crime

Japan rock group Dragon Ash member nabbed for marijuana possession

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Wow, an epidemic in the making!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I guess they thought the spate of recent drug arrests would never touch them.

Smart!

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

In America, it’d be a badge of honour

0 ( +6 / -6 )

The horror!

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Such criminals!!!!

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Ridiculous..... a small amount.

and he was doing what exactly that was harming people or property?

was he laughing too loudly, eating to much snacks?

Probably just enjoying his life....how dare he, arrest him before he upsets anyone else.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

So, they formed a task force, spent a month investigating it and launched a raid with probably a dozen or more cops to get an ‘undisclosed’ small amount of pot. Way to go guys! Nice waste of resources on the crime of the century.

16 ( +18 / -2 )

KenKen and JESSE, next time stick to drinking beer and sake for a good time. Marijuana is illegal in Japan. I guess Dragon Ash and RIZE will break up now. What a waste of a music career.

-12 ( +7 / -19 )

Mariuana possession.... 'crime'....! lol

What about Yakuza and the collusion of Police and public forces with right extremists and politicians...?

11 ( +13 / -2 )

It doesn't matter national crisis/emergency or not. Until Japan legalizes marijuana, it's illegal. Don't know why people can't get that thru their heads. You can certainly decide which laws you wish to follow or not follow, but if caught, chances are you will face some punishment for them. Get over it.

-4 ( +8 / -12 )

Trying to make sence of this "waist" of a musical career? Beatles were deported from Japan for possession. Rolling Stones spent their best years totally waisted. The list of artists, musicians who produced iconic music art while under the influence is way too long to list. Might be using a substance actually benifits creativity, the facts certainly bears out that argument. The waist is the police obsession with arresting people who have not hurt or damaged anything or anyone. I still remember they sent a team from Tokyo to a remote island to arrest a cancer suffer for using dope for medical relief.

Stupidity is boundless

9 ( +12 / -3 )

Rena Matsui, it's a plant, and far less harmful than beer. The cops wasted hundreds of thousands if not millions of yen, on a raid for marijuana possession. If they were really interested in looking good, they'd go after the sellers and not the end users. It's a pathetic waste of money! And again, it's a plant. Get over it yourself.

5 ( +13 / -8 )

In America, it’d be a badge of honour

@tooheysnew

I don’t know what part of America you have seen or what time in America you are referring to, but that won’t be considered a badge of honor for anyone.

Some drug dealers may see getting arrested for dealing as a badge of honor but not the user being arrested.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Hey Belrick, save your rhetoric. I said nothing about whether it's good or bad, should or shouldn't be legal. I said it's the fact that it's CURRENTLY illegal that people should get over the repercussions of being arrested for breaking the law. The end. You can agree or disagree with the reasons why it should or shouldn't be illegal. But nonetheless it's breaking the law as of today, and there are repercussions for breaking the law.

0 ( +9 / -9 )

There are obviously a group of people who break the law, the law is then outdated and wrong. There are also a large amount of companies and politicians who blatantly break laws with no penality, so the law is useless. Why is there such a disparaty on enforcement?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Another person arrested for the moral sin of intoxicating themselves using a substance not on the approved list of intoxicants.

In Japan, the citizenry most only intoxicate themselves using intoxicants on the approved list. It is morally derelict to intoxicate otherwise.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Before weed became legal in many states in the US, a number of politicians, police and other leaders realized that people who were being locked up for possession were being unfairly punished. So, using the law to justify punishment of victimless crime is narrow-minded. Most of Europe and the US has moved on from this issue. It is time that Japan took another look at their outdated laws.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

My prediction: a few days from now, prosecutors will drop this case without giving any reason as to why they have done so.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Japan is a risk-averse society, so they will not be an early adopter to re-legalization. Many other countries will need to do it first before Japan will even accept that the idea is one worth admitting exists.

For the time being, the people must only intoxicate themselves with alcohol. Yes, it's much worse for you than cannabis, and physically addictive at that, but the key point is that it is the approved intoxicant.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

In Japan, the citizenry most only intoxicate themselves using intoxicants on the approved list. It is morally derelict to intoxicate otherwise.

@ StrangerLand. Please dont single out Japan. Citizens in EVERY nation must only use legal substances. It is ILLEGAL t o use marijuana, stimulant, cocaine etc in Japan. It nothing to do with "morals", its the law.

Follow Japans rules and everyone will be fine. I truly hope KenKen and JESSE can get help, reform themself, and play music again one day. They are amazing hard rockers.

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

The cops wasted hundreds of thousands if not millions of yen, on a raid for marijuana possession. If they were really interested in looking good, they'd go after the sellers and not the end users. It's a pathetic waste of money! 

I see this comment a lot and I don't believe that anyone who says it has any idea of how police investigations work. What money is spent other than the salary of the police officers who would've been paid regardless of whether they were doing this raid or not. It's not like once an investigation is opened it suddenly costs a huge amount of money. They don't hire investigators on an hourly wage when an investigation starts. So tell me please, how is this a waste of money? Beats them doing absolutely nothing and still getting the same amount of money...

Also, how do you think information about the sellers is found? Use your head man.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

It is annoying to read how the local police wastes ressources on persecuting the use of what is probably the most harmless and most well-known of all recreationial drugs. And which increasingly is legalized all over the world.

In a sane world, they would not even have have to legalize it, they could just take a relaxed attitute, like they do with bicyclists using the wrong side of the road (which is actually really dangerous.)

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Surely just the tip of the iceberg.

If you pull up this tip, the whole of young Japan might rise up out of the waters.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@gambare Japan https://www.google.co.jp/amp/s/www.globalresearch.ca/the-secret-history-of-cannabis-in-japan-2/5479996/amp as a pro-Japanese you should be for the legalization and rightful legitimization of Cannabis for the sake of Japan’s culture and soul which was robbed and neglected during GHQ occupation after the war. As with article 9, the Cannabis eradication program should also be reconsidered in light of current environment and understanding of the medicinal and spiritual qualities long associated with Japanese Cannabis culture.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Agree with most posters that this is a crime-less crime, but here in Japan it is what it is and being busted can royally screw up your life, job and family. Please take extra care or abstain until you can get off shore.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@ StrangerLand. Please dont single out Japan. Citizens in EVERY nation must only use legal substances. It is ILLEGAL t o use marijuana, stimulant, cocaine etc in Japan. It nothing to do with "morals", its the law.

In many nations, the illegality of many drugs is a grey zone, and it's neither legal to use nor not use them. In Japan they have made the laws so that there is only one drug on the approved list of intoxicants, with all others strongly prohibited.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Lots of good comments that’s for sure.

When one thinks about alcohol versus THC there is no doubt which is a bigger threat to society.

I have seen drunk people vomit in the train, on the platform etc.

Japan is a cool place to live but the government is so in the dark ages about THC and its usefulness both for people who can benefit from it as a medicine and the economic possibilities of legalization and taxation.

It would be interesting to see how many people would have nothing to do with marijuana here if it became legal. I would guess there would be very few that would buy it.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@ksteer

The money people are referring to are the resources dedicated to such an investigation. The resources tied up during this investigation (ie: manpower,equipment) are not available for what some may consider more worthwhile purposes. As for obtaining information about sellers, you are correct. Coercing a felon to give up information is an age old tactic, especially effective against those with a reputation to maintain.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

As guests in Japan, we foreigners ought to be respectful of local laws and social customs. Most Japanese have no interest in legalizing such substances. It's thier country and so we ought to respect that.

For those who wish to partake, do so in a country where it's legal, or at your own risk if here in Japan.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I know of three guys busted for pot here in Japan. ALL THREE were ratted out by angry ex-girlfriends.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Ban alcohol it destroys lives. Allow Cannabis, it enhances and makes your life more enjoyable. Every time I go to Canada on business I never fail to partake these days in the good stuff.

Japan is about 100 years behind other countries so probably sometime in the next century it will legal here.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

@ksteer

I see this comment a lot and I don't believe that anyone who says it has any idea of how police investigations work. What money is spent other than the salary of the police officers who would've been paid regardless of whether they were doing this raid or not.

I don´t think commentators are as ignorant as you suggest. Regardless if more officers are hired or overtime is paid, fact is police ressources are not limitless. And any ressources spent on this nonsense can obviously not be used for more sensible activities. Not rocket science.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@Concerned Citizen

Most Japanese have no interest in legalizing such substances. It's thier country and so we ought to respect that.

Most Japanese had no interest in making it illegal in the first place. It's a shame the Americans did not respect that it was their country, and respect that in the first place.

It's the usual story of DuPont forcing the US government to force the Japanese government to enact laws the Japanese people did not even understand because at that time cannabis grew like weeds all over the country.

You should read up on the history of cannabis and Japan, it's very interest.

Japan would have been a much better place if it had been left alone and stuck with weed rather than hit the shabu.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

FYI, there were, until the 1950s, at least 25,000 cannabis farms in Japan.

The primary reason for the scarcity of cannabis is strict law introduced by the US during the occupation with the 1948 Cannabis Control Act.

Given its traditional role in Shintoism, this might actually have been deliberate and not just for serving US industry and its new manmade materials.

Cannabis was at the very heart of Japanese culture for thousands of years.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The whole world got polluted by the marijuana misinformation campaign pushed by Americans in the before WWII.

The effects of this campaign were millions of people worldwide being imprisoned for possession of a plant that grows wild, and has been consumed by humanity for so long that our brains have developed specific cannabinoid receptors for it.

We should keep this in mind as an example of how American hysteria can have long lasting effects world wide, and why we should be careful of getting caught up in it.

The idea that possession of this plant is justification for denying someone their freedom is ridiculous, and frankly an affront to the ideals of justice.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Might as well ban clover it's a weed too.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I see the point of those who see a double standard re alcohol and cannabis laws in Japan and agree with them.

However the Japanese are rightfully wary of going down the slippery slope of Western style permissiveness and the social degradation that follows. For the sake of their people they should not bow to the pressure.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Funny that people are still complaining about this here. If you want to smoke marijuana in Japan, do it. If you get away with it, congrats. If you get caught, you'll be at the mercy of police and prosecutors. Roll the dice. No different to me than cocaine being illegal, driving while drunk, throwing a brick thru a window, not paying your taxes. Do it or don't do it. Just take responsibility for your actions if you get caught. You know it's illegal. Don't like the laws? Protest or run for office. Can't? Enjoy sounding like a broken record your whole life here, or move somewhere you can do it legally.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

You know it's illegal. Don't like the laws? Protest or run for office. Can't? Enjoy sounding like a broken record your whole life here, or move somewhere you can do it legally.

Ahh, the old "go home if you don't like it" argument. Sounds very Trumpian.

Anyways, I don't like the law, and as a resident of Japan, I'll express that as I like. Don't like that? Stop reading and posting here. Or move somewhere where people aren't complaining about such a ridiculous law.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

No, it's the old "if it's illegal, stop complaining about it when news stories report people being arrested for partaking in the illegal activity." If you need to do something that is illegal in Japan that badly, I've clearly laid out your options:

1) Do it anyway, deal with consequences if caught.

2) Don't do the illegal activity.

3) Protest and/or Run for political office to get the laws changed.

4) Move somewhere else where the thing you want to partake in or feel should be legal, IS legal.

If you can't understand that, there are plenty of English teachers on this site who give lessons. Find one.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

If you need to do something that is illegal in Japan that badly, I've clearly laid out your options:

Where have I said I need it? I’ve been very vocal on this site that people should not stray from the list of approved intoxicants. I never partake here. That would be stupid.

Bur that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop pointing out how ridiculous making a plant illegal is.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

However the Japanese are rightfully wary of going down the slippery slope of Western style permissiveness and the social degradation that follows. 

What is Western style permissiveness? I fail to see how smoking a plant leads to social degradation, unless loading up on junk food at 2 in the morning and maybe a good giggle counts as that.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Toasted Heretic

What is Western style permissiveness? I fail to see how smoking a plant leads to social degradation, unless loading up on junk food at 2 in the morning and maybe a good giggle counts as that.

Western style permissiveness: Soft on drugs, crime, guns, rebellion against authority, etc. While there are many positive Western values I would like to see the Japanese adopt, there are others they ought to continue to avoid.

I agree that, in moderation, cannabis is generally harmless and doesn’t pose a threat. However experience tells us that nations with relaxed attitudes and laws towards such things generally develop serious problems with substance abuse, which has absolutely decimated my country and maybe yours too. Maintaining a firm stance saves lives.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Concerned Citizen

Why, so that they can die from overwork or get 'red face' from alcohol their bodies does not have the enzymes to digest and pass on the pavements instead?

Without you naming "your" country, it is difficult for me to address its intoxicant culture. There are always more complex issues involved, eg in the US its anti-marijuana policies were originally based on racism and political benefits for the Right wing (it was a useful tool in repressing Left wing pacifist and more community oriented leaders and groups), which have since become profitable from right wing supporting industries such as the prison system.

In every country, alcohol was always been a far worse, far more damaging intoxicant and yet it is tolerated, why?

Again, the answer is political and financial. Not moral, not social, not health related.

I think the offence that many of us take is that modern Japan isn't Japanese but rather a Japan American re-made to suit America's interests; and an impotent, workaholic, right leaning leadership and population suits them best.

Cannabis was a huge part of Japan's original culture.

https://apjjf.org/2014/12/49/Jon-Mitchell/4231.html

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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