<Reporter Kang Min-woo>
[When I looked at the bathroom in the gym, two disposable syringes and bloody gauze came out.
As a result of the investigation, the liquid contained in this syringe is an anabolic steroid component.]
In March of last year, SBS accused professional medicines such as steroids from being illegally distributed on the Internet.
We once again reported to see if the authorities' crackdown and management were working properly, but if wrongly done, it could lead to death or be processed into drugs.
There was a hole in the specialized drug distribution management system, and we tracked it.
A gym in Gangnam, Seoul.
A notice is posted along with a photograph asking you not to throw away syringes or syringes in the toilet.
The injection drug in the picture is mainly used to treat asthma and cold, and ephedrine, a specialized drug that can only be obtained with a doctor's prescription.
It is indiscriminately being distributed on the market, but when I searched the Internet, there are pouring articles saying that the drug is being sold.
Telegram contacted a seller and attempted a purchase.
After saying the desired product and quantity, and depositing it, the very next day, a courier box containing hundreds of ephedrine injections arrived.
To check the distribution process, the RFID and bar code with wireless identification on the packaging were cut out.
It appears to be to avoid tracking by authorities.
After receiving the goods, I tried to meet the seller, but the phone number and the
address I
wrote
as the delivery address,
[Seller's address Resident: Comes out here?"
No, not at
all
] It
was all fake.
I asked an expert if it would be a drug that could be distributed indiscriminately.
[I was so shocked...
Did you buy it yourself?]
[Kwang-Joon Kim/Director of Health Promotion Center at Severance Hospital: It's a'go-ju' drug.
Let'go careful' drugs be bought in general?
I couldn't even imagine...
.]
Warns of fatal side effects.
[Kim Kwang-jun/Director of Severance Hospital Health Promotion Center: The most scary thing is arrhythmia.
Because it can cause serious heart problems.
The possibility of sudden death...
.]
The bigger problem is that this drug can also be used to make drugs.
[Kim Myung-Kyu/Ewha Womans University's Assistant Professor of Pharmacy: (From ephedrine) If you remove one oxygen atom, it becomes methamphetamine.
Anyone who has the knowledge of chemical experiments and thesis can be synthesized.] In
fact, last year, a party who was manufacturing methamphetamine with ephedrine in a hotel room in the middle of Seoul was caught by the police.
Does the pharmaceutical company that made the drug know the illegal distribution channel?
[Pharmaceutical company officials: We end with supplying to wholesalers.
After entering the wholesaler, it has been step-by-step from that point on.
.]
After delivery to the wholesaler, it is assumed that someone has stolen it during the distribution stage, but it cannot explain the illegal distribution channel.
[Seo Dong-cheol/Director, Chung-Ang University Pharmaceutical Industry Economic Policy Research Institute: It can be several wholesalers and brokers in the middle distribution process, and these people are now illegally negotiating with each other...
.] For
specialty drugs, both supply and use are recorded, so analyzing the distribution stage allows you to track where the supply suddenly disappeared.
The special judicial police of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety are in charge of this. Among the 119 cases sent to the prosecution for violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act for three years, 11 cases of illegal distribution of specialized medicines.
Compared to the 6,000 Internet sites that distributed illegal drugs during the same period, the actual distribution crime detection performance was poor.
Since the crackdown is not properly implemented, specialized medicines have been transformed into health supplements and sold on the market.
[Victims of illegal sales of specialized medicines:'Boosters', supplements, etc. They sell them as if they were their own know-how...
That was Clenbuterol (asthma treatment).]
[Representative Jeong-sook Seo/National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee: It is urgent to amend the law to strengthen penalties at the level of narcotics for illegal distribution of specialized drugs with strong side effects along with strict crackdown.]
Drugs that can cause serious side effects amid poor distribution management by the authorities are being sold out today (25th).
(Video coverage: Gong Jin-gu·Seol Min-hwan· Choi Woong Choi, video editing: Jang Hyeon-ki, CG: Choi Ji-won)