REAL KOREANS

2 responses to “Drugs in Korea: A Silent Crisis (at Korea Exposé)”

1. 

   Nicholas

   February 10, 2020

   I respect the investigative work in these articles, but they perpetrate a lot of highly regressive myths. Specifically, some of the issues I have:

   >Psychotropics, a category that encompasses LSD, ketamine and methamphetamine, are by far the most popular substances of choice – it’s the reason why South Koreans associate the word ‘drugs’ with needles rather than puffs of smoke.

   LSD is virtually never administered by needle. I would also guess that ketamine and meth are very rarely used intraveinously in Korea compared to just snorting, which is less stigmatized and less intense.

   >While it’s an everyday item, superglue contains toluene, a substance favored by teenagers without the means to purchase ‘real’ drugs and looking for a quick high.

   inhalants like glues or especially keyboard duster are EXTREMELY harmful. Huffing canisters of keyboard duster essentially work by killing off brain cells. Extremely repressive cultures drive desperate people to even more dangerous habits like these. Smoking cannabis or using reasonable amounts of amphetamine are also safer than the smoking and excessive drinking that are so ubiquitous to Korean culture.

   and from part 2 of your series:

   >Methamphetamine has been used by men as a date rape drug, as a means to force teenage girls into prostitution, in involuntary manslaughter, as well as in facilitating moral transgressions such as orgies, partner swapping and ‘various perversions,’ and meth ‘parties’ involving pregnant women, some of them underage.

   This is some serious sensationalism. Things like meth are not turning people into rapists or being used to date rape other people (it’s a stimulant — it’s not going to knock anyone out. quite the opposite.). I’m willing to bet there are FAR more incidents of violence or perversion in which the victim or perpetrator had alcohol in their system, but we don’t see stories trying to argue that getting addicted to alcohol directly CAUSED them to commit those crimes.

   >Substance users often claim they had used the drug to “get away from the shame” of the sexual deviations they had committed.

   First off, most substance users are NOT deviants/criminals/violent people. But it is true that people with issues like depression/anxiety/PTSD are more likely to use drugs (alcohol being the most common one) as a way of dealing with those traumas. The solution therefore is not to stigmatize them further by applying heavily distorted stereotypes but rather to be more compassionate in seeing the substance use as a symptom of an underlying illness. Prosecute the actual crimes like rape/murder, but otherewise offer compassion/treatment to the vast majority of addicts who harm no one but themselves through their use. Seriously, as regressive as the US has long been with regard to drug policy, at least the opioid/heroin epidemic is forcing us to reflect on our failures and take a new stance. Asia is sadly very far behind the US and even further behind Europe.

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   1. 

      Emily Singh

      June 9, 2025

      Hi there, it’s been a long time since I’ve checked the comments section, so sorry about the very belated response. I really appreciate your through feedback :) Korea Exposé, who commissioned me to write the piece, has since shut down and I wasn’t able to find a copy of the piece I wrote. It’s been a while, so I can’t remember exactly what I wrote, but I agree that South Korea, like many countries in the world, has a punishment-focused approach to drugs, which is deeply harmful towards people with addiction problems. Hope you have been well – Do you work in journalism or biology? How did you find my writing? Very curious!

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