The Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested a 16-year-old female high school student Tuesday for allegedly selling over-the-counter cough medicine without a permit, around an area known as Toyoko in the Kabukicho entertainment district of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
The arrest coincides with a surge of young people abusing over-the-counter drugs, such as cold medicine. There were 23 cases between January and November in which parents and others consulted the metropolitan police about young people abusing such drugs.
According to investigators, the suspect admitted to the charge and said that she wanted money to buy prescription drugs, adding that she sold the drugs to some of her friends in Toyoko. She is also suspected of shoplifting the cough medicine and selling it at roughly half the retail price.