A few clarifications -
The drug is Phensedyl, not Phensidyl, as per the spelling of the trade name of the drug. Trade names are unique, and are property of the company that owns the trade name. So it is ridiculous to say that India is the only country that produces Phensedyl. Of course, it has to be the only country that produces the cough linctus with that trade name. Even in India, if someone else has to make that formulation with Ephedrine and Codeine, it will have to be sold with a different trade name, not Phensedyl.
The link in post #76 above is therefore obviously a quick job, trying to bolster the claim in this forum. On Wikipedia, it can be managed easily. The page having the details of Phensidyl is an orphan (not linking anywhere), and the awesome "India is the only country who produced Phensidyl" was added just with the last edit, done on 4th Dec, '09. Good job, Bad English!
Phensedyl is sold by Nicolas Piramal India Limited, a mainstream pharmaceutical company. The Codeine content in the drug is below the level mandated by local laws, so it is entirely above board.
If at all it could be banned in India, it would probably be because of the Ephedrine content, as Ephedrine is increasingly being seen as harmful, and is being banned by countries across the world. It is however, not an all-out evil as opiate drugs are.
Codeine is addictive, and there are limits on how much should be put in formulations. Codeine addiction, therefore, is only a fringe phenomenon in Indian society.
It is a matter of social engineering along with regulatory regime, to contain the use of prescription/OTC drugs as recreational drugs. This is so because all substances abused have a legitimate use. Even opium has use in terms of medical opiates/morphine etc. If one has to ban the use of substances prone to abuse, one probably will have to ban white-out or rubber glue (there are glue sniffers in destitutes of every metro in South Asia). To think of it, even paint is sniffed by the desperate. Want to ban all that??
I am not advocating perpetuation of substances prone to be abused. Nor am I insensitive to the plight of those who are addicted to these drugs. But I want to dispel the impression that somehow India is 'evil', and is pushing the cough syrup to corrupt Bangladeshi youth. I agree we need to do a lot better, but it is not justified to cast aspersions on Indian intentions.