HAVANA, Cuba. – In recent years, the use of the drug known as “the chemist”about between young people and adolescents. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg of substance consumption on the Island, which is exacerbated by the serious crisis that the country is going through, the lack of opportunities for personal development and the poor coverage of basic needs.
Although it has not been mentioned in official information, the use of homatropine methyl bromide, better known as Novatropin, as a drug has also increased concern in the emergency rooms of hospitals and polyclinics, and among psychologists and psychiatrists.
A mental health specialist from a Havana polyclinic told CubaNet (on condition of anonymity so as not to lose his job) that patients use homatropine, the essential component of Novatropin, as a narcotic.
“They place the medicine in a spoon and set it on fire until the homatropine remains in the household utensil. It is common for them to use it with alcohol, which causes overstimulation of the nervous system with hallucinations and delusions,” the doctor explained.
The people who take drugs with this substance are, for the most part, adolescents and young people between 16 and 27 years old, the specialist added.
Cuban authorities have recognized the increase in drug use on the island. Last August, the regime admitted that there were young people between 16 and 19 years old involved in the sale and consumption of narcotics.
“There is already consumption, possession and sale among young people. Even young people between 16 and 19 years old get involved as sellers,” said Cuba’s Deputy Minister of Education, Eugenio González Pérez, on the television program Round Table.
This space revealed that drug consumption focuses “especially on adolescents in eighth and ninth grades, as well as in the first and second years of Technical-Professional Education.”
In this context, the prolonged expansion of the “chemical” has aroused the concern of consumer families. This drug is based on cannabis, to which other synthetic substances are added. It causes a powerful state of euphoria and lethargy and can lead to death. Among the symptoms in common with the synthesis of homatropine are hallucinations and lightness in the body, said the specialist consulted by CubaNet.
For his part, one of the consumers of homatropine told this medium that he often buys Novatropin on internet platforms such as Revolico and Telegram groups dedicated to the sale of medicines in Cuba. Then, he explained, he meets with other young people, with whom he obtains the substance to consume it with alcohol.
“The state is one of great euphoria, although it does not last long,” commented this 19-year-old boy who identifies himself as Ernesto and studies at the Osvaldo Herrera Telecommunications Polytechnic, in the Plaza de la Revolución municipality.
Novatropin barely exists in Cuban pharmacies, affected by a critical shortage.
However, a doctor from the Psychiatry team at the Manuel Fajardo hospital in Havana told CubaNet that it is “mandatory” to prescribe it with the patient’s address and their identity card. “It cannot be prescribed by doctors on duty in polyclinics, but in specialist offices or consultations in hospitals,” he indicated.
Novatropin is an antispasmodic that is used primarily for various gastrointestinal and neurological disorders. The bottle can be purchased at Revolico for prices that reach up to $15 or its equivalent in national currency, according to the informal exchange rate.
