Targeting Halloween: "Twice as Much" Detected in Various Places

[Anchor]

To investigate the actual use of narcotics, the government has been collecting and analyzing domestic sewage since 2020. Notably, various types of club drugs were detected in sewage from nightlife districts in Seoul during Halloween last year.

Reporter Han Sung-hee has the story.

[Reporter]

A police drug crackdown team raids a club in Seoul.

After searching various spots, they discover a medicine bottle suspected of containing drugs.

When a Korea Customs Service official cuts open the leg of a baby crib, white powder spills out.

It is ketamine, commonly known as a representative "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 nightlife districts in Seoul during Halloween last year.

As a result, eight components of so-called "club drugs," including cocaine, ecstasy, and ketamine, were detected.

This is twice the number of varieties typically identified on ordinary weekends.

This marks the first time the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has specifically targeted the Halloween period to investigate drug components near nightlife areas.

When the ministry significantly expanded the number of target narcotics for analysis from a maximum of 22 to 243 last year, the types of narcotics identified in sewage nationwide reached 31, more than a fourfold increase from the 7 types the previous year.

[Chae Gyu-han / Director General for Narcotics Safety, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety: Looking at the types of narcotics, synthetic cannabinoids, which produce effects similar to marijuana—meaning synthetic marijuana—were detected the most, at 21 types.]

Synthetic marijuana is a chemical substance created to produce effects similar to marijuana, confirming in South Korea the global trend of increasing cheap synthetic drugs.

[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 materials even drop, there is a very significant downward trend in the prices of psychotropic drugs. Naturally, with lower prices, the possibility of exposure to the general public and...]

The number of drug offenders nationwide increased to 23,000 last year, continuing an upward trend.

(Video Editing: Ahn Yeo-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.