Popular Singer Opens Up About His Drug Use At The National Assembly

Singer-songwriter Nam Taehyun recently spoke about his drug usage and recovery in front of the National Assembly.

Nam Taehyun has been in the music industry for nearly a decade, getting his start as a member of YG Entertainment‘s group Winner. After a hiatus to focus on mental health treatment in October 2016, he announced that he withdrew from Winner just a month later.

He continued making music, establishing a music label for his band, South Club. During this time and after, Taehyun admitted to struggling with his mental health.

Earlier this year, Taehyun finally confessed the extent of his drug addiction and how it left him in severe debt. In addition to a DUI incident in March 2023, Taehyun tested positive for meth in May and entered rehab.

On October 12, Taehyun appeared as a witness at a parliamentary audit of the Health Ministry at the National Assembly, where he spoke about his drug usage and recovery to help express the need for more government support of drug dependence.

[I] took psychiatric medication [as a treatment] for depression. But when I felt that I had hit rock bottom [at one point], I turned to marijuana, eventually leading me to take meth.

— Nam Taehyun

In addition to recovery at a drug addiction rehabilitation center in Incheon, he also attends meetings of Narcotics Anonymous. The rehab center relies on private funding and monthly payments from residents without government support.

Taehyun urged the National Assembly to focus more on drug treatment, as many cannot enter recovery due to a lack of resources.

[The center] receives many calls from drug users hoping to recover, but it can’t accommodate them due to a lack of financial support from the government.

— Nam Taehyun

He also expressed that drugs should never be tried, even once, with fear for a younger, curious generation in mind.