TOKYO, Feb 17 (News On Japan) - In the bustling streets of Tokyo's Kabukicho, an alarming trend of getting high on over-the-counter medications, known as "overdose," has regained the spotlight, with the arrest of a 19-year-old man for distributing a large quantity of cough medicine to two high school girls free of charge.
The suspect, who frequents the "Tōyoko" area of Kabukicho and the so-called "Guri-shita" area around Dotonbori in Osaka, admitted to the charges, stating that he thought it would help him become friends with the girls.
The unemployed man from Osaka is suspected of giving 90 tablets of cough medicine to two first-year high school girls in December of last year, with the intention of overdosing. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, since around May of the previous year, the man had been handing out large quantities of over-the-counter drugs to girls in the Tōyoko area, some of whom were even elementary school students, under the guise of offering them for free.
The man's confession sheds light on a disturbing trend of individuals exploiting the vulnerability of minors by providing them with harmful substances. He has also been known to frequent the Dotonbori area in Osaka, a spot notorious for gatherings of minors late at night, leading the police to investigate his motives towards several girls.
Source: ANN
