Drug traffickers could get death if teenagers are customers

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Drug traffickers could get death if teenagers are customers

Police officers hand out leaflets warning teenagers against drug use in Songpa District on April 21. Free drinks mixed with drugs were used in a scam in Daechi-dong. [YONHAP]

Police officers hand out leaflets warning teenagers against drug use in Songpa District on April 21. Free drinks mixed with drugs were used in a scam in Daechi-dong. [YONHAP]

Prosecutors will be seeking harsher penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty, especially for those supplying drugs to teenagers and children.
 
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said Sunday it will arrest anyone that either sells drugs to minors, those that have allowed teenagers to be part of an organization that distributes or sells drugs or even those that had drugs together with people underage.
 
The prosecutors' offices will ask courts to sentence some of these people to life or even death.
 
Even teenagers that played central roles in drug distribution or have illegally distributed medicines will be taken into custody and indicted accordingly.
 
If a teenager has been caught for drug use without participating in the selling of the drugs, their sentences will be suspended under the condition that they enter a drug program.
 
The prosecution will work with related institutions to educate parents and teachers in handling teenagers that have taken drugs, including recognizing symptoms.
 
The public's awareness of drug distribution to teenagers surged when a group of drug traffickers blackmailed the parents of children who were given bottles filled with a mixture of drugs disguised as energy drinks in Daechi-dong, Gangnam, a neighborhood populated with private cram schools.
 
According to the prosecutors' office, the number of teenagers indicted on drug-related crimes surged 304 percent to 481 people between 2017 and 2022.
 
All drug-related indictments increased by 30 percent during the same period. The use of social media and the dark web among some teenagers has played a significant role.
 
The prosecutor's office noted that the decline in drug prices has made drugs more accessible to teenagers.

BY LEE JI-YOUNG, LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojenog@joongang.co.kr]
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