"I Take as Many as 50 Pills at Once"... Direct Overseas Purchases Unchecked

[Anchor]

As we reported earlier, taking cold medicine or painkillers in large quantities has been spreading like a trend among teenagers, yet there are no restrictions on their sales. Some teenagers were even trading even more dangerous drugs containing narcotic ingredients through direct overseas purchases.

Reporter Je Hui-won has more.

[Reporter]

Last winter, Mr. A found it strange that more than half of his middle school daughter's cold medicine disappeared overnight, and later discovered that his daughter had purchased cold medicine in bulk via social media.


[Mr. A / Mother of a Teenager Addicted to Drugs : It's a Japanese cough medicine, and it actually contains some narcotic ingredients. They take as few as twenty pills, or more than fifty pills. They share information at a very low threshold within their communities and exchange details through direct messages.]

Starting with regular cold medicine, they secretly buy and sell drugs containing narcotic ingredients once they develop a tolerance.

Mr. A's daughter was referred to a juvenile court under charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act and received a protective disposition.

To avoid punishment, some teenagers bring in substitute drugs that are not classified as narcotics through direct overseas purchases, and even the kids know that if they get caught at customs, the items are simply discarded without any legal penalty.

[Mr. A / Mother of a Teenager Addicted to Drugs : The kids buy menstrual cramps medicine or neuralgia medicine as a workaround. Even if they get caught, there's no legal punishment, just losing money.... I filed complaints with several government bodies including the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and the Korea Customs Service, but they just said, 'There is nothing we can do.']

An emergency medicine specialist who has been treating teenagers with drug addiction for over 10 years says that the number of teenagers visiting emergency rooms has noticeably increased since the second half of last year.

[Lee Ji-sook / Head of Pediatric Emergency Medical Center, Ajou University Hospital : We can see that middle schoolers are distinctly increasing. There was a case where a child took 60 pills, and that child was staying at a boarding school. Discovery was delayed, so they were rushed to the hospital already in cardiac arrest... .]

Drug use, which often begins like a game, frequently leads to cravings for even more dangerous drugs.

[Lee Ji-sook / Head of Pediatric Emergency Medical Center, Ajou University Hospital : 'Stopping sales' doesn't solve the problem. Adults need to fix the environment to understand why children are taking drugs and struggling like this. I believe society needs to pay attention and discuss fundamental solutions.]

It is time for a pan-governmental review of how teenagers access and purchase drugs, alongside deep consideration for more fundamental solutions.

(Video Reported by Kim Seung-tae and Kang Si-woo | Video Edited by Kim Jin-won)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.