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The Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Saturday held an event at Shinjuku Station to promote public awareness of the dangers of using hallucinogenic herbs or so-called loophole drugs.
A senior police official spoke to about 300 officers and members of a local citizens' groups about the dangers of "dappo haabu," as the loophole drugs are called in Japanese, Fuji TV reported. The volunteers then handed out flyers, along with tissues and fans to commuters, as part of the campaign to raise public awareness.
Police say the Shinjuku area has as many as 60 stores selling the herbs.
According to the National Police Agency, since June 24, there have been nine traffic accidents attributed to drivers inhaling the herbs in Tokyo, Yamanashi, Hyogo, Aichi and Miyagi prefectures, resulting in two deaths and 10 injuries.
© Japan Today
20 Comments
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some14some
almost impossible in a country of loopholes.
kyushubill
Unless they have a cute little mascot and/or an anime character nobody will pay attention.
MyJT2014
Simple solution, make them illegal.
japan4life
Japan where the good stuff is illegal and the bad stuff is legal.
Patric Spohn
Shut it all down. Legalize weed. And like magic people can finally smile again and get off the worst drug of all, booze. But that would be in an ideal world.
Tessa
Handing out tissues ... yeah, that's gonna keep people off drugs!
BluesRee
Don't need Babylon telling me what to do. Tobacco and alcohol are the worst drugs. Bringing in money for the man though. Don't criticize it.
Trapped
No show bags on offer?
plasticmonkey
The police in Japan have lost their credibility in lecturing about vices. (They of the groping, upskirting, panty snatchings, and can't-remember-I-was-drunk-at-the-time excuses.) According to the NPA website, marijuana is a highly dangerous drug that causes delusional psychosis and violent behavior. Har.
Anyone who's inclined to experiment isn't going to take the NPA's advice seriously anyway. This campaign is strictly for the choir/sheeple.
Pity, because this fake stuff is legitimately iffy, compared to the real thing, which is not.
George Morris
Tessa, the tissue packets and hand-held fans contain information, and are more likely to be read and referred to than flyers. It's a common campaigning and advertising tactic in Japan.
Lowly
Honestly, the best way to get rid of those loophole drugs is to legalize, or at least decriminalize, the "natural" drugs, at least some of them, and especially pot.
I don't think that many people actually really want to do the "dappou drugs", they just want a high or a thrill, and that's what's available, easy to get, or cheap, or carries less legal risk.
smithinjapan
Why not just close the loopholes?
DeDe Miura
I saw on the news the police were handing out tissues to kids and seniors... shouldn't they concentrate on teens and under 40's?
SaitamaRefugee
＠Illyas
Who are you kidding? Smoking weed is not a degenerate lifestyle anymore than drinking alcohol is. Unless you are all for banning alcohol and cigarettes, you are a hypocrite. And an ill-informed one at that.
NO ONE, and for your ignorant sake NO ONE is saying you should drive high. You shouldn*t. It does not matter what you are using, you deserve a DUI if you are on ANYTHING. These are two separate issues though. Driving high represents a risk to the individual user as well as the user in general. But, if I smoke in private and stay at home etc., who am I harming? No one.
Tessa
I work in a high-traffic area, and on average, I receive five packets of tissues a week. That's around 250 a year. Honestly, I have never learned anything I didn't already know, or bought any product or service from, a PSA/ad on a tissue packet! Not even once! An informal survey of my students and co-workers suggests the same thing.
Magnus Roe
Yeah because people who smoke this stuff and even drive afterwards are going to pay attention and care about a warning. The wikipedia article on Cannabis is often locked down due to obsessive stoners removing any and every trace of negative info about the drug.
Illyas
Whataboutism fallacy. Unless I'm for the criminalization of alcohol and cigarettes I can't be against the decriminalization of marijuana? Sorry, but that doesn't make me a hypocrite. You're the ill-informed one. Ill-informed of the English language.
nath
There are many legal herbs and spices that can give you a high, non- addictive and sold in supermarkets. Some can be deathly though when dosages exceed a certain amount.
Problem with loophole drugs they are easily manufactured and most of the chemical cocktail are legal drugs. Cops ban a certain combination and soon a new combination is produced that doesn't the illegal ingredients, problem is there are literally hundreds of combination that can be used.
Illyas
Sorry, but if anything is being a 'sheep', it's smoking marijuana. Guess what - this isn't the '60s. A degenerate lifestyle of drugs and easy sex isn't breaking any molds, it is the mold for modern youth. And your utopia where marijuana is legalized and replaces booze (apparently marijuana doesn't count for DUIs in your mind?) isn't going to happen. People will just do both, and suffer the negative consequences of both.