Surge in Drug Offenders... Seoul City Launches Comprehensive Measures from Prevention to Rehabilitation

Over 6,200 Drug Offenders in Seoul... Active Intervention Needed
Changes Driven by Seoul City Including the Drug Control Center
Inspections of Suspicious Organizations Until Early Next Year... Legal Revisions Underway

Seoul City is establishing a step-by-step response system tailored to 'prevention-treatment-rehabilitation' to protect citizens from narcotics. While crackdowns and punishments are important to reduce drug offenders, there is a judgment that a systematic comprehensive response is needed to prevent and lower recidivism rates.

Seoul City, which is promoting preventive measures such as eradicating 'medical narcotics shopping' in cooperation with medical institutions, is also improving fines for hospitals and clinics that illegally prescribe medical narcotics. This is a measure to raise awareness not only among medical narcotics handlers but also among citizens by reforming the current fine system, which is only 30,000 won. Seoul City states that narcotics response requires organic linkage of education/promotion - testing - treatment/rehabilitation - monitoring/crackdown, and it intends to take the lead in establishing a cooperative system among institutions.

Philadelphia's 'Zombie Street' Coming to Seoul? ... Seoul City Launches 'Integrated Support System' Due to Limitations of Existing Support Systems

The background for Seoul City's establishment of a comprehensive plan for narcotics management is the explosive spread of drug offenders. In fact, the number of drug offenders in Seoul in 2023 was 6,271, a 35% increase compared to 2022. Applying the drug crime dark figure ratio (28.57 times) announced by the Korean National Police Agency in 2019, the estimated number of drug offenders reaches 180,000.

The situation is even more serious nationwide. In 2023, the number of drug offenders was 27,611, a 50% increase compared to 2022. The sharp increase in drug offenders among adolescents and young adults is notable, and since younger drug offenders repeatedly reoffend, urgent active social intervention is required.

Seoul City's primary policy goal is the healthy social reintegration of existing addicts and the preemptive blocking of drug entry among adolescents and young adults. Judging that drug problems cannot be solved by crackdowns and punishments alone, the focus is on treatment and rehabilitation, along with drug prevention education and promotion, concentrating on blocking the very routes through which narcotics are accessed.

First, Seoul City plans to expand the foundation by establishing the 'Seoul Narcotics Management Center,' an integrated treatment and rehabilitation infrastructure, at the municipal Eunpyeong Hospital. Seoul City secured the basis for establishing the Seoul Narcotics Management Center by revising ordinances, and from June next year, the center will provide benefits such as counseling, inpatient treatment, and rehabilitation to Seoul citizens.

Anyone can anonymously test for narcotics at 25 public health centers using simple test kits. Another major change is the designation of 24 companion clinics, which has improved treatment accessibility in each region.

Additionally, outpatient treatment accessibility has been expanded by allowing mild patients to receive outpatient treatment at 24 companion clinics. Since treatment institutions are insufficient compared to the increasing number of drug offenders, local psychiatric medical institutions have been designated as addiction treatment companion clinics to enable patients to maintain daily life while receiving treatment. To expand the insufficient narcotics addiction rehabilitation facilities, Seoul City plans to reinforce dedicated narcotics personnel at three addiction management integrated support centers focused on alcohol addiction and to establish one new center.

Comprehensive Inspection of Medical Narcotics and Strengthened Narcotics Inspections at Entertainment Venues... Preemptive Blocking of Narcotics Entry

The scope of Seoul City's administrative authority has also increased due to related legal amendments. Since August, with the revision of the 'Narcotics Control Act' and the 'Food Sanitation Act,' if it is found that business operators in entertainment facilities have aided or tolerated narcotics crimes, investigative agencies must notify the autonomous district, which can then impose administrative sanctions (first-time business suspension for 3 months, second-time license cancellation).

As the problem of medical narcotics misuse continues, Seoul City and autonomous districts conducted joint inspections of 176 medical institutions suspected of propofol and zolpidem misuse in the first half of the year, resulting in referrals of suspicious medical institutions and patients for investigation. Seoul City plans to conduct a full inspection of about 1,000 establishments handling propofol by January next year to raise awareness among medical institutions and prevent misuse.

However, Seoul City judges that the amended law's provision requiring verification of administration records only when prescribing fentanyl tablets or patches among medical narcotics has limitations in preventing patients' narcotics shopping. Moreover, the fine for violating the 'Narcotics Control Act' is currently only about 30,000 won per day, which is practically insufficient as a deterrent. Therefore, Seoul City plans to recommend that the government establish control grounds for medical narcotics other than fentanyl, realize fines, and expand sanctions such as public disclosure of violating establishments. At the same time, it will actively pursue institutional improvements such as enabling pre-evaluation during medical narcotics prescriptions and periodic notification of medical institutions about visits by patients suspected of narcotics misuse.

Expansion of Cooperation System with Medical Institutions... "Expecting to Eradicate the Vicious Cycle of Narcotics Misuse"

The establishment of a cooperative system between Seoul City and medical institutions is evaluated as a measure to prevent narcotics misuse. Seoul City has prepared the 'Seoul-type Medical Narcotics Safety Management Voluntary Regulation Plan' to raise awareness and induce self-purification efforts by medical institutions, which centers on verifying the patient's medication history before prescribing medical narcotics.

Not only medical institutions but also patients themselves can check all their narcotics medication history over the past year through the 'Narcotics Medical Shopping Prevention Information Network.' Propofol must comply with the standard of administration within once a month for simple procedure diagnoses, and if patients violate this, they may face imprisonment for up to 5 years or a fine of up to 50 million won. Kim Tae-hee, Director of the Seoul City Citizen Health Bureau, expects this to be an opportunity to eradicate the vicious cycle of medical narcotics misuse.

Jo Seong-nam, Director of the Seoul Narcotics Management Center, known as the leading figure in domestic narcotics addiction treatment, also advises that the most important things in treatment are 'early detection' and 'early treatment.' This is based on the judgment that addiction is a chronic disease and brain disease that requires treatment starting from a single instance. Director Jo said, "The most important thing in treatment is to create motivation. No matter how good the treatment environment is, if the person does not want to receive treatment, it is useless. Ultimately, like all diseases, early detection and early treatment lead to easy recovery."

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon signed the "Seoul City-Seoul Medical Association Safe Use of Medical Narcotics Campaign Agreement" with Hwang Gyu-seok, president of the Seoul Medical Association, on the 13th. Photo by Seoul City