While the U.S. and Europe have increasingly moved to legalize marijuana use, South Korea continues to respond to celebrity drug scandals by intensifying a hardline stance with roots in its authoritarian past.

Yet even as Seoul doubles down on some of Asia’s strictest drug laws, the country has also experimented with limited medical and export access, fueling tension between prohibition and pragmatism and reigniting public discussion about policies that treat all drug use as a serious crime.

South Korea made headlines in 2019as the first East Asian nation to permit cannabis-derived medicines following Thailand’s first legalization in broader Asia