In everyday life, any pharmacy is traditionally perceived as an institution designed to protect our health.

However, alarming cases that are increasingly being recorded in our country show that it is precisely the pharmacy network that is becoming a channel for the distribution of prohibited narcotic and psychotropic substances. This points to a phenomenon known as "pharmacy drug addiction," whereby drugs that cause persistent drug dependence are distributed under the guise of legal pharmaceutical activity. This is not about isolated violations but a systemic problem whose threatening scale is becoming increasingly obvious.

THE PHARMACY AS A SOURCE OF THREAT

The alarming dynamics are evidenced by data from law enforcement agencies. 2025: during raids in Almaty, 126 pharmacies were identified in just four days where narcotic and psychotropic drugs were dispensed without prescriptions. 2026: during the large-scale special operation "Därmek," police checked more than a thousand pharmacies, hospitals, and industrial enterprises, initiating 31 criminal cases. In Almaty, pharmacists were detained for selling more than 3,300 potent pills without a prescription.

Of particular concern is the activity of organized criminal groups. Thus, in the spring of 2026, in the West Kazakhstan Region, a "pharmacy drug addiction" scheme with a turnover of about one billion tenge was uncovered, operating under the guise of a legal pharmaceutical business. The main consumers were young people aged 18 to 25. In the Zhambyl Region, members of a drug group that used pharmacies for the storage and sale of tramadol received sentences of up to 17 years of imprisonment. A pharmacist at one of the Almaty pharmacies organized supplies of large batches of potent drugs to the Aktobe Region, where the organizer, operator, packers, and stash-droppers were detained.

A very recent news item: a 72-year-old female pensioner received a real prison term. The Kokshetau City Court sentenced her to two years and four months of imprisonment for the illegal acquisition, transportation, and storage of a psychotropic substance in especially large quantities. Last autumn, this elderly resident of the town of Makinsk used forged prescriptions to purchase 30 packages of the psychotropic substance tramadol (300 tablets) at one of the pharmacies in the regional center. She was detained by officers of the drug crime counteraction unit. At trial, she explained that she "purchased the tablets for personal use," but the evidence gathered during the pre-trial investigation confirmed her guilt in the illegal acquisition, transportation, and storage of a substance that has been on the list of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, and their analogues whose circulation in Kazakhstan is subject to control since 2023.

It turns out that such drugs can easily be purchased via messaging apps as well. In Aktobe, a criminal case was considered based on a story involving the purchase in August 2025 by citizen M. from the online store "Apteka" on the Telegram messenger of potent drugs that are under strict accounting and are dispensed only by prescription.

The volume of purchases of such strictly regulated medications is impressive. He was dispensed 80 bottles of "Tropikamid" with a volume of ten ml each (the cost of each bottle being 1,312 tenge), the anti-seizure tablets "Alis" in the amount of 20 packs, each containing 56 tablets (the cost of each pack being 7,052 tenge), and "Zonik" in the amount of 20 packs, each containing 56 tablets (the cost of each pack being 10,828 tenge).

The medications were dispensed to a single individual, and, naturally, without a prescription. How did this become possible? And how many consumers are behind this potion?

M.'s client base was in Aktobe, where he arrived on December 17, 2025, and rented an apartment. He brought the prohibited drugs with him. Soon buyers came to him-local residents R., Zh., and others. In the rented apartment, M. sold them ten bottles of "Tropikamid" and two packs each of psychotropic drugs.

The buyers, who noticed that the seller had an entire bag of illegal drugs and a significant sum of money, hatched a plan…

Late at night, the five of them came to M. again, having distributed roles among themselves in advance: one was responsible for transport, the second for access to the entrance and the apartment, and the rest were to commit the robbery.

In the apartment was M.'s girlfriend with a minor child. Hearing noise at the front door, she started screaming. But M. did not wake up.

The late-night guests found two bags in the apartment containing money in the amount of 5,500,000 tenge and medications intended for sale.

The suspects in the robbery were detained in an apartment used as a den, where there were 15 people. They were using drugs, and when the police arrived, they tried to destroy the evidence. The participants in the night robbery of M. appeared before the court.

On the face of it, from a legal standpoint, everything is correct: the robbers were punished, and the damage to the victim was compensated. But there is one "however." How did the victim, without prescriptions, underground, purchase such a quantity of prohibited drugs from an online pharmacy on a messaging app? How did he transport them to Aktobe and manage to freely sell part of the potion to drug-dependent individuals? Will he bear responsibility for his own unlawful actions as well?

MECHANISMS OF CRIMINAL SCHEMES

Drug addiction is not someone's harmful habit. As we can see, it leads to crimes. And these people with clouded consciousness do not live somewhere far away. They are nearby, among us, our children. In broad daylight, they buy and distribute the potion, drawing young people into their ranks.

We must look for the roots of evil. We must remember that criminal schemes for selling prohibited substances are diverse. The simplest option has become the over-the-counter dispensing of controlled drugs. One of the Almaty pharmacies was caught committing this violation several times but continued to operate. As the bitter experience of the 72-year-old "businesswoman" from Makinsk showed, forged prescriptions were also used.

But the greatest danger is posed by organized criminal groups that use pharmacies as infrastructure for storage and distribution. Disguising themselves as lawful pharmaceutical activity, they operate interregionally, have a clear structure, and distribute roles.

Another question: why can drugs be bought anywhere if one wishes? Why has thorough pharmaceutical oversight over such trafficking in pharmacies and messaging apps been neglected? How could it come to pass that "pharmacy drug addiction" has acquired such a multi-level, well-oiled character?

We know the end consumer. It is mainly young people. Drugs like tramadol and others from this group cause rapid addiction. Their availability through pharmacies lowers the psychological barrier to use. The pharmacy as a source of a "legal" drug is especially dangerous because it creates an illusion of safety and permissibility. The flip side of the coin is corruption and collusion with the medical community. After all, without the participation of doctors writing dubious prescriptions and pharmacists, such large-scale schemes are impossible. This phenomenon undermines trust in the healthcare system as a whole.

Another problem is the criminalization of the youth environment. The target audience of criminal schemes is young people aged 18 to 25. They not only consume but also often act as stash-droppers. Among them are quite a few teenagers.

Overall, the phenomenon of "pharmacy drug addiction" in Kazakhstan reflects a deeper problem: the gap between formal regulation and actual practice. As police reports show, tightening legislation by introducing criminal liability for the illegal circulation of potent substances with penalties of up to 15 years has not become a panacea for this terrible disease.

Systemic and strict control is required at all stages: from the writing of a prescription to the sale of the drug. Digital labeling has proven effective in identifying violations, and this measure should become the basis for tighter monitoring.

Real cases involving bags of prohibited drugs and grandmother drug dealers show that the pharmacy cannot and should not remain a blind spot for the law enforcement system; otherwise, the price of this "blind spot" will be measured in new human lives.

A painful and acute question: why does professional deformation and degradation occur among medical workers and pharmacists who, using the opportunities of their legal activity, organize the supply of large batches of potent substances? Where does such "fearlessness" come from, given that the illegal circulation of potent substances entails criminal liability in the form of imprisonment for up to 15 years? Is explanatory and preventive work being conducted among this group of medical personnel?

A specific pharmacist at one of the Almaty pharmacies whom the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan suspects of organizing a criminal group for the illegal sale of potent drugs (in particular, tramadol) to the Aktobe Region, and her accomplices (the scheme included an organizer, an operator, packers, and persons who carried out stash placements), must not only be brought to trial but also given sad notoriety, so that information about a thousand packages of medications removed from illegal circulation does not quietly lie in the materials of a criminal case but becomes a public example in the series "Crime and Punishment."

So that people understand that the free sale of medications always balances between the accessibility of medical care and risks to public safety.

The true danger of these drugs is revealed when they are used for non-medical purposes, especially by persons with opioid dependence. Thus, the same tropicamide and analogues, brought to Aktobe by the jar and by the bag, are not only used in ophthalmology but also serve as a "booster" for heroin. Drug-dependent individuals use it not as an independent drug to achieve euphoria but to modify the effect of heroin. Intravenous administration of such solutions leads to destructive consequences, including fatal outcomes.

The law introducing amendments to legislation on countering the illegal circulation of drugs introduced the concept of "potent substances" and approved their list. Among others, tropicamide was included in it. The individuals in the above story involving the attack on its seller in Aktobe used it for non-medical consumption.

Since 2026, provisions on criminal liability for violating the rules of circulation of such drugs have come into force. If previously a pharmacist could get off with a fine, now for free sale without a prescription, they face serious sanctions-from large fines to imprisonment for up to 40 days and a ban on holding a position for up to three years.
But why, knowing this, do they commit violations? Does it mean that buyers of potent substances offer more attractive terms?

The facts of the free sale of these drugs carry a deadly threat, especially for the vulnerable group of drug-dependent individuals who use them off-label, putting their lives at risk.

The transition to criminal liability for violating the rules of circulation of these substances should become a serious barrier to the spread of this "pharmacy drug addiction." The question now is not so much whether pharmacies have the right to sell them, but how effectively the new legislative framework can prevent them from falling into the hands of dependent individuals.

Akmaral ABDULOVA