[Anchor]
The government has been collecting and analyzing municipal wastewater to investigate the actual scale of illegal drug use. During Halloween last year, eight types of so-called club drugs were detected in sewage samples from entertainment districts in Seoul.
Reporter Han Sung-hee has the story.
[Reporter]
Police drug enforcement officers raid a club in Seoul.
After searching the premises, they discover a medicine bottle suspected of containing illicit drugs.
As a Korea Customs Service official cuts open the leg of a baby crib, white powder pours out.
It is ketamine, widely known as a typical club drug.
Amid growing concerns over the spread of club drugs, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety collected and analyzed sewage samples from 10 locations near entertainment districts in Seoul during Halloween last year.
The analysis detected eight types of so-called club drugs, including cocaine, ecstasy, and ketamine.
This was twice the number of varieties found during typical weekends.
This marks the first time the ministry specifically targeted the Halloween period to investigate drug residues near entertainment districts.
When the ministry significantly expanded the number of target substances from a maximum of 22 to 243 last year, the number of drug types identified in sewage nationwide reached 31, more than four times the 7 types recorded the previous year.
[Chae Kyu-han / Director General for Narcotics Safety, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety: Looking at the types of drugs, synthetic cannabinoids, which produce effects similar to marijuana, were detected the most at 21 types.]
Synthetic cannabinoids are chemical substances created to mimic the effects of marijuana, confirming that the global trend of increasing inexpensive synthetic drugs has also reached South Korea.
[Lee Bum-jin / Head of the Korea Anti-Drug Research Institute (Professor, Ajou University College of Pharmacy): As the synthesis process becomes simplified and the prices of raw materials drop, the prices of psychotropic substances are generally on a downward trend. Because the prices are relatively cheap, the possibility of exposure to the general public increases...]
The number of drug offenders nationwide continued to rise, reaching 23,000 last year.
(Video Editing: Ahn Yeo-jin)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.