Society Teenage drug overdoses increasing

In the span of a year and two months until May this year, 26 people from ages 15 to 33 were rushed to the emergency room of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Shinjuku Ward with acute poisoning from DXM. Last winter, a 21-year-old man died at Kouseiren Takaoka Hospital in Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture, after overdosing on this drug, apparently purchased at multiple local pharmacies. Doctors who saw these patients said, "Many people overdose on this drug because it is easier to obtain than illegal drugs," urging the authorities to establish a system and environment to make these medications more difficult to abuse. The abuse of over-the-counter drugs among young people is a serious problem. According to a survey conducted in fiscal 2021 by the health ministry's research group, in which about 45,000 high school students nationwide responded, 1 in 60, or 1.6 percent, had abused over-the-counter drugs in the past year to "change their mood."

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