[Anchor]

We reported last week on how it is becoming a trend among teenagers to take excessive amounts of cold medicine or painkillers all at once. But that is not the entire story. Some are importing drugs with strong hallucinogenic components via direct overseas purchases, while others are even trading medications containing narcotic ingredients.

Reporter Je Hui-won has the story.

[Reporter]

Last winter, parent A noticed that more than half of her middle school daughter's cold medicine had vanished overnight, leading her to discover that her daughter had purchased large quantities of cold medicine through social media.

[A / Mother of a drug-addicted teenager: It is a Japanese cough medicine that contains some narcotic ingredients. They take anywhere from 20 to over 50 pills at a time. They start with a very low barrier, sharing information within their own communities and exchanging details through direct messages.]

They start with regular cold medicine, but as they develop a tolerance, they secretly buy and sell medications containing narcotic components.

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

To avoid punishment, some teens bring in alternative medications that are not classified as narcotics through direct overseas purchases, and even children know that if they are caught at customs, the drugs are simply discarded without any legal penalty.

[A / Mother of a drug-addicted teenager: The kids buy menstrual cramp medicine or neuralgia medicine as a workaround. Even if they get caught, there is no legal punishment, and they just lose their money... I filed complaints with multiple government agencies 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 addictions for over a decade says there has been a noticeable increase in adolescents visiting the emergency room since the second half of last year.

[Lee Ji-sook / Head of Pediatric Emergency Medical Center, Ajou University Hospital: We can see a distinct increase in middle school students. There was a case where a child took 60 pills while staying at a boarding school. Because the discovery was delayed, the child was rushed to the hospital already in cardiac arrest, and...]

Drug use that starts out like a game often leads to the craving for even more dangerous substances.

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

It is time to consider more fundamental solutions alongside a government-wide inspection of the channels through which teenagers purchase drugs.

(Video laporan: Kim Seung-tae, Kang Si-woo | Video editing: Kim Jin-won)