Looking to add to the list of illegal drugs, the health ministry will conduct its first nationwide survey on teenage drug abuse.
In addition to surveying about 100,000 teens, mainly junior high and high school students, the ministry will send questionnaires to all of the nation's approximately 1,700 hospitals with psychiatric departments to take stock of the drugs used by patients with drug addictions, the officials said.
Any new drugs the survey uncovers that are found to cause hallucinations, stimulate the central nervous system or demonstrate other properties that could be abused will be designated illegal by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.