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It was found that the number of drug offenders in their teens and 20s increased by 2.5 to 3.8 times compared to five years ago.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the number of teenage drug offenders from January to November last year was 454, a 3.8-fold increase from 119 in 2017 alone.
The number of people in their 20s also increased by 2.5 times from 2,112 in 2017 to 5,335 during the same period last year.
Considering that the total number of drug offenders increased 1.2 times from 13,906 to 17,073 over the same period, the rate of increase in the 10s and 20s is particularly fast.
It is interpreted that the spread of drugs among young people has accelerated as non-face-to-face transactions on the Internet such as the dark web have increased.
In particular, concerns are growing as drug crimes by school teachers and medical workers who have a lot of contact with teenagers are increasing.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Justice decided to provide systematic preventive education to prevent the spread of drugs among teenagers and twenties.
It was decided to add drug prevention education to the 'Visiting Legal Education Lecture' for teenagers and to expand prevention activities through collaboration between ministries such as the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
Drug-related institutions such as the Korea Anti-Drug Campaign Headquarters and the Korea Addiction Control Center Association are designated as Ministry of Justice Legal Culture Promotion Centers, and cooperation with the private sector is also vitalized by expanding the number of lecturers specializing in drug prevention law education.
We upload drug prevention content that reflects the latest trends on online platforms such as YouTube, and add drug prevention activities to the 'Justice Supporters' activities, a youth and college student volunteer group.
Drug addiction prevention is added to the juvenile detention center's curriculum, and drug abusers among juvenile classification judges are subjected to special classification examinations to diagnose the cause of misconduct in depth.
The guidance and supervision of juvenile probation subjects is also strengthened, and drug tests are conducted according to the classification level to curb the reuse of drugs.
A drug addiction prevention program is also added to the education curriculum of the Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Center.
The Ministry of Justice also plans to regularly investigate drug use at all stages of the treatment of juveniles, and the results of the investigation will be reflected in education, guidance, and supervision programs, and shared with related ministries to be used as policy data.