South Korea Urged to Tighten Controlled-Drug Monitoring as Prescriptions Rise
A National Assembly research report says more than 20 million South Koreans received controlled medicines in 2024, highlighting sharp growth among young patients and gaps in real-time oversight.
More than 20 million people in South Korea were prescribed controlled medicines in 2024, prompting a National Assembly research body to call for stronger real-time monitoring of drugs that carry risks of misuse or dependence.
The National Assembly Research Service said about 20.01 million patients received medicines classified under Korean law as medical narcotics during the year. Approximately 1.93 billion doses were dispensed through around 100 million prescriptions. The category covers narcotic and psychotropic medicines used for legitimate purposes including pain control, anesthesia, anxiety, sleep disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The report cautioned that the scale of prescribing does not by itself demonstrate misuse. It instead focused on patterns that regulators may need to examine more closely, particularly the rapid increase in prescriptions for children and teenagers, online promotion of ADHD medicine as a study aid, and continued breaches of restrictions on remote prescribing.
The volume prescribed to patients aged 19 or younger nearly doubled from 2020 to 2024. Over the same period, ADHD medicine prescriptions rose 139 percent, increasing from 37.71 million doses to 90.2 million. Many of those treatments contain methylphenidate, a psychotropic substance regulated under the Narcotics Control Act.
Authorities have also encountered illegal online marketing. Before last year's national college entrance examination, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety identified 773 online posts that advertised or facilitated the illegal sale of ADHD medicine. Concerns have centered on claims that the medication can function as a so-called smart drug to improve concentration or academic performance, including in cases without a clear medical need.
Remote prescribing presented another enforcement gap. Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service data released last year showed that medicines barred from telemedicine prescribing were dispensed 13,545 times between January 2023 and May 2025. Controlled medicines accounted for 11,400 cases, or 84.2 percent, and nearly all involved psychotropic substances. Violations dropped sharply after rules were tightened but did not disappear.
The parliamentary research service said current safeguards, including the Drug Utilization Review system and the Narcotics Information Management System, are not sufficient to detect and prevent questionable prescribing in real time. It called for a broader regulatory overhaul rather than treating drug misuse only as an individual problem.