More Nihon University football players suspected of cannabis possession

Another "only in Japan" story.

Only in Japan could anyone conceivably care of a student is having a few joints. Is be more worried if students weren't.

The American football team has recently been embroiled in multiple scandals, with its coach indefinitely suspended from July 27 due to allegations of bullying.

So now the government is bullying them over a mostly harmless plant.

In 2018, the team came under fire over a dangerous tackle by one of its members in an exhibition against Kwansei Gakuin University.

More like a dirty tackle of the opposing team’s quarterback from behind after the play was over in a deliberate attempt injure him. We later learned that this attack was instructed by the Nihon University coaches, two of whom were then fired. The injured quarterback — who remember was just a young student trying to enjoy a team activity — required a month to recover from damage to ligaments in his back.

Video of tackle: https://youtu.be/nKbLWcyQ_wo

How can you arrest someone on suspicion of possession?

"Alright son! I'm arresting you!"

"On what charge?"

"You look like you might be in possession of illegal substances!"

Got to be the "coolest" football team in Japan!

Let's get stoned!

"Weed" is now unstoppable in Japan. The young will do what they will. The old tobacco-puffing, alcohol-sodden "guardians of morality" cannot use their laws to dictate to human curiosity and defy the pleasure principle that comes naturally to the young.

Japan needs to catch up with the times and get over this insanity that marijuana is dangerous. Alcohol is garbage, but the profits are just too good. Maybe educate people instead of enforcing archaic thinking.

The facility in Tokyo's Nakano Ward was previously searched on Aug. 3, leading to the arrest two days later of 21-year-old Noriyasu Kitabatake on suspicion of possessing cannabis and an illegal stimulant.

School freaks out over football players puffs and the unendurable shame and vows to punish the miscreants.

Meanwhile the former university head is involved in Olympic bribery, organized crime and tax evasion and gets the obligatory suspended sentence.

Justice for y'all.

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14585119

More like a dirty tackle of the opposing team’s quarterback from behind after the play was over in

that was, indeed, a dirty play. I don't think this has anything to do with using cannabis, but I guess in the public's mind they both are a form of lawlessness, slippery slope etc.

A strange choice of drug for an athlete. It is not conducive to sporting excellence.

A strange choice of drug for an athlete. It is not conducive to sporting excellence.

Maybe competitive hotdog eating.

Get over it. Let them live their lives.

A strange choice of drug for an athlete. It is not conducive to sporting excellence.

What drug would you suggest they take ?

Alcohol is total poison, weed is wonderful for relaxation and recovery, helps you get a good night sleep before a stressful event.

that was, indeed, a dirty play. I don't think this has anything to do with using cannabis, but I guess in the public's mind they both are a form of lawlessness, slippery slope etc.

This comes more into the context of the directives of the school that supposedly were doing impossible efforts to clean up the image of the team after the scandal, just to have another one (and now another one) that is perceived as mishandled. People could not be blamed for thinking the Nihon U. tried to sweep the problem under the rug until it was impossible and it exploded in their faces, then tried again (by letting the team resume activities) just to things get out of hand for a third time already.

Yea this is not so much about weed as it is about a general waywardness.

If the late tackle with deliberate intent to cause injury as instructed by coaches hadn't occurred this spotlight probably wouldn't be here.

JapantimeToday 08:13 am JST

A strange choice of drug for an athlete. It is not conducive to sporting excellence.

IF so then tell those kids to get on Trenbolone and Clenbutorol if they want max performances like a body builder on roids.

It is not only possession anymore, some students have sold weed and meth within the university premise.

It is not only possession anymore, some students have sold weed and meth within the university premise.

Are you of the opinion these are equivalent?

A strange choice of drug for an athlete. It is not conducive to sporting excellence.

IF so then...

If what is "so"?

One minute they are upstanding rugby players, next thing you know they’ll be taking 30 minutes to choose snacks at the conbini and really getting into Phish.

Be careful Japan. It’s a slippery slope.

Meanwhile Canada, where cannabis can be bought in stores anywhere you go, is one of the most desired places on the planet to live.

Canada is beautiful yet I've seen the drug slums of Vancouver and the homeless meth heads on the streets

As, I said I would rather live in a country with strict drug laws

As, I said I would rather live in a country with strict drug laws

Which is your right - we all have the right to want to live wherever we want. It's a matter of opinion.

But way more people want to live in Canada than almost anywhere on the planet. So you're the odd one out here.

I don't see the government lambasting alcohol users that destroy their bodies with booze that rot their livers throats and stomaches etc and fill them with cancer.

Hmmmm seems that an archaic mind set and lots of tax just overlooks these things when it comes to illegal damaging substances doesn't it ?

Only in Japan could anyone conceivably care of a student is having a few joints. Is be more worried if students weren't.

Cannabis is illegal in others country, not only in Japan.

Please researcher a little before making uneducated replay

Cannabis is illegal in others country, not only in Japan.

It's legal to some degree in most first world countries other than Japan.

StrangerlandToday 08:39 am JST

It is not only possession anymore, some students have sold weed and meth within the university premise.

Are you of the opinion these are equivalent?

What's your point ? Possession and sale are not equivalent.

Meanwhile Canada, where cannabis can be bought in stores anywhere you go, is one of the most desired places on the planet to live.

Those two points are not related at all.

Vienna, Austria, is the most desired place to live.

What's your point ? Possession and sale are not equivalent.

I never claimed they were. I was asking if you think cannabis and meth are equivalent of course.

Vienna, Austria, is the most desired place to live.

And Canada is one of the top desired places to live in the planet. Sorry, were you trying to not acknowledge that fact? My bad.

The advocates of strict drug laws (even going so far to prescribe capital punishment) who wield their disproportionate power to persuade through legal sanctions, and deliberate dis/misinformation disseminated by MSM and the press have obscured the costs of society's intolerance: the brutal, sordid reality of the violence of the drug mafias and the inevitable, associated government corruption involving law-enforcement, lawyers and the prison industry that inflict unnecessary burdens on taxpayers. The anti-drug posturing of right-wing populist politicians to win votes from an ignorant electorate is also one more deleterious consequence of the "war on drugs". By joining all the dots we get a picture of millions of victims killed by gangs and governments (the leading candidate in Ecuador's presidential election was last week assassinated by cartel-connected kingpins) and millions of lives ruined for those serving long prison sentences for non-violent drug offenses. All this is the "Butterfly Effect" caused by the criminalization of drugs. Instead enlightened policy would be to pursue the humane, cheaper alternative of a modern state's educating the public with medical science-based facts while providing health care for addicts with the money saved by legalization..

Alan Bogglesworth Today  08:18 am JST

A strange choice of drug for an athlete. It is not conducive to sporting excellence.

What drug would you suggest they take ?

Alcohol is total poison, weed is wonderful for relaxation and recovery, helps you get a good night sleep before a stressful event.

You're making it sound like everyone has to take some drug. Why do you think that way?

Is there something wrong with sobriety? With abstinence from any drugs at all?

Why do you seem to think that this doesn't even exist as an option?

Why do you seem to think that this doesn't even exist as an option?

I'm a teetotaler, but I think all drugs should be legal. If someone wants to be an adult and choose to ingest something that may not be good for them, let them. The black market that has resulted from making drugs illegal is worse for society than the drugs ever were.

Strangerland Today  06:57 am JST

So now the government is bullying them over a mostly harmless plant.

So, enforcing the law is "bullying" now?

And please, let's stop this knee-jerk, parroted mantra about marijuana being harmless.

It's not harmless. And science backs me up.

That's why Japan is correct in banning it.

Here's a rundown of the negative effects of marijuana and its legalization in Colorado:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6913861/

Oh my dog, cannabis found in Japan.............Stop the world. I have never heard of more heinous, barbaric, totally disgusting crime before.........well, not counting the millions and millions that happened prior to this. But wait, this was only a suspicion of cannabis or some thing like it. The perpetrators should be punished extremely harshly. .....ps.....I use it once or twice a day for medicinal reasons, and it works.

"Weed" is now unstoppable in Japan. The young will do what they will. The old tobacco-puffing, alcohol-sodden "guardians of morality" cannot use their laws to dictate to human curiosity and defy the pleasure principle that comes naturally to the young.

The old guard, "Hold my beer."

The reasons? You don't need reasons when you have control.

Japan, on the other hand, has been winning the war easily without much effort or cost. The life style of the addicted does not and will not gain much respect in Japan.

Just because you don’t know it doesn’t mean it does not exist. Just recently, a 700kg of meth shipment was intercepted. Who in their right mind will ship 700kg meth in a country if they don’t have anyone to sell it to?

No surprise, because where's only one, there's more nearby or more to come up soon, at least very highly probable. Whether you disagree or like to know more, older discoveries like the Poisson distribution or contemporary tools like Palantir AI systems will surely give you quite sufficient introductory knowledge amounts in an instant.

The American football team has recently been embroiled in multiple scandals, with its coach indefinitely suspended from July 27 due to allegations of bullying.

sounds like a real tight ship they are running there.

This has been one of the main discussions on TV here for days. I've never once heard a conversation about why marijuana is this illegal, or questioning the stigma. The questions or opinions "are these western sports also dangerous?" or "the professors and coaches at the universities need to be arrested as well," are not what reporters and television personalities should be talking about.

I've said it many times before. The government continues to paint weed as this highly dangerous substance that will ruin your body and life. The only evidence of that is the prison sentence that goes along with it. You see commercial after commercial for alcohol, and girls in skimpy clothes still hand out free cigarettes on street corners and in izakayas. From a medical view, those are worse for your body and future.

Get with the times Japan. Even if it is illegal, a slap on the wrist and a "please don't do it again" is the only acceptable response. These young men have been on every channel since the story broke. Give them a freaking break.

StrangerlandToday 09:51 am JST

What's your point ? Possession and sale are not equivalent.

I never claimed they were. I was asking if you think cannabis and meth are equivalent of course.

Who does think it is the same ? Dumb people ?

Please read well my first comment before arguing. I was not comparing drugs at all, but was making the point that the story is not only for possession of drugs as the article mentioned, but that some students sold drugs within the university premise. It was on the news yesterday evening.

How do they find out about these things? Dont these guys look out for their own, do they just snitch as soon as possible? Sad times.

Pot is still illegal in many US states too, and its still a schedule 1 substance which means its treated the same as heroin and meth by the US federal government. Japan is certainly behind Canada, Thailand and many other countries. Its not surprising. Japanese politicians are not going to change laws without some sort of public outcry and their voters (mostly elderly) still have old fashioned beliefs about pot.

u_s__reamerToday  07:42 am JST

"Weed" is now unstoppable in Japan. The young will do what they will. 

Actually, young Japanese have been really into weed for a long time.

When I had friends visit me in Southern California back in the 80s and 90s, especially surfer ones, they'd always ask me to find the buds and smoke like crazy!!

It was one of the main things they'd do during their stays. They'd try to get as much smoking in as possible before having to head back to "Backward Land".

...japan, on the other hand, has been winning the war easily without much effort or cost.

So far, true, but if the experience of other democratic countries can teach us anything, the Japanese authorities are surely soon going to get tired of winning, especially when more offspring of the elite find themselves tangled up in legal jeopardy.

u_s__reamer

"...japan, on the other hand, has been winning the war easily without much effort or cost."

So far, true, but if the experience of other democratic countries can teach us anything, the Japanese authorities are surely soon going to get tired of winning, especially when more offspring of the elite find themselves tangled up in legal jeopardy.

The reason why it is easier in Japan to fight against drugs is that we know exactly who are using them.

The most recent data shows that largest group that use illegal drugs in Japan is Yakuza groups with 43.5%. The second largest group is foreigners (mostly from Tailand, Malaysia and Iran) with 40.4%. In other words, a very tiny specific population (Yakuza and some foreigners) is using most of the illegal drugs in Japan. General public in Japan is not interested in drug culture. They think it's stupid.

Cannabis is legal in many countries. I recently stayed in Thailand, next to my hotel was a shop. I don’t do drugs, but I think cannabis is like herb tea.

There are quite a few CBD shops in Tokyo where you can get some strong oils, gummies, and etc. You can just make similar chemicals found in marijuana then change one small part of the formula. Then take that new legal chemical and spray it on potpourri then smoke it. That, of course, can lead to all types of problems as people keep changing the formulas as the government update the laws for the current chemical formula.

If they legalize it, they can regulate it, and they can tax it.

It could also increase the tourism revenue like Amsterdam!

Socrateos

The most recent data shows that largest group that use illegal drugs in Japan is Yakuza groups with 43.5%. The second largest group is foreigners (mostly from Tailand, Malaysia and Iran) with 40.4%. In other words, a very tiny specific population (Yakuza and some foreigners) is using most of the illegal drugs in Japan. General public in Japan is not interested in drug culture. They think it's stupid.

What research? Where are the sources?

I wonder if the arrest warrant will be transmitted by fax...just to stick with the "decades behind the times" theme.

Legalise it now.

BertieWoosterAug. 23 07:13 am JST

How can you arrest someone on suspicion of possession?

I know. That's so lame...