‘Korea, not a drug-free country, must treat, rehabilitate and return addicts to society’

To reinvigorate the treatment of drug addicts, the government should encourage ordinary medical institutions to treat them by realizing treatment fees to realistic levels, a report said.

Kim Eun-jeong, a legislative researcher at the National Assembly Research Service's Social and Cultural Affairs Division, said so in her report, “Plan to establish treatment and protection system for drug addicts” released on Wednesday.

Kim cited data from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, which showed that the number of uncovered online drug advertisements related to psychotropic drugs, such as amphetamines and zolpidem, increased from 9,738 last year to 26,392 this year. Those of hemp and temporary drugs also rose from 1,321 to 6,957.

“As access to drugs becomes more accessible and the drug trade becomes more benign, drug abuse is becoming an ordinary neighbor’s problem,” Kim said. “It's time to rethink the direction of the country's drug-related policies.”

According to Kim, the government currently defers prosecution after drug users are arrested if their offenses are minor ones, such as simple possession and curiosity, and if they complete education courses. In the case of the latter, the suspended prosecution is conditional on receiving free treatment at 25 hospitals designated as treatment centers for drug addicts.

However, according to the “2023 White Paper on Drug Crimes” released by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, 15 25 hospitals had zero treatment records. Of the 10 with treatment records, two accounted for 86.4 percent of the total—Incheon Chamsarang Hospital, with 461 patients, and Bugok National Hospital, with 93 patients.

A lack of funding was cited as a reason.

Local autonomous governments, which are required to pay half of the cost of treatment, often delay payment to hospitals when their financial conditions are not good, putting a heavy burden on hospitals to maintain facilities to accommodate and treat patients.

So, the central government amended the Narcotics Control Act in January to change the treatment fee for drug addiction treatment to be paid by the National Health Insurance Service, and the government is considering further supporting out-of-pocket expenses. It also designated regional treatment protection organizations and increased the number of designated organizations from 25 to 30. As a result, eight regional treatment protection centers and 30 designated medical institutions treat drug addicts.

However, Kim noted that the treatment protection system applies to only 38 medical centers nationwide, and there is a lack of evidence to link the treatment of drug addicts to communities.

“Since the treatment protection system does not apply to ordinary medical institutions, not designated medical centers, most community medical institutions are reluctant to accept drug addicts as patients,” Kim said. “Given the explosive increase of drug offenders, ordinary medical institutions should be able to treat drug addicts. Still, there is no legal basis in the Narcotics Control Act to support this.”

Accordingly, Kim said, the fee for drug addiction treatment should be realistically set to reflect the difficulty of treatment, which will encourage general medical centers to participate in treatment.

“Drug addiction is difficult to treat because patients may become violent, hysterical, or attempt suicide due to delirium and hallucinations. However, even hospitals treat drug addicts, the fees are the same as those charged for general mental illnesses,” Kim noted.

She pointed out that even alcoholism hospitals find it difficult to find medical professionals due to the difficulty of treatment, adding that it is more unlikely that drug addict-treating hospitals that must deal with much more complex cases could attract medical professionals.

“The government should apply a fee that reflects the reality of treatment, and further research is needed to assign a separate relative value score for drug addiction treatment,” Kim stressed.

She added that given the low participation of general medical institutions, hospitals dedicated to drug treatment are also necessary.

“It would be more efficient to create a special-purpose national hospital with medical professionals specialized in drug addiction treatment, like the National Cancer Center, and operate it within the legal framework, with state funding than designating a dedicated hospital,” Kim said.

It is also necessary to establish a specialized research institute dedicated to the field of drug addiction at the national level. The institute should be tasked with independently developing strategies for the causes, consequences, effects, and treatment of drug addiction, conducting regular surveys, and developing and evaluating a five-year strategy to combat drug use, Kim added.

“It is pointed out that Korea's drug-related laws are still stuck in the time when Korea was believed to be a drug-free country,” Kim said. “However, it is time to think about how to provide treatment and rehabilitation for drug addicts and return them to society normally instead of struggling to remain as a drug-free country.”