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© KYODOPolice officer arrested for possession of marijuana
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u_s__reamer
Another small step on the long and winding road to social acceptance and legalization in Japan. What's next? "Judge arrested for possession of marijuana"?
simon g
Can you call it canabis please.
obladi
Difficult to unpack that sentence.
Cosmos1
So he nicked the weed from the school
HonestDictator
At the pharmacy I work at, a pharmacist had been terminated a few months ago from his position due to his personal usage of marijuana. It IS legal for recreational use here, but it also has SIDE EFFECTS. He wasn't using it at work, and he wasn't coming to work under the influence, but in the end it was somehow was affecting his mental acuity to do his job properly. He lost a few IQ points and wasn't functioning as well as he used to. I'd known him for 8 years and he did appear to become slower than I ever remember him being.
Any position with important duties like medical care, law enforcement, legislature, military etc.
A judge that get's high too often may not make the best judgements, same with law enforcement (especially in Japan...), or a brain surgeon that starts having the shakes or schizophrenia, or a soldier having less of a mind than before...
I said there are consequences... I'm just going to sit back and watch it play out (as it already is...)
u_s__reamer
We've seen it all before: social acceptance of cannabis will be given a much bigger boost when the children of politicians and prominent personages are nicked for possession. We should be in no doubt: the times they are a-changin'! BTW, what was Trump smokin' on July 4?
Do the hustle
Cannabis will never be socially acceptable in Japan. This is despite it being a lot more common than anyone would like to admit.
I wonder how much pot he was caught with. The article doesn’t say. Was it a gram, an ounce, a kilo? I guess that is not important as long as it is plugged as the devil’s weed.
Toasted Heretic
Legalize it now and be done with it.
stepoutsidethebox
"Can you call it cannabis please."
In Japan cannabis refers to both the legal strain of hemp and archaically illegal strain of marijuana.
"It IS legal for recreational use here, but it also has SIDE EFFECTS." We are talking about alcohol and tobacco right?
"an ounce, a kilo? " Are you kidding. If it was more than a gram it would have made the headlines. It would be announced over the neighborhood emergency speakers. I think the largest bust ever in the history of Japan was 3 grams (sarcasm). If they found an ounce on this guy, I am not sure they have a jail dark enough and a pit deep enough to lose him in.
Legalize it! Join 2003!
JJ Jetplane
Understatement. They are still working on socially accepting tattoos and that has been around for a long time here. Legalization won’t happen in my lifetime or my children.
Strangerland
Police officers need to ensure that they only intoxicate themselves using substances from the approved list of intoxicants. Any ingestion of intoxicants not on the approved list will be dealt with swiftly and severely.
u_s__reamer
@simon g
Can you call it canabis please. Nope, but I will call it cannabis. Dope, I will never say!
nandakandamanda
HonestDictator: Re "It IS legal for recreational use here"
Where are you? It is certainly is legal for recreational use here.
nandakandamanda
OOps! That should be.... It certainly is NOT legal for recreational use here!
WA4TKG
Yup, seems like he nicked it from the Boot Camp ? Lol.
Outrageous, get this guy to run for office.
Ganbare Japan!
If he had "work stress", it is no excuse to use illegal drugs. He is meant to protect citizens from crime, not get involved in crime!! Stick to drinking beer after work to blow off steam. No drug!!
Nobnaga
i dont understand why mj is big deal there
stepoutsidethebox
"i dont understand why mj is big deal there"
Says the person who never tried it. I don't drink these days and the worst thing about Japan, seriously, 100% honest, is no weed (i know it's here, but not worth the risk here, to me). I take almost yearly vacations around the world just to smoke and injest MJ.
garypen
It's a much bigger deal in Japan. Everybody goes nuts if somebody is found with so much as a crumb. They have to quit their jobs, and have press conferences, and employers and families have to apologize, and all products that may have even the slightest association with the person is pulled from the shelves, negatively affecting the livelihoods of others. It's ridiculous.
In the US, in states where it's legal, and even where it isn't, people just smoke it (or otherwise ingest it) in stride, like drinking a beer. No big deal at all.
Sure, some people have made it a central part of their lives. But, they're idiots. Most people just view it like having a beer or cocktail.
A few rely upon it in a more serious medicinal way to relieve pain, remove anxiety, and/or increase appetite more effectively and without the negative side effects or expense of pharmaceutical drugs.
These are the reasons that alcohol and pharma companies spend a lot of money lobbying (bribing) politicians and law enforcement to keep the erroneous stereotype alive that cannabis is a dangerous drug, unlike their "safe" alcohol and pharmaceuticals.
Henny Penny
My house mate in graduate school was a stoner. Preferable to living with an alcoholic but that's not saying much.
weedkila
FYI, beer is a drug and has caused way more damage to health and society than cannabis ever did.
Alcohol, also known by its chemical name ethanol, is a psychoactive drug that is the active ingredient in drinks such as beer, wine, and distilled spirits (wikipedia)
Yet alcohol is still legal while cannabis isn't ?!? That one's a bit of a head scratcher.
Furthermore Japan has a history with cannabis which dates back to the Jomon period (10,000 BC - 200 BC) right up to 1948 when the Cannabis Control "Act" was passed. There is even a museum in Tochigi ken dedicated to it called Taima Hakubutsukan.
weedkila
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2014/04/19/lifestyle/cannabis-the-fiber-of-japan/
DocCarlos
Marijuana is a RACIST word against Black and Hispanics in the USA, the real word is Cannabis Sativa. As the Industrial nations see the medical benefits, the issue no one ever died as is therapeutic for people fighting diseases, cancer, seizures and PTSD. No one ever overdosed or developed lung cancer, heart disease or liver issues. Never a hangover and no bad side effects.
Prison for a plant that has been used for thousands of years as medicine and treatments for what ills us.
Big Osaki and Tobacco companies like to sell and have people indulge in poisons that ruin lives. Nature provides us naturally the medicines that are good. Then Big Pharma wants you to eat their poison pills to sell you another pill for the side effects of the pill they first give you.
It's all about money and control of the masses
They should let the masses vote not the corrupt politicians in Japan
juminRhee
Officer: "I just wanted to work from home too. I'm that dedicated."
nandakandamanda
The theft mentioned in the original article, (see obladi's post near the top of the comments), was a watch that went missing from the police school. Suspicion fell upon this guy, so the police raided his family house.
HonestDictator
Uh, I worked with him for 8 Years at 2 different pharmacies! This was before recreational use was legalized in my state. When you know a person and have hung out with them for quite a long time, you can easily see their personality change for the better or for worse. After legalization he said he was using it for recreational use. It affected him. Working for a pharmacy means one has to pass a drug test, because we all work around a LOT more addictive medications (opiods and methamphetamines) and they don't want employees stealing from the pharmacy to either use themselves or sell for more $$ on the streets.
Depends on how often they use it, and how it affects each individual persons metabolism. I have friends who are stoners, and see the impact their usage has had on them. I know relatives of mine who have allergies to cannabis. I know that even users can have allergic reactions to certain strains.
I also know pro cannabis folks can't seem to comprehend that it's not some magical plant that has no side effects. Everything has side affects. I just don't choose to ignore the negative consequences that can occur from recreational use of cannabis.
I don't care if someone else uses it if it's legalized in their location. I do care when I am affected by their actions (especially when they still can't follow the specific rules of recreational usage), like "NO RECREATIONAL USE IN PUBLIC", "NO UNDERAGE USAGE", "NO USAGE IN FRONT OF YOUR OWN CHILDREN", "NO SELLING OF CANNIBIS WITHOUT A LICENSE".... Every single one of rules in my state I have seen BROKEN with my own two eyes, and not hearsay.
HonestDictator
Don't say anything bad about weed! Hmmm. Now what does THAT remind me of?
Diego3
Hey Ganbare Japan, as a tour guide working out of Vegas, where cannabis is legal, I can say that a lot of Japanese people are excited to try it.
sir_bentley28
Legalize it and don't criticize it.