Councilor Jeong Da-eun: "Drug Crimes in Gwangju Increased 14 Times in 10 Years"

"Gwangju City's Response 'Lukewarm'... Urgent Citizen Protection Measures Needed"

Jeong Da-eun, Gwangju City Council Member

Drug-related crimes in the Gwangju area have surged nearly 14 times over the past decade, but there are criticisms that Gwangju City's response has been 'lukewarm.'

On the 4th, Jeong Da-eun, a member of the Gwangju City Council (Democratic Party of Korea, Buk-gu 2), stated during an administrative audit of the Gwangju Welfare and Health Bureau, "In the past five years, drug-related offenders in Gwangju and Jeonnam have increased by 99%, yet Gwangju City's drug management is lax and careless," adding, "It is difficult to see that the targets handling drugs are being thoroughly managed and inspected."

As of 2023, there are 3,411 medical institutions handling drugs that Gwangju City must manage. However, the number of guidance and inspection cases for drug handlers over the past three years were ▲1,560 cases in 2022 ▲562 cases in 2023 ▲369 cases as of September 2024. Among these, on-site inspections were only ▲29 cases in 2022 ▲218 cases in 2023 ▲143 cases up to September 2024.

The number of violations detected were ▲5 cases in 2022 ▲11 cases in 2023 ▲18 cases as of September 2024. The violations include serious issues that require strict administrative measures due to the risk of leading to crimes such as distribution and administration: ▲1 case of unreported handling and transfer ▲3 cases of arbitrary disposal of controlled substances due to accidents ▲1 case of discrepancy between psychotropic drug inventory and reports ▲1 case of failure to report damaged controlled substances due to accidents ▲1 case of handling drugs without designation of a drug manager.

Administrative penalties for these violations include fines up to 5 million KRW per medical institution and surcharges ranging from 450,000 to 2.7 million KRW in lieu of business suspension. In reality, these fines and surcharges are considered very lenient.

Councilor Jeong said, "Even considering only the violations revealed so far, they are treated as minor regulatory breaches and cannot be acted upon," adding, "Considering the expected sales of the medical institutions caught, the imposed surcharges or fines are too small to expect effective guidance as a practical administrative penalty." She further criticized, "Even the most basic ordinances are poorly managed," and pointed out, "It seems that systematic policy design has not been achieved."

Jeong emphasized, "The situation Gwangju City faces due to drugs is very dangerous," and urged, "A thorough detailed plan for drug management must be established to implement effective and strict administrative measures. Please work hard to protect the health and safety of citizens from drugs."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.