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Alsharq Tribune-AFP
Roughly 10 percent of high school students in Japan who have abused over-the-counter medication such as cough suppressants within the past year report using them several times a week or more, Kyodo News reported.
Among the students with drug abuse experience in the past year, 4.6 percent said they used the drugs almost daily, while 6.3 percent said they used them several times a week, together accounting for about 10 percent of the total, the report said, citing the fiscal 2024 survey conducted by a health ministry research team.
In order to estimate drug abuse rates, the research team asked participants if they had taken OTC drugs in excess of the prescribed amount or frequency in the past year "to get high or change their mood," the report said.
The estimated abuse rate came to 1.4 percent among all high school students, or about 1 in 70, breaking down to 0.9 percent for males and 1.7 percent for females, according to the survey released on Friday.
The frequency of drug abuse was calculated for the first time in the latest survey conducted between September 2024 and February this year, in which 51,000 people gave valid responses, amid growing concerns over their overuse, including ingestion of nonprescription pain killers among young people.
The health ministry conducts a national survey every three years on high school students regarding alcohol consumption, smoking and drug abuse. The 2021 survey found that 1.6 percent of high school students in Japan misused OTC drugs, which equates to about 1 in 60 students.
