News

Turkish meth user files complaint against dealer over fake drug

Published

2 years ago

May 26, 2022

Braving a prison term, a man filed a criminal complaint against a drug dealer in northwestern Turkey, claiming he sold him lemon salt instead of methamphetamine.

The man, identified as H.Ç., visited the prosecutor’s office in Gemlik, a coastal town in the province of Bursa, earlier this week to file the complaint against his dealer Ç.K.Y. The plaintiff admitted he had been taking drugs for more than 1 1/2 years but claimed he kicked the habit three months ago. He told the prosecutor that he contacted Ç.K.Y. via social media to buy meth in exchange for $12 (TL 200). After receiving the drug, H.Ç. said he noticed it was plain lemon salt when he tried to use it. He asked the officials to detain the dealer on charges of fraud.

The complaint surprised the prosecutor, but legal proceedings are anyway: H.Ç. was questioned for drug use and taken into custody while a detention warrant was issued for Ç.K.Y. Drug use carries prison terms up to five years while sentences are harsher for dealers. It is not clear whether the dealer would also be charged with fraud.

Although local drug use is low in Turkey, which otherwise struggles to shed its image as a popular smuggling route between Europe and Asia for drug smugglers, it remains a concern for the authorities. Drug-related deaths declined to 314 in 2020, the latest year with available data, from 941 in 2017.

Authorities launched a string of projects to crack down on drug use in recent years. Police established special teams to patrol areas where drug use and sale activity are likely to increase, including near the perimeters of schools and abandoned buildings. It also runs hotlines for families concerned about the suspected drug use of their children.