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| Who does more drugs: Foreingers or Koreans? |
| Foreigners |
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51% |
[ 16 ] |
| Koreans |
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48% |
[ 15 ] |
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| Total Votes : 31 |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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 Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 5:37 pm Post subject: Which group does more drugs: Foreigners or Koreans? |
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Answer the poll before you read the article. Then be sure to read the article. The original, linked article has more links in it.
Also, screw you, Korean media.
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/12/28/koreans-use-drugs-more-than-foreigners-but-canucks-still-potheads/
| Quote: |
Koreans Use Drugs More than Foreigners, But Canucks Still Potheads
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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spliff
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 5:42 pm Post subject: |
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| And, your point is? |
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dalpengi
Joined: 08 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, my thoughts exactly. The article clearly states that English teachers are much more likely to be arrested for drug related offences.
Maybe the idea behind the poll is to see how many of us will fall into the trap of not counting 3D workers as foreigners?
Or maybe how many of us will fall into the trap of not reading the whole article?
Who knows. |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 8:23 pm Post subject: |
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| And I bet those Korean arrests include the ones when they arrested the people who did drugs overseas and wrote it on their personal website. |
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shaunew
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Location: Calgary
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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I'm pretty high right now, so I will say Koreans get busted more because I'm hot boxin my bedroom right now and no cop insight.
Wait someone is at the door hold on. |
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Cohiba
Joined: 01 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:07 pm Post subject: Dope |
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| hot boxin rules! |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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What's the point? That foreigners, who are often grouped as a whole since we are non-Korean, are always demonized by the Korean media, government and public opinion.
The numbers speak for themselves, Koreans do more drugs.
Separate the foreigners into English teachers vs. others, and the numbers aren't so pretty for English teachers.
Speculation would show that foreigners, including English teachers, would be more likely to get busted. This is caused by the eyes being on foreigners as drug users and by foreigners using safe drugs like marijuana instead of speed that can't simply be manufactured in Korea. It has to be smuggled or shipped. Also, pot stays in the system much longer and it is easier to catch pot smokers after the fact.
Numbers aside, I'd rather be around a pot smoker anytime than a meth head. |
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CPT
Joined: 25 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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What exactly are "the obvious issues involved in letting even a few potheads in the classroom?"
They don't seem so obvious to me. |
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crusher_of_heads
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!
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| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:15 am Post subject: |
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Koreans, obviously.
Mods, make this is a sticky
countdown to lock |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:51 am Post subject: |
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| CPT wrote: |
What exactly are "the obvious issues involved in letting even a few potheads in the classroom?"
They don't seem so obvious to me. |
It's not about letting teachers in. It's about portrayal of foreigners in the media, xenophobia and statistics. |
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shaunew
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Location: Calgary
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| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:01 am Post subject: |
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| Dude my pizza came, I had the mad munchies. This thread freaked me out. I thought it was the popo, but the guy at the door said papa johnzza pizza. All turned out alright. Now I'm takin a Jamaican shower. |
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