Pakistan: 17 drug addicts die after drinking toxic cough syrup

USPA News - At least seventeen drug addicts in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore have died after drinking a cough syrup believed to have been toxic, hospital and police officials said on Monday. Several other people have been hospitalized in a critical condition.

The group consisted of at least 23 drug addicts who drank the locally-manufactured cough syrup on Saturday evening to get high. The addicts began to feel violently ill within minutes, and five of them died at the scene before help arrived. Eight more died on Sunday while four others died on Monday. At least six men were still being treated at area hospitals on late Monday and several remained in a critical condition. Health officials said samples have been sent for laboratory testing but it is believed the cough syrup had been adulterated, causing it to become extremely toxic. Police have already arrested the owners of three nearby drug stores as an investigation is being carried out, but reports indicate the medicine was being sold at many drug stores.