GI Korea does a very good job of breaking down the statistics for drug abuse in Korea.
It’s a long post with statistics coming from several different sources, but to get to the money shot:
Drug-related arrests (Korean), 2006: 1 arrest for every 7,638 people
Drug-related arrests (foreigner), 2006: 1 arrest for every 13,702 people
As GI Korea says:
Statistically speaking there are two Korean drug abuser for every one foreigner in Korea in 2006. That is a headline you won’t see gracing the pages of a Korean newspaper anytime soon.
In 2007, the numbers were even more skewed:
Drug use arrests (Korean), 2007: 1 arrest for every 5,480 people.
Drug use arrests (foreigner), 2007: 1 arrest for every 45,466 people.
GI Korea points out, though, that those numbers don’t take into account those busted for distributing drugs. In 2007, a grand total of 197 foreigners were arrested on drug related offenses — 1 out of 5,077 foreigners. This is close to the number of Koreans busted for using drugs in 2007, but unfortunately, GI Korea could not find the stats for total drug-related arrests for Koreans in 2007. One might imagine, however, that once procured, the numbers would show that the drug-arrest rates for locals far exceeds those of foreigners.
There you go — all these sensationalist newspaper headlines about foreign English teachers being drug-abusing potheads are just a bunch of racist crap, right?
Well, maybe not. Although even by his own admission, GI could use better numbers to make definitive conclusions, it would appear that foreigners in Korea are much less likely to abuse drugs than locals. But by “foreigners” (of which there were 1,000,254 as of August 2007), we’re including 441,334 Chinese, 64,646 Vietnamese, 50,264 Filipinos and 42,792 Thais. And I’ve seen very few newspaper headlines blaring, “Chinese Cook Arrested for Drugs,” “Vietnamese Wife Arrested for Drugs,” or “Filipino Entertainer Arrested for Drugs.”
Nope. The headlines — and cause for social concern — pertain to the foreign English teachers doing drugs. And the numbers for them, dear readers, are not pretty. Or at least as far as English teachers from certain nations were concerned. As GI Korea points out, 27 Canadians and 27 Americans were busted on drug-related charges in 2007. For the Canadians, I’m going to make two assumptions — a) that the bulk of Canucks arrested for drugs were English teachers, and b) the number of Canuck English teachers in Korea hasn’t changed that much since 2006. As of August 2006, there were 4,598 Canadian E-2 visa holders. Even if we were to round the number of Canadians up to 5,000, the number comes out to one drug-related arrest for every 185 Canadian English teachers. That, friends, is an ugly number, especially compared with 1 out of 5,480 Koreans. To paraphrase GI Korea, that’s a post title you won’t see gracing Dave’s ESL Cafe anytime soon.
The numbers for Americans is a bit more complicated. In 2007, there were 117,938 Americans in Korea — I’m not sure if that number includes US servicemen. At any rate, if we use that number, it comes out to one drug-related arrest for every 4,368 Americans. Unfortunately, I don’t have the numbers for how many of the 27 Americans busted for drugs in 2007 were English teachers. I’m tempted to say most of them, but I just don’t know — Korean-Americans, often with gang connections in LA, also make frequent appearances on the police blotter for drug-related offenses. For fun, though, let’s assume both that the bulk of the Americans arrested for drugs in 2007 were English teachers, and that the 2006 total of 3,951 Americans with E-2 visas hasn’t changed much. Rounding the number of US E-2 visa holders up to 4,000, it comes out to one drug arrest for every 148 American English teachers.
Like GI Korea, though, I must confess that I was surprised by the number of arrests of Nigerians for drug-related offenses in 2007 — only 1 — given the, ahem, reputation said community has in Itaewon and Haebangchon.
Now, I admit that the numbers could very well be flawed. As noted, I made a number of assumptions that might prove to be false. Moreover, the 2006 numbers regarding English teachers only refer to those with E-2 visas. They do not include those with family visas or, more significantly, those teaching illegally on tourist visas. Still, my initial feeling here — pending more proper research into the matter — is that foreign English teachers, or at least those from Canada and probably those from the United States, are much more likely to be involved in drugs than the local population, which — even leaving aside the obvious issues involved in letting even a few potheads in the classroom — should be a cause of concern.
Or, to put this a different way — face it, English teachers. While sensationalist press surely hasn’t helped, your reputation has been, by and large, earned.
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We must assume that the Korean police, like their counterparts elsewhere, are catching only a fraction of drugs, dealers and users. That implies a large stoner population for a place so hostile to it.
I don’t get it. Just why exactly is it a cause for concern?
But first…the fact that there are more Canadians is not surprising since (going on old information here) it has been virtually decriminalized in some regions. The fact that the behavior carries over, while not appropriate, should not be all that shocking. Can’t speak for the American side though (not familiar enough with it).
Is somebody who smokes up now and again much worse in the classroom than an alcoholic? Wife beater? Drunk driver? Pinko? Chronic gambler? Religious nut? Any other less than ideal or possibly illegal behaviour?
OK, I should rephrase this. I actually believe drugs should be legal. Korea, however, considers drugs to be a very big deal (especially so when it involves those teaching the nation’s children), and it enforces drug laws quite severely.
Nor should it be shocking when the press then gets on said Canadians’ case, and immigration authorities begin taking a closer look at English teachers coming to the country.
yeah not a shocker here the fact remains in both canada and the US recreational drug use is fairly common among collge students and then young professionals
entering the work place carry that with them
drugs are widely available to anyone who wants them
hell its easier to get high than it is to get drunk in the US
Marmot, great catch on figuring out the English teacher numbers. Those are some very sad numbers and a cause for concern. I think the USA numbers are all non-GIs because I went through my GI crime archives and could not find any off post drug crimes.
As far as the Nigerians I have heard this but I have no idea if it is true or not that the Nigerians in Itaewon have an understanding with the police there that they won’t get cracked down on their activities as long as it is kept in Itaewon. Kind of like how the police have understandings in certain neighborhoods in regards to prostitution.
“one drug-related arrest for every 185 Canadian English teachers”
That tells me that most Canadians in Korea are fine people.
The fact that English teachers are more likely to use drugs than the ENTIRE Korean population shouldn’t be surprising. The age demographics alone of the two populations could have predicted that. Still, the numbers show the English teachers to be WAY ahead. I can’t help but to think one reason why is that English teachers are so much more likely to be actually prosecuted than Koreans, for two reasons:
1.) English teachers, unlike Koreans, are not seen as representing a family. Offenses caused by English teachers are not socially embarrassing for any party involved, and can be punished without causing problems for anyone but the teacher (and maybe some hagwon).
2.) Korean authorities are less likely to take bribes from foreigners, if for no other reason than they want to maintain an international image of Korea as a spotless nation (every Korean I know who was busted for a drug offense got out of it by bribing someone).
I should add that I have absolutely no evidence to back up these assertions. It’s all subjective analysis.
Granting all of this, though, you won’t usually see me defending the behavior of English teachers. A lot of them couldn’t teach ice to melt, and some of them are downright rotten people. As with most things, there are no simple answers here.
That is because Nigerians are mostly Muslim and have an international reputation for being conscientious in their criminal undertakings, meaning they are quite professional in committing crime. They have this reputation in many EU countries and seem to enjoy that distinction here as well. If I were Korean immigration, I would scrutinize the Nigerians here very, very closely but then immigration seems to be unaware of this though interpol knows this quite well. It makes one wonder who is hiring the Nigerians here and why.
On a side note, for Goat and others, far fewer Canadians have smoked or smoke pot than americans. And the biggest pot-heads? Kiwis and Australians, at roughly three times the rate of our Canook counterparts. Not sure how that translates into Korean drug charges, but I’d be interested to know.
Here’s the link, there are other good drug stats there, including some on Korea.
http://www.nationmaster.com/gr.....nnabis-use
One thing that I forgot to mention was that most of the Korean dudes in the can for drugs are taxi drivers. The best guess was that they were there for speed or some other kind of stim.
This info (take it or leave it) came from a (Canadian) friend who spent a short bit in the can for smoking some cheese. According to him, the type of crime you were in for were denoted by the color of your numbers – and there were a LOT of drug related (Korean) people in there.
Fascinating stats. Then again, the number of black males who end up in prison in the US is … well, uh, let’s say it’s one in twenty, to err on the side of caution. That’s a lot less than one in 185!
But if you were to say “that confirms the stereotypes” all hell would break loose, no?
So let’s draw the PC conclusions here. Those arrest statistics confirm that police are more likely to arrest Canadians than Koreans; that the stereotype of “Canadian as pot smoker” keeps Canadians out of good jobs and locks them into tragic cycles of drug crime and arrest; that the answer to the problem is government funding of more social programs for Canadians, etc.
Herod — That was funny as hell. Thanks.
“That is because Nigerians are mostly Muslim and have an international reputation for being conscientious in their criminal undertakings, meaning they are quite professional in committing crime.”
Nigerians are only half Muslim.
“Herod — That was funny as hell. Thanks.”
Even if it was supposed to be a joke, Herod may be on to something. Maybe the drug enforcement authorities with arrest quotas to fill see English teachers as an easy source of arrests: They’re easy to find and on average you can catch one for every 100 specimen jars used.
After that their immigration status can be used as a weapon to get them to flush out their pot-smoking buddies. Easy peasy.
Meanwhile, the toking ajummas and the speed racer taxi drivers are watching all this go on from their windows, realizing the cops will never touch them.
Well, like I’ve said in the past, you guys are the niggers of Korea.
I’m not quite sure why, but my post (current one) is not showing up in the trackbacks. Essentially, I think there is a possibility that Korean Immigration may be doing a good job at ferreting out many would-be teachers who enjoy drugs! (Where I live, it seems like the vast majority of white folks in this age bracket are toking up.)
In any case, good work, Robert (& GI Korea).
Well, I guess you reactionary American squareheads and Korea were just made for each other.
There’s also the question of whether they catch more Canadians because there is something innately xenophobic and/or political in the manner in which investigations are chosen.
Want to cause trouble to Chinese imports? Crackdown on the hundreds of illegal food stalls and you’ve got yourself a nice newspaper article about the unhygienic conditions in which Chinese foodstuffs are sold.
hmm, shall we talk about the sentencing disparities that existed between powdered and rock cocaine? life’s unfair, isn’t it, gentlemen?
how’s that for a tu cocky argument? interesting how people the world over can live with their own hypocrisy.
oh, and, koreans don’t go after koreans who toke? really? i think you should look up ‘cho yong pil’.
‘Well, like I’ve said in the past, you guys are the niggers of Korea…’ netizen kim
it’s rather rich and ironic, isn’t it? glad to see someone else has noticed.
The post confirmed what I have always thought. Nigerians are smart. Dealers don’t use their products.
Anyway, I tend to think this blog is irrationally anti-drug for the simple reason that being neural-drug would be ‘bad’.
I have read this blog for almost six years and I have read a few comments regarding poppies growing in public gardens, and ‘when tigers smoked’ and all that. I’d really be interested in reading a post regarding the history of pot and opium in Korea. I really would. I have a feeling its not all that alien to the population…and that the illegality of it is simply an extension of US policy.
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