5 ms·
Drugs highly criminalized, South Korea: 0.1 deaths/million people/year [1] This is a much more complicated issue than numbers from two countries could possibly
by gok 9y ago
Drugs highly criminalized, South Korea: 0.1 deaths/million people/year [1]
This is a much more complicated issue than numbers from two countries could possibly tell.
[1] http://www.unodc.org/wdr2017/field/3.1_Mortality.xls http://www.unodc.org/wdr2017/field/3.1_Mortality.xls
- thomastjeffery 9y agoOne point that may be significant is that South Korea has only one land border, and it is heavily guarded.
- che_shirecat 9y agohow is this significant in any way to the topic of drug-related deaths?
- jrs95 9y agoIt relates to how drugs get into the country, and what drugs get into the country. In the case of the U.S., the Mexico border is a huge problem. It probably didn't help that the CIA was selling automatic weapons to the cartels, either...
- BigJono 9y agoIt's much easier to catch someone smuggling drugs through an airport than it is stopping someone from walking over an imaginary line that's thousands of kilometres long. So less drugs in circulation, which would have an effect on death rates.
- coldtea 9y agoGiven that drugs are grown/cultivated elsewhere and smuggled in, and smuggling them is close to a $100 billion per year business, very.
- dba7dba 9y agoI never thought of it this way but basically South Korean is an island effectively. Practically no one travels in/out of South Korea except by flying in/out.
- gok 9y agoOk consider Iceland. Literally an island, very high overdose rate.
- codedokode 9y agoWell, having a 9 month winter will make anyone take drugs.
- thomastjeffery 9y agoPer capita? Anyway, I just wanted to point out that there are many variables to consider, and a lot of them are less obvious, or less quantifiable.
- hennsen 9y agoFirst thing I‘d ask is if South Korea had a high amount of users and addicts and deaths ever in the past. I could imagine US and Portugal are more similar to each other.
- esturk 9y agoSK also has one of the highest suicide rates (2nd) in the world. There's a confounding effect between people who wants release that can get drugs for it and those that can't which results in suicide.
- ficklepickle 9y agoI feel like in that culture, the drug of choice is alcohol. A lot of people forget that alcohol is a drug, just one that most human societies have deemed acceptable.
- codedokode 9y agoAccording to Wikipedia [1] it is on the 10th place, not 2nd. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r...
- asabjorn 9y agoAccording to wikipedia use of drugs are a lesser offense in south korea, so if that is correct it is not highly criminalized. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_South_Korea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_South_Korea Supply of drugs has also historically been limited according to the following article that goes over drugs in South Korea at length: - https://www.koreaexpose.com/drugs-south-korea-a-silent-crisis/ https://www.koreaexpose.com/drugs-south-korea-a-silent-crisi...
- ashconnor 9y agoSingapore then. They're still hanging people for possession...
- eru 9y agoThe death penalty is for dealing, not for users. The quantities listed in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Singapore#Misuse_of_Drugs_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Singapor... seems higher than what a user would have on them.
- jpatokal 9y agoPossession of large enough a quantity means you're automatically considered a dealer, and we're not talking huge quantities either: 30g (1 oz) of cocaine translates to a mandatory death penalty. This extends to things like having the key to a locker containing drugs.
- eru 9y agoYes. And I wish they would move to a policy of legalise-and-regulate-(-and-tax). But at least they manage to make their prohibition policy actually effective: drugs are hard to get, and not a lot of people are actually behind bars or executed for trading. (Compare with eg the US which incarcerates a lot of people, but the drug trade goes on regardless.)
- whatyoucantsay 9y ago