Lawmaker urges reform in Korea's drug addiction response, advocates for treatment over criminalization

Rep. Han Ji-ah of the People Power Party is sounding the alarm on Korea's drug addiction crisis.

In Korea, where the healthcare system and internet infrastructure are advanced, community ties are strong, and mobile gambling is rampant, addiction rates are skyrocketing. 

Last year, 27,611 drug traffickers were arrested, with a sharp rise among teens, people in their 20s, and women, according to the 2023 white paper on drug crimes released by the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office. 

The situation is stark: addiction is spreading its grip, with younger individuals falling prey and female adolescents facing an escalating risk. However, addiction is notorious for its high relapse rates—30 percent within a month, 50 percent within three months, and 87 percent within a year—proving difficult to manage.

Despite President Yoon Suk-yeol’s all-out war declaration against drug crimes a year ago, the focus remains heavily on enforcement rather than treatment, leaving recovery systems underfunded and ineffective.

“We will never heal our society by criminalizing addiction,” Han said during the second session of the Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Seminar she hosted on Wednesday. “Addiction should be treated as a disease, not a crime committed by a few. It can affect any of our loved ones, friends, and neighbors.”

At the seminar, "Addiction: Our Nation is at Risk—The Need for a National-Level Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation System,” Han advocated for the proposed Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, which was submitted in June. 

The new legislation aims to transform addiction treatment by ensuring early intervention and advanced treatment methods across a range of disorders, from substance abuse to behavioral addictions. It includes critical provisions for both direct treatment support and the development of a comprehensive recovery infrastructure, aiming to strengthen the response to addiction and improve outcomes.

Shin Young-chul, senior pastor and chairman of People Sharing Hope Church (also known as Saramdeel), Korea’s pioneering family community for drug addiction recovery, once struggled with severe drug addiction himself.

Shin said that recovery extends beyond clinical treatment. “The real battle starts when patients leave hospitals or prisons and face reintegration into society,” he said.

“Recovery isn’t just about detoxification,” Shin said. “There must be a connected system—a ‘treatment belt’—linking facilities with community-based rehabilitation, including halfway houses, job training, and self-reliance programs.”

“Unlike some foreign systems that offer treatment and rehabilitation alternatives, Korea predominantly sends offenders directly to correctional facilities without providing options for rehabilitation centers.”

Shin advocated for integrating mandatory rehabilitation into the legal system, akin to probation or court orders, to ensure that offenders are directed to rehabilitation centers like those operated by Incheon Chamsarang Hospital.

Meanwhile, there are concerns that setting up new centers without addressing core issues could lead to ineffective programs driven more by theory than practical solutions. Criticism has been directed at the separate plans of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), as the MOHW already manages over 50 addiction management centers, while the MFDS plans to establish 17 new drug rehabilitation centers nationwide.

“MFDS’s plan to establish new rehab centers could overlap with the 50 existing addiction management centers operated by the MOHW,” said Cheon Young-hoon, director of Incheon Chamsarang Hospital and vice president of the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association. This overlap, he warned, might complicate rather than streamline efforts.

Cheon pointed out that while various departments are scrambling for solutions, most of the burden falls on just two private hospitals: his own and Daedong Hospital.

"We need to revamp the responsible department and establish a clear legal framework to define which department will oversee these facilities and their efforts,” said Lee Chen-kun, director of the Korean Addiction Research Foundation (Karf Hospital).

Facilities under mental health rehabilitation, governed under the Mental Health Promotion and Welfare Act, are managed by the Division of Mental Health Policy of MOHW. With over 300 such facilities nationwide, addiction issues often become a “secondary concern,” according to Lee.

The MOHW's Mental Health Management Division, which addresses addiction, does not directly oversee these facilities, leading to poor coordination and complicating effective addiction rehabilitation due to its broader focus on mental health issues.

Lee pointed out the effectiveness of integrated community services in the U.S. and Europe compared to Korea. “These regions offer a network of hospitals, family intervention centers, residential facilities, and daycare centers all within localized areas. " Lee said, “These institutions don’t rely on special programs but emphasize labor, relationships, and self-respect.”

Lee highlighted Basta, a Swedish social enterprise that integrates drug rehabilitation with work. Members, who have undergone their own recovery, collaborate to prevent isolation and foster ongoing relationships. "Such systems could be highly beneficial in Korea," Lee noted.

Recently, MOHW also designated nine additional regional treatment centers to address the increasing number of drug addicts. But Cheon argues that simply increasing the number of institutions isn’t the solution. 

“We have too few healthcare providers, especially in psychiatry,” Cheon said, explaining that public healthcare providers and national psychiatric hospitals are struggling as psychiatrists focus more on outpatient care, leaving psychiatric facilities understaffed and unable to manage existing inpatient cases.

“Instead of building new institutions or rehab centers, we need to bolster support for existing ones to ensure they can effectively fulfill their roles.”

Despite extensive research and numerous proposals, the lack of solid legislative support has led to theoretical advancements with little practical impact over the past two decades.

Given the shortcomings of existing laws such as the Narcotics Control Act and the Mental Health Promotion and Welfare Act, Min Tae-won, a medical journalist at The Kukmin Daily and Vice Director of the Korean Association of Medical Journalists (KAMJ), advocated for “separate, focused legislation on addiction treatment and recovery” in relation to Representative Han’s proposed bill.

Representative Han’s bill proposes establishing a National Addiction Management Center as a central authority and designating specialized addiction treatment institutions. “Creating a control tower under the Prime Minister’s Office and practical central centers is a positive step,” Min said. It mirrors the approach taken with the Dementia Management Act,” which mandated the operation of the National Institute of Dementia and Metropolitan and Provincial Dementia Centers to develop and implement nationwide dementia management plans.

Min noted that a comprehensive plan under the new bill, akin to the Dementia Management Act—which requires the government to produce a comprehensive plan for dementia every five years—could lead to effective treatment systems based on regular assessments of addiction rates, treatment outcomes, and relapse statistics.