Japan frets over growing marijuana problem


The revelation that students at the country's most prestigious seats of learning enjoy an occasional joint is hardly the stuff of headlines - unless that country is Japan.

Judging by recent coverage, Japan is in the midst of a marijuana epidemic that is ensnaring everyone from students to suburban housewives and sumo wrestlers.

A slew of arrests for drug-related offences among elite scholars has sparked widespread indignation that more youngsters are choosing to while away their university years in a fug of marijuana smoke.

While police once focused their attention on amphetamines and other stimulants, recent statistics show a dramatic increase in cases involving cannabis. In the first half of this year the number of cases in which suspects were questioned or arrested stood at 1,202, a 12% increase on the same time last year. The number of cases involving the cultivation of cannabis at home was up by almost 50%, the national police agency said.

A record 2,423 violations were recorded in 2006, but police expect that figure to be beaten with ease this year.

Recreational marijuana use hit the headlines this summer when three Russian sumo wrestlers were kicked out of the sport for allegedly smoking the drug. In recent months newspapers have reported arrests for dealing, cultivating or possessing marijuana at some of Japan's best universities.

The Mainichi Shimbun, often a progressive voice on other issues, devoted part of its front page yesterday to a fuming editorial warning of the potential ruination of Japan's finest universities by the evil weed.

Noting that students of the 1960s concerned themselves only with "world peace", the paper derided their modern-day counterparts' unhealthy obsession with attaining a different kind of tranquility.

Of the recent campus arrests, it says: "It is rational to believe that these cases are just the tip of the iceberg, and that 'drug pollution' at university campuses is more widespread than generally thought."

There does not appear to be a problem with supply. In July, police in Tokyo seized 180kg of cannabis - Japan's biggest haul - with a street value of ¥720m (£4.6m).

Smokers who prefer not to risk buying from dealers - who charge, on average, six times the going rate in the Netherlands - are growing their own. Accordingly, the number of people arrested for growing the plant at home, many with seeds bought on the internet, has risen fivefold over the past 10 years.

Japanese law takes a dim view of the recreational use of soft drugs. The 1948 cannabis control law calls for prison terms of up to 10 years and hefty fine for anyone found importing, exporting, growing, selling or buying cannabis.

Its use for medical purposes, permitted in some other countries, is also banned.

Japanese activists are pushing for a change in the law to permit the use of cannabis among sufferers of diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's.

"Cannabis is harmless compared to alcohol and tobaccos, but still the government overreacts and ruins the lives of anyone found with it," Koichi Maeda, the founder of the Japan Medical Marijuana Association, told the Guardian. "We asked the government to provide evidence of the harm they say marijuana causes, but they couldn't."

Maeda, who runs a hemp restaurant in Tokyo, believes recent media coverage of the issue shows how far public attitudes towards dope smoking in Japan lag behind those in Britain and parts of Europe.

"The authorities use the media to peddle their claims that marijuana is a gateway drug to harder substances, and the media are too stupid to check if what they are being told is true," he said. "All the newspapers do is run sensationalist articles based on what the police tell them. It makes me so angry.
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"The authorities use the media to peddle their claims that marijuana is a gateway drug to harder substances, and the media are too stupid to check if what they are being told is true," he said. "All the newspapers do is run sensationalist articles based on what the police tell them. It makes me so angry.

Sounds all too familiar

..

Cultivation in uni. Heroes.

I got offered a 1-2 month residency in a Tokyo venue once, and although it was well paid, I turned it down purely because of the cannabis situation out there. A friend of mine had just returned, and in the 3 weeks he was over there, he only found hash once. It was hugely expensive, although he said it was good quality. To be caught with cannabis in Japan was the same as being caught with heroin or crack.... The only recreational drug that was easy to find was crystal meth - a drug that the yakuza mafia organisations control.

This was in 2000. Eight years on, it seems like more and more people are now growing and consuming cannabis in Japan, and that makes me smile .....

Its also great that people are starting to speak up for medicinal users out there too.

The attitude out there is positively medieval, get caught with even a tiny bit and you'll do time. Also anyone in your immediate family who receives a government (national or local) salary could well loose their job, doesn't make you the most popular person at family get togethers

Would be well nice if things change over there

Hi




Hear Hear

Been saying for years WE have some of the best growers and people with cannabis education on the inter-net and yet ALL they hear is the governments dross and bullshit and they always go to anti-cannabis organisations for the truth about cannabis ????

For instance they go to Debra Bell for advice ????

We have educated thousands in cannabis growing, cannabis politics, cannabis science, cannabis philosophy etc and yet THEY see us as none educational enough to know about cannabis ????

silly media they are everywhere!

Bongme

my friend went to japan with his punk band (about 7 years ago ) for sony music. on arrival he ask the guy who picked him up if he could get him some ganja. man said yes, but later. that evening same man, and dude from sony music turned up at there hotel. gave him a serious bollocking, and threatened to send him home. its funny tho. i was there 3 years ago with another friend who was djing. joke is there all bang on the booze. like really bang on it! and i can drink!!!!! thats ok tho???? crazy. also they arent allowed porn. the bits and bobs are cubed out so you see no naughty's? proper strange place that