<Anchor>
There is growing concern about
the drug problem. If you look at the prescription through hospitals, 1 in 2.7 of our people are prescribed therapeutic narcotics. However, there are places where drugs are prescribed too easily because they are poorly managed, and there are even patients who unknowingly become addicted to drugs while receiving pain treatment.

First, let's take a look at what medical reporter Cho Dong-chan said.

<Reporter Cho Dong-chan>

Korea Drug Safety Control Agency.

All prescriptions for medical narcotics in the country are counted in real time.

[Kang Baek-won/MFDS Spokesperson: When the use, duration, and purpose (of medical narcotics) deviate from the normal range, we request an investigation after consulting with experts.]

There are more than 10 million prescriptions for normal narcotics a month, and last year, 51 people were caught with suspicious prescriptions.

Kim Mo, a housewife in her 40s, was prescribed narcotics at the university hospital 10 years ago due to complex regional pain syndrome.

[Kim Mo/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and Drug Addict: Isn't this addictive? But most doctors. I believed that there is no addiction to what is really done for treatment.]

I caught the pain, but I was addicted to drugs.

[Kim Mo/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome/Drug Addict: I'm confused right now. Is this painful because of pain or withdrawal? I came to high-five with the Grim Reaper. If there's hell, it's like this when you do something bad and fall into the pit of hell fire.]

There are many pain specialists, but few addiction specialists.

[Cho Cho-nam/Director of the National Justice Hospital: (Doctors) learn a little bit in psychiatry because they don't learn how scary addiction is, but no one knows much about drug addiction and it's not well known.]

Park, who is in her 20s, became addicted to the medical drug fentanyl through an acquaintance.

[Mo Park/Drug Addict: I hung out with his brother. I just keep giving him (fentanyl). I just keep giving it to him. Then, a week later, I give him money. After all, that's the trick.]

After poisoning, he went to the hospital to get drugs.

[Mr. Mo Park/Drug Addict: If you go to five hospitals, you don't give fentanyl to three and give you two. I'm already in legal trouble right now (in medical supervision), and the doctors aren't punished.]

Cases of drug addiction under normal prescription have not been investigated.

(Video Interview: Han Il-il, Kim Won-bae, Yang Ji-hoon, Video Editing: Hwang Ji-young)

---

<Anchor>
To treat
drug addiction, the government has designated 21 hospitals nationwide as specialized hospitals. However, far fewer places actually receive drug patients, and even if they want to be treated, they have to wait months for it.

Then there's the credit reporter.

<Reporter>
Mr. A, who is in his
40s, has been taking various drugs for more than 30 years since he was a teenager.

Even after two incarcerations, it was not easy to resist temptation.

After three years of treatment at a government-designated drug hospital, I succeeded in quitting drugs.

However, the process was very difficult until I was treated at a specialist hospital.

[Mr. A/Drug Addiction Treatment Patient: When I make an appointment, I basically have to wait for more than two months. Aren't there a lot of thoughts coming up in it? Then I will have a relapse again...]

There are 21 designated hospitals nationwide, but in the first half of last year, 96% of drug treatment patients were concentrated in two.

Fourteen of the designated hospitals did not accept drug patients at all.

Hospitals specializing in drugs are designated by the Minister of Health and Welfare or the head of a local government based on the number of people treated and the size of the facilities.

However, the hospitals in question claim that the designation of specialist hospitals was done without even having the personnel to treat them.

[Drug designated hospital official: We need professionally trained personnel, but there is a shortage of doctors, so that's the most difficult...]

[Park Yong-deok/Director of the Addiction Rehabilitation Center of the Anti-Drug Campaign Headquarters: First of all, I think it's a budget issue. There are few doctors dedicated to drugs. The government should confirm the budget more....]

When the interview began, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it would redesignate hospitals with treatment conditions, train medical staff specializing in drugs, and provide incentives for hospitals to treat them.

(Video Interview: Park Jin-ho, Video Editor: Kim Yoon-sung, Graphics: Ryu Sang-so) ---

<Anchor>
Let's talk more with medical reporter
Cho Dong-chan

.

Q. Can't I stop you from shopping at the Drug Hospital?

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical Reporter (Specialist): The MFDS system can detect drug hospital shopping after the fact, but it is difficult to block it in advance.]

[Cho Cho-nam/Director of the National Justice Hospital: To find out how many narcotics you have received, the doctor has to go into another system and look for them separately to find out. You know, it doesn't open automatically, so the doctors are busy, who is going to look for that?]

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical Reporter (Specialist): Ultimately, if it can be easily understood in the doctor's prescription system, it can be effective. We need to quickly integrate the real-time system of the Ministry of Food and Drug Administration and the prescription system of the Ministry of Welfare.]

Q. Addicted to drugs for therapeutic purposes... Isn't it a medical malpractice?

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical Reporter (Specialist): Addiction caused by normal prescription of narcotics is difficult to filter out in the domestic medical environment.]

[Chun Young-hoon/Director of Designated Hospital for Drug Addiction Treatment: In the consultation time of only 1~2 minutes, we check (the patient's) withdrawal symptoms and ask if they develop resistance (to narcotics) or not, and there is no time.]

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical Reporter (Specialist): It is understood that there have been no cases in which such drug addiction has been recognized as a medical malpractice or a doctor has been punished. Doctors prescribe for good purposes for treatment, but education and countermeasures are needed so that doctors are fully aware and aware that this can lead to the evil consequences of drug addiction.]


---
<anchor>
I'll talk more with medical reporter
Cho Dong-chan.

Q. Can't I stop you from shopping at the Drug Hospital?

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical Reporter (Specialist): The MFDS system can detect drug hospital shopping after the fact, but it is difficult to block it in advance.]

[Cho Cho-nam/Director of the National Justice Hospital: To find out how many narcotics you have received, you have to go into another system and look for them separately to find out, but it doesn't automatically pop up, so who will look for it when the doctors are busy?]

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical Reporter (Specialist): Ultimately, if it can be easily understood in the doctor's prescription system, it can be effective. We need to quickly integrate the real-time system of the Ministry of Food and Drug Administration and the prescription system of the Ministry of Welfare.]

Q. Addicted to drugs for therapeutic purposes... Isn't it a medical malpractice?

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical Reporter (Specialist): Addiction caused by normal prescription of narcotics is difficult to filter out in the domestic medical environment.]

[Chun Young-hoon/Director of Designated Hospital for Drug Addiction Treatment: In the consultation time of only 1~2 minutes, we check (the patient's) withdrawal symptoms and ask if they develop resistance (to narcotics) or not, and there is no time.]

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical Reporter (Specialist): It is understood that there have been no cases in which such drug addiction has been recognized as a medical malpractice or a doctor has been punished. Doctors prescribe for good purposes for treatment, but education and countermeasures are needed so that doctors are fully aware and aware that this can lead to the evil consequences of drug addiction.]