I bought it for the pain effect, but I'm addicted to it...43 times in 4 years of illegal imports of cold medicine and sleeping pills containing narcotics ↑

Mar 18, 2025

자료=관세청

The number of illegal drugs containing drugs, such as cold drugs, sleeping pills, and diet drugs, has increased rapidly.

According to the Korea Customs Service, the volume of illegal drugs containing drugs increased about 43 times from 885g in 2020 to 37,688g last year. This year, the number of cases detected by the end of February was 65 and the number of cases detected was 11,854 grams, up 3.8 times from the same period last year and more than five times the number of cases detected.

The Korea Customs Service cited the increasing demand in Korea as the reason for purchasing drugs due to pain effects without knowing that they contain drugs, or drug addicts abuse illegal drugs as an alternative drug. In particular, it is analyzed that the general public, who is not familiar with the drug ingredients or risks, is addicted to the drug ingredients of illegal drugs, purchasing additional products, and looking for more addictive drugs, eventually becoming drug addicts.

There are a total of 481 types of drugs prescribed by the 「Act on Drug Management」, and 10 types of drugs are mainly contained in illegal drugs, including codeine, dextromethorpan, alprazolam, and zolpidem. Among the top 10 narcotics ingredients, four ingredients, codeine in cold drugs, dextromethorpan, alprazolam in insomnia drugs, and zolpidem, accounted for 239 out of 292 cases detected last year, accounting for about 82%.

Illegal cold medicines caught by customs are mainly brought in by domestic residents of Korea, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka by express delivery and mail, and illegal sleeping pills are carried by travelers from Korea and China from the United States, China, and Japan.

An official from the Korea Customs Service emphasized that even if drugs are legally sold in foreign countries during overseas trips or when purchasing drugs from overseas online sites, they must be checked to see if they contain drugs that are prohibited from being brought into the country.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.