Coast Guard Cheong Intensifies Crackdown on Cannabis and Opium Poppy Cultivation... Cases Detected Increased from 78 in 2018 to 211 Last Year

The Korea Coast Guard will intensively crack down on illegal cultivation of narcotics until July, ahead of the blooming season of poppies and the harvesting season of hemp.

On the 3rd, the Coast Guard announced that it will deploy narcotics investigation teams from five regional Coast Guard offices and frontline police stations to crack down on illegal cultivation of hemp and poppies, focusing on island areas in Gyeonggi-do.

The number of detected illegal poppy cultivations surged from 78 cases in 2018 to 112 in 2019, and 269 in 2020, with 211 cases recorded last year as well. The amount seized also increased significantly from 3,887 plants in 2018 to 13,718 plants in 2020.

Poppies are plants classified as natural narcotics, from which opium is extracted from the fruit and processed into powerful drugs such as morphine, heroin, and codeine.

Although there have been no cases of large-scale poppy cultivation for opium production in Korea, there are many small-scale cultivation cases in some fishing villages and islands, claiming use for treating seasickness and pain relief.

Opium poppies cultivated as ornamental plants in the flowerbed in front of a house [Photo by Korea Coast Guard]

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Hemp cultivation is only permitted for those with a narcotics handler license, and solely for limited purposes such as obtaining fibers or academic research.

However, recently, cases of cultivating and distributing hemp by installing various equipment in urban residences to evade crackdowns have been continuously detected.

As some countries have legalized hemp use, the sense of guilt regarding marijuana smoking has decreased domestically as well, but both hemp itself and synthetic products made from it are subject to crackdown and punishment under Korean law.

Those caught cultivating or trading hemp and poppies without permission face imprisonment of up to five years or fines up to 50 million won.

A Coast Guard official said, "If you suspect illegal cultivation of hemp or poppies, please report it to the nearest Coast Guard station."

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