Information sheet
A recent survey released by the Japanese government shows that 1.4% of Japanese high school students abuse over-the-counter drugs such as cough medicines and antipyretic painkillers, and about 10% of them use them weekly, designed to“Pursue excitement or improve mood”.
A team of Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare 2024 high school students between September 2010 and February 2025 about whether they overdosed on over-the-counter drugs“In pursuit of euphoria or to improve their mood.”, to arrive at the above conclusion. About 51,000 valid responses were received.
Among high school students who admitted to substance abuse in the past year, 4.6 percent said they used drugs almost every day and 6.3 percent said they used drugs several times a week, the survey showed. There was a gender difference in the prevalence of drug abuse: 0.9 per cent among boys and 1.7 per cent among girls.
When asked where they got their medicines, 54.1 percent of respondents said they got them from pharmacies and 25.6 percent from their homes.
The survey also showed that drug abuse was not confined to major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, and that there was little difference in abuse rates between regions, indicating that the problem of drug abuse might have spread throughout Japan.
Every three years, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare conducts a national survey of high school students about drinking, smoking and drug abuse. The latest survey is the first time the government has measured the frequency of drug abuse among students.
Earlier, a similar survey of junior high school students conducted between September and December in 2024 schools found that about 1.8% of them abused drugs, loneliness or problems in daily life are thought to be major contributors to substance abuse.
Drug abuse can lead to acute toxic symptoms, such as confusion and psychosis, or be life-threatening.
“Among people who abuse drugs on a daily basis, there may be students who need addiction treatment and (social) support,” said Takuya Shimane, a researcher at the National Center for Psychoneuromedical Research, which compiled the findings. He also reminded parents to regularly check their homes for drugs.