'Now is the golden time': MFDS to directly investigate medical narcotics crimes

“When we think of drugs, we think of meth or cocaine, but increasingly, medications prescribed in hospitals are being used for criminal purposes. Now is the golden time to protect the public from drugs."

Minister of Food and Drug Safety Oh Yu-kyoung made tthis statement last Saturday, warning against the misuse of medical narcotics and announcing that the ministry is launching a “tweezers investigation” to protect legitimate medical treatment while targeting crimes selectively.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety(MFDS) will launch a direct investigation system for medical narcotics from the second half of this year.

MFDS has already finalized relevant laws and organizational reorganization. In March, it secured the authority to investigate medical narcotics through the amendment of the Judicial Police Service Act. In May, it laid the legal basis for increasing the number of special judicial police officers through the partial amendment to the enforcement rules of the MFDS and its affiliated organizations.

The ministry plans to recruit five additional special police officers in the second half of the year to investigate medical narcotics. Personnel procedures and training are underway for the existing members of the Central Investigation Team. The recruits will be specialized in dealing with the illegal distribution and misuse of major medical narcotics, including propofol, fentanyl, and methylphenidate.

Upon completion of the recruitment, the number of special enforcement officers will increase from 24 to 29. The move from a police and prosecutor-centered drug investigation system to a direct investigation by the MFDS is aimed at plugging loopholes in the management of medical drugs and speeding up on-site response.

“Armed with the authority to investigate medical drugs, it is now possible for us to go beyond crackdowns and conduct in-depth investigations,” Oh said. “All parties, including the pharmaceutical and medical industries, police, and prosecutors, should work together to form a tighter response network.”

Experts have pointed out that medical drugs are relatively easy to fall through the investigative cracks compared to other illegal drugs. A case in point was the “Apgujeong Rolls-Royce” case. It was revealed that the perpetrator was prescribed a mixture of propofol and midazolam, raising social awareness about the distribution and management of medical narcotics.

Last year, the MFDS inspected 433 medical narcotics organizations and found violations in 188 of them, referring them for investigation or administrative action. This year, it has further strengthened related regulations by, for instance, mandating fentanyl-methylphenidate medication history checks and banning propofol “self-prescription.”

However, the enforcement authority alone was not enough to immediately investigate medical shopping patients or distribution criminals. With the new investigative powers, the MFDS will be able to intervene directly from the earliest stages of the response and operate a more rapid and precise on-site investigation system.

The special police system grants investigative powers to public officials based on their expertise in specific fields, and the ministry has been investigating food and drug-related crimes since the 1970s. Last year, it was named the “Best Special Police Agency” by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office for handling over 300 cases annually. Securing the authority to investigate medical drugs is considered the biggest change in the history of the KFDA's special police force.

However, some are concerned about the possibility that the medical narcotics investigation could be expanded to organized crime. In response, the ministry said, "We are maintaining a system where one dispatched prosecutor is in charge of the investigation, and we are continuing to conduct joint investigations and educational cooperation with the National Police Agency."

Once the recruitment is completed in the second half of the year, the MFDS’ medical narcotics investigation is expected to enter a new era. With the establishment of a response system that combines investigative authority and expertise, the government's strategy to restore a “drug-free and clean country” is expected to gain more substantial momentum, according to ministry officials.