Drug cases are on the rise in Korea, as shown by the surge in confiscated psychotropic narcotics, officials said Tuesday.
The interagency crackdown on illegal drug use in the first half of this year resulted in the arrest of 7,565 drug offenders, including 1,138 imprisoned, according to data from relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, the Korea Customs Service, the National Police Agency, and the Korea Coast Guard,
It marked an increase of about 8.6 percent from the 6,969 drug offenders arrested in the same period of last year. The figure was the extension of recent trends, in which the authorities arrested 12,613 people in 2018, 16,044 people in 2019, and 18,050 people in 2020.
The number of confiscated psychotropic drugs has also increased sharply.
The numbers of psychotropic drugs and marijuana seized by the authorities increased about 177 and 227 percent, respectively, over the period.
The government also stressed that narcotic abuse by adolescents is emerging, such as the illegal distribution of fentanyl patches. The report showed that the number of drug offenders under 19 increased to 277, up 156.5 percent year to year.
The related agencies also analyzed big data reported to the narcotics integrated management system to prevent the misuse of medical narcotics to treat patients and animals.
The analysis selected and inspected 204 hospitals and clinics suspected of inappropriate reporting of misuse, abuse, and handling of medical narcotics. As a result of the inspection, the officials found that 91 patients and 117 hospitals and clinics violated regulations, such as illegal use of drugs for medical purposes and inappropriate reporting on narcotics handling, and requested further investigations to relevant agencies.
"We will strengthen the cooperative system between enforcement agencies to block the distribution of illegal narcotics as well as international cooperation with foreign agencies to eradicate drug smuggling," said Jang Sang-yoon, head of the social coordination office at the Office for Government Policy Coordination.
Based on the first-half results, the government will do its best to create an environment where the people can live safely from drugs by carrying out more intensive crackdowns and implementing effective prevention efforts in the second half-year."