As the number of cases of illegal sales of steroids, so-called “buff body drug,” increased remarkably, concerns about side effects resulting from drug abuse are rising.

The National Assembly began to revise the law to punish not only those who illegally sold drugs but also those who purchased them.

Under the current law, ETC (Ethical the Counter) can only be purchased or used with a doctor’s diagnosis and prescription.

According to Article 50 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, ordinary people can be sentenced to up to five years in prison or fined up to $50 million if they sell ETC.

Even if a pharmacist sells it without a doctor’s prescription, he or she will be sentenced to up to one year in prison or fined $10 million.

However, there are only penalties for illegal drug sellers in South Korea, and there is no regulation for punishing buyers.

Perhaps, for this reason, the number of cases of illegal sales of anabolic steroids, which are classified as ETC, has recently increased significantly in both online and offline.

Congressman Gi-Yun Kang (United Future Party, a conservative political party in South Korea), with the data from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, mentioned that the number of illegal steroid sales caught in the last four years has increased by 18 times.

The number of illegal steroid sales caught soared year by year from 272 cases in 2016 to 344 in 2017, and 600 in 2018, especially last year (2019), to 4975 cases.

In this regard, congressman Sang-Heon Lee (Democratic Party of Korea) said, “Illegal purchase of drugs is also a very serious violation,” and “the blind spot of illegal drug trade should be eliminated.”

“We have proposed a revision to the law that prohibits consumers from purchasing medical drugs from those who are not eligible to sell them,” said on the 21^st.

Lee’s proposed revision includes to fine under $1 million for buyers who purchase from anyone other than those who can sell them.   

Hyeokgi Lee, Newsmp(newsmp@newsmp.com) 다른기사 보기