How I Discovered that Smoking Weed is Legal in North Korea – by Tom Coyner

A hat tip to a non-Korean artist friend who also has lived much or most of his life in Asia for forwarding this piece to me. Given the cost of tobacco and the ease of cultivating marijuana, I had heard from a foreign friend who had lived in North Korea that workers often resort to marijuana in the Korea North of the DMZ as a cheap substitute for tobacco. Perhaps only in the DPRK may one find that to be the case. On the other hand, if marijuana was legalized, I suspect the price would vastly plummet – provided the local governments decide not to regulate and tax it.

Anyway, I digress… The vivid description of the Rason marketplace alone is worth the read. On Smoking Weed in North Korea.

Tom Coyner is a senior adviser to IPG.