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Upper
Class
Marijuana
Busts
Could
Lead
to
Cracks
in
South
Korean
Drug
War
Consensus
4/5/02
Korean law enforcement authorities
have in recent years targeted prominent figures in the entertainment industry
for special attention by drug fighters, arguing that their status as role
models makes any drug abuse especially problematic in a nation where methamphetamine
and ecstasy use, while low by Western standards, are rising.
The star victims of such
police attention have been contrite and have not challenged the wisdom
or efficacy of the drug laws, but the arrests of 10 people, including some
prominent figures, for marijuana smoking, may end up backfiring on the
authorities. After a months-long investigation, the anti-narcotics squad
at the Seoul District Prosecutor's office arrested Kwon Hun-sung, a former
Democratic Liberal Party legislator; Kang Byong-sok, a professor at Hongik
University, and Park Jong-kyu, the son of a former prime minister, for
smoking marijuana in their houses and cars on five occasions. Also
arrested were a photographer, a singer, and a middle school principal.
Searches yielded a whopping
one kilogram of marijuana and 11 kilos of seeds, police said.
"Most of the people who were
busted were found to have come from elite social backgrounds," a prosecutor
told the Korea Times. And therein may lie the problem. Lawyers, professors,
and politicians' sons have both more resources and less inclination to
kowtow to tradition than the average drug defendant. And according
to the prosecutor, these particular defendants are showing the opposite
of contrition.
In fact, he told the Times,
they refused to admit to any wrongdoing and even vowed to file a constitutional
appeal that marijuana is not a narcotic substance.
-- END --
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Issue #231, 4/5/02
Editorial: Contrasts | Supreme Court to Review California's Three-Strikes Sentencing Law | US Alternative Development Plan in Colombia a Failure, Say Officials, Will Be Abandoned in Favor of Spraying and Bullets | Uncovered Documents Reveal State Department Cover-Up of Bolivian Police Murder of Coca Growers Union Leader | US Abandoning Afghan Opium Eradication Effort | National Prescription Heroin Trials Urged in Australia, Prime Minister Remains an Obstacle | Something New Under the Sun: Scots Offer Retox to Prisoners | Upper Class Marijuana Busts Could Lead to Cracks in South Korean Drug War Consensus | DEA Head Calls Mexican Cartels Terrorists in Effort to Link Vastly Different Phenomenon | Media and Resources Online | Alerts: HEA, Bolivia, DEA Hemp Ban, SuperBowl Ad, Ecstasy Legislation, Mandatory Minimums, Medical Marijuana | The Reformer's Calendar
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