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Police report record number of cannabis offenders in 2020

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The teens doing that is aceptable since they are left without supervision but an older person in disgusting. I did have my troubled times too and got many problems in keeping my mind focused . I hate drugs and drug dealers and the government should provide study centers for thouse kids to spend their time.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Anybody else remember when shrooms were legal in Japan and you could buy them over the counter?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

My first time was at a Pink Floyd concert at my university.

I'm just blown away that the band played your university! That's impressive.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Toasted HereticApr. 9  06:48 am JST

What teen doesn't try a bit of blow from time to time?

Sometimes I feel that beloved host nation's approach to cannabis is all a bit reefer madness propaganda.

Please legalize it and be done with the hysteria.

My first time was at a Pink Floyd concert at my university. I was 28, and Mary Jane was everybody's girlfriend that night. The hot dog and munchies boys and the drink vender girls made a killing too because patrons kept flagging them down. Soft drinks were $3 each. Needless to say, Ohio State University made a bonanza that weekend.

I already mentioned that since its legal in Canada it's a big revenue and Native farmers really are reaping the benefits.

asiafriendToday  06:20 am JST

Christine LougheadApr. 10 06:55 pm JST

Keep it illegal and crack down on all of those using it . You don’t need this repulsive crap in Japan like we have here in Canada . Every apartment building smells like crap and every time I leave the house I smell it and when coming in and out of stores or even smelling it on people in stores . It’s everywhere . Not to mention the effect it has on employment and the increase in car accidents from driving while high. It’s ruined so many peoples lives here .

I agree totally, the stench is horrible.  Just as bad as cigarette smoke stench. But since many people smoke it, and evidently many posting on this forum, and if it is going to eventually be made legal everywhere in the US, then we can at least make money on it. Investing in cannabis companies and the manufacturers of cannabis growing equipment both on the TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange) and NYSE, has proved fruitful for me. So all of you that love to smoke it, whether new timers or have done so for decades, keep doing it. Every puff you take is money in my pocket. I also invested in health care so if the weed smokers develop more health problems down the road, that's money in the bank, too.  Just don’t smoke it near me.

It's regulated like alcohol. DUI is verboten. You can't toke in your car. When I was in Canada in 2019 the hotels I stayed in when I was staying in Ottawa and Quebec City explicitly prohited all smoking so I had to smoke my weed outside, and not out in public either. Generally, that usually means the parking lot. Basically, you just do it at where you're going to rest that night, at a hotel or your home. And cannibis is nowhere near as addictive or dangerous as tobacco.

Legalize it!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Christine LougheadApr. 10 06:55 pm JST

Keep it illegal and crack down on all of those using it . You don’t need this repulsive crap in Japan like we have here in Canada . Every apartment building smells like crap and every time I leave the house I smell it and when coming in and out of stores or even smelling it on people in stores . It’s everywhere . Not to mention the effect it has on employment and the increase in car accidents from driving while high. It’s ruined so many peoples lives here .

I agree totally, the stench is horrible.  Just as bad as cigarette smoke stench. But since many people smoke it, and evidently many posting on this forum, and if it is going to eventually be made legal everywhere in the US, then we can at least make money on it.  Investing in cannabis companies and the manufacturers of cannabis growing equipment both on the TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange) and NYSE, has proved fruitful for me.  So all of you that love to smoke it, whether new timers or have done so for decades, keep doing it.  Every puff you take is money in my pocket. I also invested in health care so if the weed smokers develop more health problems down the road, that's money in the bank, too.  Just don’t smoke it near me.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Roughly every week a new research report is published describing some new medical benefit from Cannabis. And what really is not appreciated is that Cannabis is a 'fruit'. [What!!?] A way long time ago, plants, those wily creatures who we appreciate so little, found a way to get us mammals to work for them. They hired us as both reproductive intermediates and as seed carriers and dispensers. Our pay was high energy containing 'treats' which allowed us to live and reproduce and become (there is always irony) the planet's top abuser of plants. But energy is not the only thing homeless, shelterless, always hungry animals need. And, so, one plant line took it upon itself to become the world's apothecary and, instead of high calorie nutes enfolding the precious seed cargo, Cannabis began to provide health giving and discomfort mitigating substances around its seeds and Nature voted with its illnesses and injuries by making Cannabis ubiquitous in the world, a solid biological vote of confidence. So, after millions of years of quiet participation, documented 8000 years Human usage in China, a corrupt American who owned newspapers discovered that people who use Mota "think too much" and also that it competed with his other interests such as paper making and fabrics and, worst of all, alcohol, and declared it a DRUG and ran a campaign of lies in his newspapers resulting in Cannabis being tossed in with actual poisons like opioids and extract of the Coca plant. Alcohol, unarguably the most poisonous and physically damaging of the lot was re-legalized and was untouched. Cannabis, once America's biggest cash crop (sails, ropes, et alia), became America's biggest source of psychopathic 'drug' agents and whole agencies set up to interdict any possible whiff of Mota smoke. MILLIONS of people were hurt by this before sanity started to break out on the U.S. West Coast and Oregon enacted Medical Cannabis because the evidence for its benefit over any injury ratio (1:0) was so breathgivingly obvious. But, once a Big Lie is implanted in our Little Brains and cemented in with mindless fear, cutting it out takes generations. What we see here. The deluded persecuting the innocent. And when the deluded finally become educated, will they apologize for the massive harm they've done to so many? Naw, ignorance has NO SHAME for the unnecessary damage it always causes. Will the 5000+ just this year be forgiven? No. Their crime was not 'drug use', really, but just disobedience to the ruling psychopaths. This too shall pass...but how many innocent people damaged before the bosses, themselves, discover pain and discomfort relief in a form which will not make things worse nor present the threat that any Big Pharma medication can present. Never, that is, NEVER has there been a death attributable to the use of Cannabis. Even water can't say that...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It is great is to walk around Amsterdam or Vancouver, Canada with a few grams in your pocket while toking on a vape pen. Free God's Holy Herb!!!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

After surgery, relaxation and sleep is very important and what promotes that better than an edible (I don't like smoke)?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

On my last business trip to Washington DC from Japan, I was surprised to see CBD oil available for sale, and shops that sell edibles. Those might be safer alternatives than inhaling smoke into the lungs, while still providing the THC effects that people want.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Back in the States after years in Japan I had a serious operation some weeks back. In true American-style the hospital dumped me in my car and my wife drove me home where I suffered in bed for days on end, but because I prepared I didn't suffer quite as much as I would have: I got ahold of the strongest edibles I could have shipped from California to my state where they are unavailable. Yeah, I spent more than a week high 24/7 and the cannabis helped tremendously with the pain.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Keep it illegal and crack down on all of those using it . You don’t need this repulsive crap in Japan like we have here in Canada . Every apartment building smells like crap and every time I leave the house I smell it and when coming in and out of stores or even smelling it on people in stores . It’s everywhere . Not to mention the effect it has on employment and the increase in car accidents from driving while high. It’s ruined so many peoples lives here .

0 ( +4 / -4 )

After 30 years of pot I can honestly say if you can give it a miss in life

The better off you health wise..

Breathing smoke into the lungs isn't the best advice...

But hey ! We're all going to do what we're going to do...

Have a wonderful day everyone.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

bass4funkApr. 9  07:52 pm JST

nothing beats a good old smoke when you get home, as in home home, as in not here

Yup!!!

Well, when I was a kid and when my parents and grandparents were kids we all heard the story how the good herb was evil, bad for you and if your friends do it, they're losers and will probably get into big drugs and wind up in prison, don't be a loser and hearing all this while my parents smoked at the dinner table telling us this, who'd thought way back that cigarettes would be almost banned and seen as dirty and unhealthy and that weed will be legal and accepted and respected, NO one thought that 30 years ago. Boy, have times seriously changed.

Tobacco is very addictive and has no medicinal value whatsoever, and long term and/or heavy use can and will kill you in various hideous ways. I lost 2 friends to lung cancer in their 20s and they smoked. Mary Jane is not physically addictive.

Peter NeilToday  02:56 am JST

Sooner or later the government will realize that they can make money from taxing pot. Until they make money from it, the alcohol lobby will have any legalization attempts shot down.

Look at my previous posts. In Canada there is a national company 'Chooms' that specializes in weed and hemp, it's grown en masse on hydroponic farms domestically (imports like hashish, Panama red, etc. aren't allowed there) and Native American farmers are really making a bonanza with it. It's a cash crop, it's big money. And it doesn't kill anybody like nicotine does.

Legalize it!

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

This country is getting more and more outdated.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Watch Dr. Sanjay Gupta on his research on use of cannabis for young patients with seizures cut from like 50 or more a day to almost 0.

Cannabis has helped cancer patients recover.

Great pain killer instead of opiates.

Japan sells codeine across the counter in the form of BRON and is highly addictive.

California legalized for medical purposes first.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Yes arrest wannabe weed smokers inspired and brainwashed by outside media. Good job, crack down all drugs to 0.

Ever entertained the idea that it's Japan that has it all wrong on this matter and is doing the indoctrination?

Your avatar is high, by the way.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Sooner or later the government will realize that they can make money from taxing pot. Until they make money from it, the alcohol lobby will have any legalization attempts shot down.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Yes arrest wannabe weed smokers inspired and brainwashed by outside media. Good job, crack down all drugs to 0.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

Once a Juvenile gets apprehended in Japan - what happens ? How would this type of event effect their future prospects for any Career within Japan ?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It's about time officials finally lightened up a bit. If more people are having their lives ruined in such a way, I'm surprised the article didn't refer to this as a human rights issue.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

If the numbers of arrest are increasing that means the country is sleeping and their is a demand for it. Japan its time to LIGHT IT UP! The world is changing I see more drunks in Japan puking their guts out and falling out on fridays than I see bud heads on Fridays in the states. I have heard of people dying of alcohol positioning sclerosis of the liver, I have yet to hear or read of someone dying because they smoke bud!!

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Cannabis was NOT illegal in Japan before WWII.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

I can honestly say that I have never partaken in ANY illicit substances. That's MY choice. However, I DO think that certain substances should absolutely be fully legalised and decriminalised.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The only danger is getting busted and going to jail. Louis Armstrong smoked weed EVERY DAY. As does Willie Nelson. Two very righteous human beings.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

The National Police Agency warned that many young people are not aware of the risk of drugs due to the circulation of "positive information online"

You mean... the hundreds of peer reviewed scientific studies that have proven that marijuana is orders of magnitude safer than the widely and legally available alcohol and tobacco? Over and over again, for decades now? That "positive information"?

According to a survey involving 748 of the total offenders, just 16.7 percent said they were aware of the dangers of using cannabis.

See above. It's hard to be aware of dangers that don't actually exist, so I'm actually surprised that a whole 16.7% still seem to buy into the ridiculous reefer madness propaganda from 50 years ago.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

nothing beats a good old smoke when you get home, as in home home, as in not here

Yup!!!

Well, when I was a kid and when my parents and grandparents were kids we all heard the story how the good herb was evil, bad for you and if your friends do it, they're losers and will probably get into big drugs and wind up in prison, don't be a loser and hearing all this while my parents smoked at the dinner table telling us this, who'd thought way back that cigarettes would be almost banned and seen as dirty and unhealthy and that weed will be legal and accepted and respected, NO one thought that 30 years ago. Boy, have times seriously changed.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

A while ago, i lived in a cold town in Hokuriku. A nearby local village had many beautiful poppy flowers. One very cold snowy night, I was invited into a local house. After drinking their opium tea, I felt warm and comfy.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

The outcrop of Asia well a member of how we have come here, but reigned by unmoving blocks of concrete.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Yea they will become madmen killers if they smoke. This government need to get to relax and get educated...watch the movie Up in Smoke. Get a few good laughs is what happens. Oh and get hungry too!

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

CoffeeDeluxeToday 09:57 am JST

@Bjorn Tomention

"myth that Majrijuana is dangerous"

I've read otherwise. But I'm interested in seeing the information you're getting.

You know what CoffeDeluxe you are right it is in fact very dangerous, in the fact that the cops will come n kick in your door arrest you and destroy your life if they find you have puffed any.

Thats how dangerous the stuff is !! The biggest danger is the cops !

6 ( +11 / -5 )

Imagine a plant that can relax the mind and body being grown in the home and untaxable.

Now you know why it is lllegal...

7 ( +12 / -5 )

I love weed. Japan would be far better after a smoke.

7 ( +12 / -5 )

The National Police Agency warned that many young people are not aware of the risk of drugs due to the circulation of "positive information online" and vowed to boost cyber patrols and crack down on drug deals using social media.

What exactly is the "risk of drugs"? There are very dangerous drugs around, but Hashish is not one of them. It is absurdly safe, legal in many countries, and even part of the culture. Why this ridiculous generalization?

5 ( +11 / -6 )

The Times They Are A-Changin,

but if you rather trust big buss and conserv old boys how to change the Asian view?

Here from the outpost of the East.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

The biggest danger of using cannabis in Japan is being caught with it.

Or, caught after claiming you don't use it & that users should be jailed/banned/deported etc.

The amount of hypocrisy out there (not just in beloved host country) is something else. People from all walks of life, all trades and professions, all political and religious beliefs... will partake in an occasional smoke.

Be wary of the loudest anti-drug types. Experience has shown me that they too, are hypocrites.

1 ( +7 / -6 )

Bjorn Tomention

I believe Japan is undertaking Medicinal Marijuana studies and looking to legalise it for medicinal use much sooner than many thought they would.

The myth that Majrijuana is dangerous is exactly that a myth, it is not a drug it is a medicine, hence the fact it is being trialed for medical marijuana use here.

I really hope so. Someone close to me in Japan has Parkinson's disease, and medical marijuana might have a significant, life-enhancing effect on it (as seen on some videos). It's tough to watch someone who's full of life, curious and social, become a prisoner of their own body, unable to control it.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

said they were aware of the dangers of using cannabis

The biggest danger of using cannabis in Japan is being caught with it.

6 ( +11 / -5 )

Cannabis is a gateway drug as proven in court. It is harmful to the brain, especially with repeated use. The numerous fallacies and contradictions in the responses should not be presumed unrelated.

Everything in moderation, y'know?

If people are going to be serious drinkers/smokers etc, they going to be just that.

Most just enjoy an occasional drink and don't overdo things. And occasionaly, if they do, so what?

In a world such as this, escapism is not only an understandable choice... but sometimes a necessity.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

In Canada it's a source of revenue. Quality rope and paper and farmers (particularly Native American) are making a tax-free windfall from growing hemp.

Legalize it!

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Simian LaneToday  06:48 am JST

nothing beats a good old smoke when you get home, as in home home, as in not here

It's fully legal in Canada but it's regulated like alcohol. And it never brings out a mean side from anyone.

Legalize it!

0 ( +7 / -7 )

Once Corona is over young Japanese will again travel the world to places like Canada where you can just walk into a shop and legally buy weed.

They will quickly see that they were taught lies in school about its evils. At that point they might start to wonder about what other lies they may have been taught. History maybe? Doubts about authority set in.

This is something that should send chills down the spines of the ultra-nationalists.

4 ( +11 / -7 )

Really, Toasted 9:47am? Nowadays, in a traffic stop, admit to a cop you “*did** ‘a bit of blow**’” - vs. - “took a ‘hit’** to chill out” and see which scenario escalates faster.*

- “Toasted Heretic,...believe blow is a reference to cocaine and Not marijuana.

*- “ Apart from being ‘a nice way to chill’. So I'm told, etc... It can mean ‘both’, depends on where and when you're from ;-)“ *

Where & when could that have been? Now, there’s a difference between “tweaked” vs. “fried”, “baked” or even, “Toasted” ; )

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

There is no real reason to legalize it in Japan

When I walk around and see drunks passed out in their puke on the sidewalk on a Friday night, I think that there definitely is a place for it in Japan.

It would be good for their national psyche to be able to relax and chill out a bit.

And your comment ignores that people do get arrested for growing and/or possessing a plant in Japan. A plant that grows naturally. And was legal in Japan for almost the entirety of Japan's existence.

3 ( +11 / -8 )

Devolved certainly. DTES. Not pretty.

That's correct. This one small area of one city of Vancouver where the homeless and drug addicted congregate is proof that cannabis legalization has destroyed Canada. This is evidenced by the fact the DTES problem did not exist until legalization in 2018.

I mean, I assume that must be the case based on your comment. I didn't fact check it. The problems in the DTES didn't exist before legalization right?

 

...right?

0 ( +5 / -5 )

I don't advocate that juveniles smoke pot, but if they ever find out the real truth about it through experience, they are going to harbor some serious distrust of law enforcement. Disinformation never helps.

Ain't that just the truth (in a nutshell). Millions of the world's pot smokers know that the law and its draconian social sanctions cause far more harm and suffering than the highs from a leaf. In my case, it took the needless suicide of a frightened 19 year-old acquaintance of mine banged up in a solitary cell for possession of 5 grams of hash to teach me the terrible damage done to innocent young people by the stupid, repressive rule of hypocrites. This was my ground-zero where respect for the law ended and my liberation began.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Aha, that's why there's none in Nagoya

3 ( +3 / -0 )

This article and the responses here are illuminating.

Japan needs to 'get with the times'. 'The times' is what Canada and Western countries are doing.

The article says there were 5,000 cannabis related offences. That is monumentally lower than practically every Western country. Evidently Japan's approach is far more effective than the approach taken by the world's neoliberal hippy countries.

So here a bunch of admitted cannabis takers deny that their drug is harmful, suggest policies that would make it easier for them to get it, and justify it by accusing an alternative drug of being worse. Yet these are the tactics they say led to cannabis being outlawed in the first place. Irony of ironies: it is the marijuana lobby that is guilty of spreading the propaganda it claims to hate.

No wonder Japan doesn't want to get with the times. Cannabis is a gateway drug as proven in court. It is harmful to the brain, especially with repeated use. The numerous fallacies and contradictions in the responses should not be presumed unrelated.

For me personally I'm still wondering when exactly Canada became the benchmark country.

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

There is more societal and health damage due to alcohol, but hey, we can tax that. So lets not even look at alternate ways of dealing with this. Plenty of evidence from other countries that point to responsible ways of allowing use.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Arrest the troublemakers.

They're not making any trouble.

Apart from creating endless paperwork and stats, obviously.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

@CoffeeDeluxe

I may be wrong here, as I am going purely based on memory, but I am pretty sure that case was with the weird synthetic stuff people were using (that was briefly in a grey legal area). That stuff would mess you up in a really weird way, I tried it myself and absolutely hated it. I felt bizarre and barely remembered much.

Nothing like what normal weed does, where one is fully cognizant, just very relaxed.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

Arrest the troublemakers.

-9 ( +6 / -15 )

'cannabis makes people act crazy, even sometimes randomly stabbing people with a knife'. 

Well, the same thing can be said about alcohol, and yet, there are no laws against drinking oneself into oblivion.

Or overwork. Between a pothead and an overworked, underpaid, and bullied salaryman, I'd be watching the latter FAR MORE carefully for signs of violence

6 ( +10 / -4 )

Only danger from smoking cannabis is getting arrested and thrown in prison. Fact: cannabis is not addictive. Fact: legalizing cannabis in fact makes its use a lot safer, since it allows the authorities to regulate its distribution, and weed out the shady dealers, and it allows the police to focus their attention on more serious crimes.

Wake up, Japan - time to catch up with the 21st century!!

0 ( +10 / -10 )

Police report record number of cannabis offenders in 2020

Cannabis has been smoked in Japan for many, many years now. The only difference is that these days it is more available to the mass'es.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Japan moving with the times?!! HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Not when it comes to cannabis, at any rate.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

@plasticmonkey

"cannabis makes people act crazy, even sometimes randomly stabbing people with a knife. Total reefer madness crap."

I've got news for you: That specialist was, in fact, correct. It has happened in Japan. And elsewhere. Such as incidents involving police shootings in the US. Are you not aware of this?

-15 ( +7 / -22 )

Maybe that's what they want for America: a NK-style dystopia where all the people on UBI lock themselves away at night and smoke their soma and forget about ever returning to life before the "new normal".

Who is they, though?

2 ( +5 / -3 )

One way or another like all other so called ""illegal"" substances people will find a way to get it regardless of the consequences, IT IS TIME TO MAKE IT LEGAL for those who need it for medical use, Japan at point will come to this conclusion but late as always.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Does Japan not see how other countries are going exactly the opposite route and deeming the drug not dangerous and having real medicinal properties. I don't think I would use it if it was legal, but if others want to, give them the choice and don't act like this thing is going to lead to the downfall of your society!

East Asian countries all treat marijuana like it's crack cocaine or something. They really think everyone will stop working hard and become lazy slobs.

Interestingly, weed is completely legal in North Korea. It's awful quality, most likely just dry leaves, but you can buy a giant bag of the stuff at the market for a dollar and people smoke it at the end of the day.

Maybe that's what they want for America: a NK-style dystopia where all the people on UBI lock themselves away at night and smoke their soma and forget about ever returning to life before the "new normal".

4 ( +8 / -4 )

The National Police Agency warned that many young people are not aware of the risk of drugs

I watched a government drug awareness "specialist" giving a presentation to my kid's elementary school class here in Japan. He told the class that cannabis makes people act crazy, even sometimes randomly stabbing people with a knife. Total reefer madness crap.

I don't advocate that juveniles smoke pot, but if they ever find out the real truth about it through experience, they are going to harbor some serious distrust of law enforcement. Disinformation never helps.

6 ( +13 / -7 )

@Bjorn Tomention

"myth that Majrijuana is dangerous"

I've read otherwise. But I'm interested in seeing the information you're getting.

-9 ( +7 / -16 )

For me the fundamental question is: Provided there is no harm to others, what right does the government have to regulate what adults choose to do with their own bodies?

6 ( +10 / -4 )

Using cannabis is dangerous.

Seriously, there are many medical benefits from the plant. Apart from being a nice way to chill. So I'm told, etc...

Toasted heretic, I believe blow is a reference to cocaine and not marijuana.

It can mean both, depends on where and when you're from ;-)

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

Cannabis can lead to long term mental problems when used by young people.

A bit like the COVID vaccine can cause blood clots. In other words it can affect some but the majority can benefit from it :)

2 ( +9 / -7 )

Anything which could contradict the 'work 'till you drop, obey your seniors' ethic is an enemy of the state.

6 ( +11 / -5 )

Not only are they doggedly pursuing this fallacious myth as to its danger, but the government's actually in the process strengthening its anti-weed laws! The degree of ill ignorance and dogma in this country is flabbergasting.

4 ( +9 / -5 )

What dangers? Typical quality reporting from Kyodo.

Assuming of course that the original Kyodo report has been reproduced here in its entirety.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I believe Japan is undertaking Medicinal Marijuana studies and looking to legalise it for medicinal use much sooner than many thought they would.

The myth that Majrijuana is dangerous is exactly that a myth, it is not a drug it is a medicine, hence the fact it is being trialed for medical marijuana use here.

CDB is already legal.

Stimulants ie coke , meth etc should remain illegal however and be considered dangerous.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

There is no real reason to legalize it in Japan unless it can be administered/prescribed for medical treatment. It wouldn't be a tax generator here since so few would use it. It wouldn't squash dangerous drug dealer rings since they are not big issues here. Just accept that the majority of the Japanese public view it as a taboo product. Nothing wrong with that. Why add another stinky pollutant to the air when they are trying to get rid of tobacco smoke in public?

You're assuming few would use it. Not many people use it right now because of the harsh legal penalties. I think it would do wonders for the overworked, overstressed workforce to be able to light up and relax recreationally.

That aside, medicinal use is an obviously good thing and there could be job creation with more local cannabis growers since it is native to the country.

10 ( +16 / -6 )

There is no real reason to legalize it in Japan unless it can be administered/prescribed for medical treatment. It wouldn't be a tax generator here since so few would use it. It wouldn't squash dangerous drug dealer rings since they are not big issues here. Just accept that the majority of the Japanese public view it as a taboo product. Nothing wrong with that.

-9 ( +7 / -16 )

I think the late great Bill Hicks put it best.

https://youtu.be/OYT18YtANDk

0 ( +3 / -3 )

We were taught about the dangers of illegal drugs at school and therefore almost nobody produced, sold or consumed them. But the percentage of all legal drugs like tobacco was very much higher in those years. In other words, we surely weren’t angels too, but knew very well the own or set limits.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Really? So the rest of the world must be wrong? It's legal in many countries around the world, however Japan deems it a dangerous drug.

"Police report record number of cannabis offenders in 2020"

3 ( +10 / -7 )

Toasted heretic, I believe blow is a reference to cocaine and not marijuana.

There’s a comedian with jokes about alcohol and marijuana use: If two men are fighting in a bar are they drunk or high on marijuana? If some one is driving down the road at ten kilometers an hour, are they high or drunk? If a man walks up to you in the street with a gun, demands all your money, and then laughs himself silly, is he high or drunk? Oddly, the audience choose the right answer every time; while they laugh themselves silly.

5 ( +10 / -5 )

Why isn't Japan moving with the times and legalizing cannabis?!!

good question.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Why isn't Japan moving with the times and legalizing cannabis?!!

Japan moving with the times?!! HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

13 ( +20 / -7 )

The National Police Agency warned that many young people are not aware of the risk of drugs due to the circulation of "positive information online" and vowed to boost cyber patrols and crack down on drug deals using social media.

So, the "positive information" is just propaganda? Or is the other way around...

And this just illustrates how our privacy is of no concern to government institutions. As if they don't even have to pretend anymore...

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Why isn't Japan moving with the times and legalizing cannabis?!!

9 ( +18 / -9 )

Cannabis can lead to long term mental problems when used by young people.

Yes , but those young people likely already have the mental problems BEFORE they use cannabis, or more addictive substances, such as alcohol, pills etc. People's mental problems are aggravated much more by having to deal and compete with their fellow-human beings and suffer the pitiless pecking-order under repressive social conditions, amounting to an existential purgatory for solitary loners, which brings us back full circle to the benefits of changing one's consciousness with a little help from our friend, Mary Jane. The "Black Ships" are history, but despite the desperate measures of insular mind-controlers, foreign influence continues unabated, also in the shape of a little green leaf, for sure.

2 ( +9 / -7 )

@Strangerland

Devolved certainly. DTES. Not pretty.

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

Merely perpetuating the lies and racial basis behind the persecution of marijuana and its users that started in the US in the 30’s & 40’s. Copy cats with no factual medical reasons.

9 ( +17 / -8 )

Using cannabis is dangerous.

Yes, look at how Canada has devolved into civil war with stoned potheads roaming the streets looking for their next fix. It's on the internet.

Or wait, maybe that was The Walking Dead.

Anyways, Canada as a country must have fallen apart with people dying left, right and center of marijuana overdoses by now, right? I mean, I assume that must be the case, because as you say, cannabis is so dangerous.

20 ( +28 / -8 )

Does Japan not see how other countries are going exactly the opposite route and deeming the drug not dangerous and having real medicinal properties. I don't think I would use it if it was legal, but if others want to, give them the choice and don't act like this thing is going to lead to the downfall of your society!

14 ( +18 / -4 )

Cannabis can lead to long term mental problems when used by young people.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/teens-who-smoke-pot-at-risk-for-later-schizophrenia-psychosis-201103071676

-13 ( +12 / -25 )

What dangers? Typical quality reporting from Kyodo.

well said.

> in other words, doubling down on an out-dated mentality!

The very essence of Japan

13 ( +19 / -6 )

Weed is one thing @Toasted 6:48a

but, seriously:

*- “ What teen doesn't try ‘a bit of blow’ from time to time?”*

Whoa! ‘Ease up’ with the ‘gateway’ guy, if you want to...

- “...legalize it and be done with the hysteria.”

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

5034 cases. The total amount of product seized may amount to about an eighth then...!

9 ( +13 / -4 )

@P. Smith

Using cannabis is dangerous.

-40 ( +12 / -52 )

nothing beats a good old smoke when you get home, as in home home, as in not here

I'll second that!

11 ( +19 / -8 )

The National Police Agency warned that many young people are not aware of the risk of drugs due to the circulation of "positive information online" and vowed to boost cyber patrols and crack down on drug deals using social media.

in other words, doubling down on an out-dated mentality!

17 ( +27 / -10 )

What teen doesn't try a bit of blow from time to time?

Sometimes I feel that beloved host nation's approach to cannabis is all a bit reefer madness propaganda.

Please legalize it and be done with the hysteria.

14 ( +28 / -14 )

How depressing. Think I'll pop over to the conbini and buy a shochu.

34 ( +42 / -8 )

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