National Forensic Service, 5,000 Cases per Person... Unable to Respond to 'Increase in Indigenous Drugs'

No Dedicated Drug Analysis Department
Number of Drug-Related Research Papers Drops from 4 to 1

As drug-related crimes surge, the workload of the National Forensic Service (NFS), which plays a crucial role in accurately analyzing evidence, has skyrocketed. However, the number of personnel dedicated to drug analysis at the NFS has only increased slightly, making rapid testing difficult. In particular, the rapid spread of drugs mixed with various substances domestically has raised urgent calls for countermeasures.

According to the NFS on the 18th, the number of drug analyses per person last year was 4,686, about three times higher than in 2015 (1,808 cases). During the same period, the total number of analyses increased from 23,506 to 89,033.

An NFS official explained, "The increase in tolerance toward drugs, including the emergence of the MZ generation (those born in the 1980s and 1990s), is a cause of the rise in analysis volume." The main drugs targeted for detection by the NFS include amphetamines, cannabis components, and opium alkaloids such as morphine and cocaine.

However, the increase in personnel for drug analysis has not kept pace. As of this year, there are only 20 drug analysis staff members. Although drug crimes have steadily increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, personnel increases have been limited to two last year and four this year. Due to the impact of non-face-to-face transactions, the number of drug offenders, which was around 8,000 annually, reached about 10,000 per year between 2019 and 2021.

There is no dedicated drug analysis department within the NFS, making it difficult to operate an integrated response system or establish mid- to long-term comprehensive plans such as developing analysis techniques. The fact that the number of drug-related research papers by the NFS, which used to be about four per year, dropped to one after 2015 also highlights the limitations of the NFS's response to drugs.

Although domestic indigenous drugs have significantly increased, proper responses have not been made. Indigenous drugs refer to specific drugs such as Philopon and cannabis that have established themselves within local areas. Additionally, synthetic cannabis is rapidly spreading, and analytical techniques capable of verifying drugs mixed with multiple substances need to be developed, but the NFS's response is lagging. An NFS official stated, "Recently, synthetic cannabis mixed with various substances is frequently detected," adding, "The forms of drugs continue to change like a trend, and analysis methods cannot keep up."

For the police who crack down on and arrest drug offenders, the NFS analysis period must be as short as possible to eradicate distribution and manufacturing networks. A police official said, "There are many cases where rapid reagent tests show negative results, but NFS detailed analyses come back positive," adding, "If drug offenders can be identified and connections found early in the investigation, it will be possible to dismantle organizations."

Experts also emphasized that considering the growing popularization of drug crimes, the number of personnel for drug analysis should be increased to enable rapid analysis and research. Woonghyuk Lee, a professor in the Department of Police Science at Konkuk University, said, "If the NFS analysis takes a long time, suspects are more likely to destroy evidence or commit additional crimes," adding, "An infrastructure that can prevent drug crimes in advance must be established, and research that enables precise analysis should follow."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.