking these pills. Two children died.

"It was relaxing as if I was flying. After that, I lost consciousness. When I came to again, I found myself lying here," a 16-year told kompas.com last Wednesday.

Despite being illegal, the pills are widely distributed in many parts of Indonesia through drugstores and markets. They are ostensibly for the relief pain including headaches and toothache.

20 pills can commonly be purchased for just US$2.

"The government should stop its distribution," said Doctor Felix Gunawan, director of the Association of Voluntary Health Services of Indonesia, an association of Catholic hospitals.

He also called on Catholic hospitals to buy drugs only from official vendors certified by the government's National Agency for Drug and Food Control.

"Patients who want to buy medicinal drugs must have a prescription from medical doctors," he told ucanews.com on 20 September.

Pharmaceutical observer Anthony Charles Sunarjo said the effects of PCC pills if used in excess will make users hallucinate and lose control of their behaviour.

On September 18-19 police confiscated more than 100,000 pills from several locations and closed down Central and West Java factories which produce them.

They have arrested dozens of suspected dealers of the illegal medication in Kendari, capital of Southeast Sulawesi province.

They face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Source

• Seemit
• UCAnews
• Image: SearchHome Remedies.com

She writes that "Often kids won't know what they are taking or can take very dangerous risks in mixing their drugs. If something goes wrong, the fear of their parents, of the police and what they might do, often stops them from calling an ambulance. It was understood that you didn't call an ambulance if something went wrong".

• Read Vivienne Moxham-Hall's opinion piece in The Sydney Morning Herald
• Image: The Fourth Wall