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| The entrance to a secret marijuana farm in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. A sign at the entrance warns outsiders against entering, saying the area is used to farm poisonous snakes. Courtesy of Pyeongtaek City |
By Lee Suh-yoon
As the spring planting season begins, police will scan the countryside with drones to look for illegal cultivation of opium poppies and marijuana plants, the National Police Agency (NPA) announced Sunday.
Seasonal crackdowns on opium and marijuana are fairly routine. Growers are usually elderly people who grow small amounts as folk remedies for bodily pain. But this time, the pressure is on authorities following the recent scandal around Burning Sun, a nightclub run by K-pop star Seungri under investigation for rampant drug trafficking and supplying VIPs with rape drugs.
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| Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Courtesy of Supreme Prosecutor's Office drug encyclopedia |
Earlier this month, police announced they apprehended 523 persons in a month-long crackdown on drugs following the Burning Sun scandal ― 30 percent up from the same period last year.
Starting April, the NPA said it will strengthen screening of countryside farms with some districts using drones to scan farmlands and mountains for illegal cultivation activities. Last summer, drug control officers at North Chungcheong Province said they arrested 140 and destroyed 10,383 opium poppy and marijuana plants thanks to drones.
The screening will be accompanied by a one-month public relations campaign warning farmers about the legal consequences of raising drug-related plants on their land. Authorities will also scan public parks and sidewalks for opium poppies (Papaver somniferum) mixed in with oriental poppies (Papaver oriental), which are more orange and serve only aesthetic purposes. A government smartphone app will provide an anonymous channel for the public to tip off authorities of illegal cultivation activities around them.
The official crackdown will start in May and continue until peak harvest season in July. All opium poppies and marijuana plants found during police raids will be confiscated and destroyed.
Under the current law, those found to have farmed opium or marijuana can be fined up to 50 million won ($44,000) or imprisoned up to five years. Harsher terms are given to those who have a criminal record related to drugs or were raising them for sale.
In the case of the opium poppy, a vivid red flower, growing fewer than 50 stalks is permitted for solely aesthetic purposes. But any signs of harvesting poppy seeds for resin ― the raw ingredient of opium ― will subject the grower to criminal punishment.
According to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, the amount drugs confiscated by authorities climbed from 162 kg in 2014 to 517 kg last year, around 60 percent of which were seized at customs while being smuggled in from abroad.
The problem is not limited to the countryside. Last November, a man in his late 30s was sentenced to 4.5 years in jail for farming 300 marijuana plants inside a flat in downtown Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. He and two others sold 120 million won ($105,000) worth of dried marijuana leaves through social media, accepting payments through bitcoin to evade authorities, local media reported.
Police added in Sunday's announcement that drug addicts who turn themselves in from April until the end of June will be given favorable treatment and support to beat their addiction.
