WAR AGAINST DRUGS

A three-month voluntary report period for narcotic addicts is to kick off
tomorrow, if previous years are any guide. Separately from it, law
enforcement officers plan to summon two to three more TV personalities
suspected of drug abuse this week. This will likely be another difficult
year for entertainers using prohibited substances. Unfortunately, however,
these stars represent just a tiny, if most publicized, portion of the
people yielding to the "white temptation."

The number of narcotic offenders jumped 12.6 percent to 10,102 last year.
Almost 80 percent of them were addicts of methamphetamine, or philopon, as
the white powder is called here. Anti-narcotic agents seized 170 kilograms
of the artificial drug, 3.7 times higher than in 2000, but actual
circulation is estimated to reach 20 times of the confiscated amount. The
latest hit is "ecstasy," a tablet variant of philopon, as the narcotic of
choice at techno clubs.

Attending these rave parties are not only foreigners and Koreans from
abroad but also young locals - college students and office workers. Nor do
the drug gangs limit their targets to show business people and prostitutes
but include housewives and even teenagers. They push these as "medicines"
to help reduce weight and stay alert, let alone dispelling fatigue and
feeling energetic. Most of these appear true for several hallucinated
hours, but eventual costs are ruined lives, if not deaths.

Reasons are varied for the surge of drug users, in disregard of time,
place, age or status. On the supply side, prices have almost been halved
amid the flood of Chinese philopon, mostly made by Korean "cookers" and
re-exported here. The main consumer group also shifted from beginners with
occasional tries to habitual dupes. Sociologists attribute the trend to
improved living standards and more liberalized but competitive and
stressful social atmosphere.

Headliners make drug-related headlines most frequently here, too. The
recent dope scandal by a TV actress, long portrayed as the symbol of
traditional womanliness, shocked many fans, and angered some, who failed to
differentiate acting from actual life. Considering their struggle to
maintain popularity and wealth as well as relatively liberal inclination
and work environment, stars could be the group most vulnerable for
temporary escape from reality. Media should be blamed for overly
sensational coverage.

Some progressive intellectuals even question why drug users should be
punished in a free country for activities that harm no others. Citing some
European countries and U.S. states that decriminalized the possession of
marijuana, they take issue with the state's constraint of individual's
freedom. With respect to the greater responsibility of TV celebrities as
role models for youngsters, these academics maintain stars are not public
servants but public figures, free to do anything in private.

These may sound plausible, but actually less so than even some
motorcyclists' refusal of helmets because it is their life in question, not
others'. Scientists are warning against the damages of drug abuse to the
brain. Addicts destroy not only themselves but also their relatives,
friends and even strangers because of their psychopathic aggressiveness.
Pot may be okay but only so far as the users can be 100 percent sure they
can quit any moment, and before progressing to stronger drugs.

There are also the problems of accompanying crimes. In Britain, for
instance, an addict needs 6,500 pounds (33 million won) a year to buy his
or her drugs. They rely on robbery and theft to meet 80 percent of the
costs. Also, if a country's drug industry grows to a certain scale,
organized crime rings jump into the business. The mobs' involvement makes
it all but impossible to eradicate the traffickers' network. Korea also ill
affords to remain a stoned nation in this era of competitiveness war.

So, we give our full support to the government's declaration of "war
against drugs," along with the interagency panel and special crackdown
squads. Unless these do not end up as only another administrative fuss, it
should sharply beef up both staff and budget. The drug agents ought to be
able to meet international standards for joint investigations with foreign
counterparts. Officials need to be more careful in dealing with users,
particularly first-timers, but drastically harsher with pushers.

From any perspective, we cannot become a society of addicts. China, which
was once called the "patient of Asia" due to numerous opium fiends, is
coping with the problem with capital punishment. In this vein, the trend
among the younger generation to regard dope as just another table luxury,
like alcohol and tobacco, is worryingly naive. Entertainers may not and
cannot be the moral and ethical models for young people, but at least they
should not encourage to remove their sense of guilt in committing the fatal
practices.