30s Sentenced to Prison for Posting Drug Information Using Slang on "Gati Hal Saram" Chat App

Posting Information Related to Narcotics Is Illegal
Court: "Responsibility Is Not Light"...Suspended Sentence Given

A man in his 30s who posted slang terms for drugs online and sought people to use drugs with him was sentenced to a suspended prison term.

According to the legal community on the 17th, Hwang Mo (32) accessed a chat application last March and posted a message on the bulletin board containing information about how to use methamphetamine and the dosage.

The four-character post included slang terms referring to narcotics such as ‘sul’ (alcohol), and the court judged Hwang’s actions to be illegal.

Under the current Narcotics Control Act, except in cases approved by the head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, acts such as possessing, owning, using, managing, importing/exporting, manufacturing, and selling psychotropic substances are prohibited.

The photo is not directly related to the content of the article. [Image source=Pixabay]

Article 3, Paragraph 12 of the same law also prohibits widely disseminating or presenting information about prohibited acts related to narcotics to others. This ban applies not only to newspapers, internet newspapers, and broadcasts but also to the use of the internet and PC communications.

The court stated, “Drug crimes adversely affect a person’s sound mind and have significant negative impacts on society due to their addictive nature. It appears that the defendant posted the message with the intent to find people to use drugs together, so the culpability is not light.”

Accordingly, Judge Jeong Cheol-min of the Seoul Western District Court’s Criminal Division 7 recently sentenced Hwang, who was indicted for violating the Narcotics Control Act (psychotropic substances), to six months in prison with a one-year suspension. Additionally, an order for probation was issued.

Although Hwang was not indicted for drug use, methamphetamine components were detected in his hair.

Earlier, in October last year, a man in his 40s was arrested and sent to prosecution for violating the Narcotics Control Act after distributing business cards advertising drug purchases to universities in Seoul.

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