According to an investigation by the Busan Special Judicial Police (SJPD), the drug known as Japan’s “national cold medicine”, which is frequently purchased online or directly in South Korea, has been revealed to contain a narcotic ingredient that requires a doctor’s prescription.
The SJPD reported on the 4th that it had cracked down on 72 traditional medicine businesses in the city from February 26 to May 31 for violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, busting nine pharmacies that illegally sold the drug in question.
According to the investigation, one pharmacy in Busan violated the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act by selling Pabron Gold A, a multi-symptom cold medicine without the official import permit. The SJPD requested the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to analyze the ingredients of the seized drugs. Around 8.34 mg of the narcotic ingredient, dihydrocodeine was detected in a single dose of three tablets. This polydrug can cause hallucinations and excitement if taken in excessive amounts, and should not be administered to children under the age of 12 or pregnant women. In Korea, products containing dihydrocodeine are classified as prescription medications and can only be purchased by a doctor. As a result of the SJPD investigation, nine businesses were charged with the same allegations as the first pharmacy.
Furthermore, the SJPD detected nine violations of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, including two cases of unqualified personnel selling pharmaceuticals, three cases of non-standard herbal medicine sales, two cases of expired herbal medicine sales, and two cases of mixed food storage with potential contamination and drugs. Among these, one pharmacy was caught selling over-the-counter drugs by an employee after the pharmacist had left. The employee was a pharmaceutical wholesaler who was caught on the spot selling non-standard herbal medicine without labeling the manufacturer, origin, warnings, etc. A fourth pharmacy stored defective drugs that had expired for three and a half years in the same display window as normal drugs.
The SJPD plans to charge criminally the owners of the 18 businesses caught in the investigation and send them to the prosecution. An SJPD official said, “We have asked the customs office to strengthen customs inspections for peddlers and special delivery to prevent the inflow of illegal medicines from abroad.”