Man Caught Growing Marijuana in Field and Smoking It in His Car

Court Sentences Defendant to 10 Months in Prison

A man in his 40s who cultivated marijuana in a field and smoked marijuana cigarettes in his car has been sentenced to prison.

According to Yonhap News on April 22, the Busan District Court Criminal Division 10 (Presiding Judge Heo Seongmin) sentenced Mr. A to 10 months in prison for violating the Act on the Control of Narcotics (marijuana). The court also ordered Mr. A to complete 40 hours of drug addiction rehabilitation education, confiscated one marijuana seed, and imposed a fine of 200,000 won.

Mr. A was indicted for cultivating marijuana from April to November 2023 and from March to May last year in fields near an administrative welfare center in Gimhae, Gyeongsangnam-do, and in fields near a park in Daedong-myeon, Gimhae. It was found that Mr. A conspired with two others to cultivate marijuana, planting seeds and using fertilizer to grow the plants.

Busan District Court. Yonhap News

In August and September last year, he was also tried on charges of smoking marijuana in front of his house in Gimhae. Investigations revealed that he rolled about 0.3 grams of marijuana in foil to make a "marijuana cigarette" in his car, lit it, and inhaled the smoke.

The court stated, "He did not simply smoke marijuana, but also cultivated it himself by creating fields outside the city center. The amount of marijuana cultivated was significant, and he was uncooperative during the investigation, consistently making excuses."

However, the court explained, "In determining the sentence, we considered that his involvement in the crime was not as significant as that of his accomplices, he only had a prior conviction for a fine for a different offense, and he is supporting two underage children."

Previously, in March, another man in his 40s was handed over to the prosecution for stealing and smoking marijuana every harvest season from a legally operated marijuana field. Police investigations revealed that since 2017, every October during the marijuana harvest season, he had stolen marijuana leaves from a field in Jeongseon, Gangwon-do, and kept them for personal use throughout the year. The farm in question was known to have received permission to cultivate marijuana for edible seeds.

Meanwhile, a paper published in an international journal has revealed that marijuana, classified as a narcotic, can cause severe side effects on the skin. Medical staff at BronxCare, the largest nonprofit medical and educational hospital system in the Bronx, New York, analyzed studies published between 2000 and 2024 on marijuana and skin side effects. The BronxCare team reported, "There have been cases where red, itchy skin lesions appeared on the torso and abdomen, and spread to the outer parts of the arms and legs, excluding the face, palms, and soles of the feet."