SBS Punjabi earlier week revealed how illegal opiates were easily available in many south Asian grocery stores in Australia.
A Punjabi man who has experimented with Indian ‘Kamini’ which is presented as an aphrodisiac, has shared his experience with the drug.
Rohan, who runs a private business in Melbourne, says he became curious after he became aware of Kamini tablets.
"I saw this being sold at my friend’s grocery store," says Rohan. "He told me it had opium."
"I couldn’t believe opium could be sold over the counter in stores in Australia.
"So, just to experiment, I had one pill and it gave me a hit. I was driving back home, I could feel my nervous system slow down, my reactions were getting slow."
He never took them again.
Rohan says Kamini tablets are easily available at many grocery stores, and a lot of night-time workers like cabbies and truck drivers take the tablets because they say it keeps them alert, and it seems to go undetected in road-side tests.
He elaborates, "I asked people whose primary occupation is driving and they tell me they have been pulled over but it doesn’t show in the breath test. Some have even been swab tested, nothing shows up even in that."
The Australian Drug Foundation confirms that roadside testing for drugs usually involves taking a saliva sample to test for drugs such as cannabis, speed, ice, crystal meth and ecstasy - and not for opium.
Anecdotally the Kamini tablets, like many opiates, appear to be quite addictive.
Rohan told SBS, "People start with one or two tablets in the beginning - and I have seen a guy who sculled down 12 tablets in one go.
"The shopkeeper friend of mine also told me about one guy who sculled half a bottle at one time."
"They say it’s very easy to give it up, but I am pretty sure it’s not.
"I have seen them take it regularly – that’s what worries me the most.
"They are my friends - I think they are addicted to it.
"If they don’t take it, they feel there isn’t enough energy in the body."
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Illegal opiates are readily available in grocery stores across Australia as Indian 'Kamini' tablets
