임시마약류 지정제도의 개선에 관한 연구

Study on the Improvement of the Temporary Scheduling System in Narcotics

With the spread of entertainment culture represented by clubs and the diversification of distribution channels, the distribution of new narcotics targeting consumers without particular awareness of its illegality has recently become a growing social problem. There is a system to deal with these new drugs called the ‘Temporary Scheduling System in Narcotics’, which designates new substances at the risk of harming public health as narcotics even before they are proved harmful and addictive. However, the ‘Temporary Scheduling System in Narcotics’ stipulated in the Narcotics Control Act, which will be enforced in September has inherent normative problems such as ambiguous provisions to distinct drugs on the temporary schedule 1 and 2 and relatively severe punishment provisions. It also raises the need to implement more aggressive regulatory methods to fight the new drugs, which continues to change rapidly. It is time to seek measures to respond to the new drugs that are appropriate to the situation in Korea referring to the recent legislations and related policies of other countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States.