Adding Home-Grown Daemacho to Kimchi Jjigae and Curry... 20s Ultimately Sentenced to Prison

Lighting and Various Equipment Installed for Cannabis Cultivation
Reoffends During Probation for Similar Previous Crime

A man in his 20s was sentenced to prison for cultivating and smoking marijuana directly at his residence. He also consumed marijuana by adding it to dishes such as kimchi stew.

According to the legal community on the 9th, Park Mo (29) purchased marijuana seeds in January of last year. He cultivated five marijuana plants at his residence until May of this year and smoked marijuana on ten occasions.

Park also consumed the marijuana he cultivated by adding it to kimchi stew, curry, pasta, gimbap, and other dishes on eleven occasions. To cultivate marijuana, he equipped his home with facilities including a tent, lighting equipment, a fan, a transformer, and a pH meter.

It was confirmed that Park committed the same offense during a probation period for a previous violation of the Narcotics Control Act. From March 2018 to August of the following year, he was charged with purchasing marijuana 45 times totaling 121.3g and smoking once, for which he was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year probation last August.

The Criminal Division 11 of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Bae Seong-jung) sentenced Park, who was indicted for violating the Narcotics Control Act (marijuana), to two years and six months in prison and ordered him to complete 40 hours of drug addiction rehabilitation education.

Marijuana [Image source=Yonhap News]

The court stated the sentencing reasons, saying, “The defendant not only smoked marijuana but also consumed it in various ways, such as adding it to dishes. Considering that he equipped his residence with various facilities and directly cultivated marijuana, the culpability is quite serious.”

According to the Narcotics Control Act, ▲ anyone who manufactures, sells, brokers the sale of, or possesses marijuana for such purposes ▲ anyone who transfers or provides marijuana to minors or causes them to smoke or consume marijuana or marijuana seed shells ▲ anyone who cultivates marijuana for export, sale, or manufacturing purposes shall be punished by imprisonment for one year or more.

Those who possess, consume, provide a place for marijuana, or facilitate consumption or sale are subject to imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million won. Even marijuana-related products legally sold overseas can be punished if brought into the country.

Meanwhile, Thailand legalized marijuana use and cultivation last year, becoming the first in Asia to do so. Officially, it is only allowed for medical use, but selling products containing marijuana is not legally penalized. As a result, marijuana-infused ice cream and curry are sold locally. It has been pointed out that Koreans need to be cautious as they could be punished if they accidentally consume food containing marijuana ingredients.

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