Japan eyes banning cannabinoid HHCH after gummies render many ill

which can cause hallucinations and memory impairment.

As much memory impairment as alcohol?

I am not sure about HHCH in particular, but I doubt it causes hallucinations. If you ask any Japanese person, they almost always say that every drug (They mostly don't know one from another) causes hallucinations. I wonder if mild sense distortion is defined as hallucination in Japan. Certainly everyone seems to be taught in school about the "hallucinations." Better not go to sleep because it is all hallucination AND you don't even doubt it is real.

If you ask any Japanese person, they almost always say that every drug (They mostly don't know one from another) causes hallucinations. 

Nonsense.

if I was at a festival (or anywhere else) and a stranger approached me saying 'here, eat this'.... I think I'd proooobably decline the offer....

Once HHCH, or hexahydrocannabihexol, is designated as a psychoactive drug, its possession, use and distribution in Japan will be illegal, health minister Keizo Takemi said in a press conference.

The LDP, always a molecule behind the times.

Mushrooms, 'kiken' research chemicals from the Shulgin catalog sold in Shinjuku, synthetic cannabinoids in Shibuya.

Keeps the useless bureaucratic apparatus busy instead of actually looking at the extensive literature on harm reduction and the social impact of various substances.

So much misinformation about drugs in Japan.

That stuff is dangerous - y'never know what's in it (and it's usually not good).

Just legalize the herb.

How about just banning HHCH?

If you ask any Japanese person, they almost always say that every drug (They mostly don't know one from another) causes hallucinations. 

Now I am wondering in what world or at least social circles, HERE in Japan that this discussion ever occurred!

I have a friend who buys the CBD gummies from the same company. He said he tried the HHCH gummies and they come in two different strengths. The stronger ones are quite strong.

This is the fault of the dozy idiot handing them out to people. It's pretty much slipping a Mickey Finn to someone.

The health ministry is also considering banning all substances with structures similar to HHCH, which can cause hallucinations and memory impairment.

In the land of "I was drunk. I don't remember", alcohol should be first on the list.

Groan. Children are in charge of this country.

Legalise it and regulate supply.

Watch out...gummies about...

I already don't understand why there's no simple rule like: both legal drugs namely alcohol and tobacco products are ok, anything else is strictly prohibited. That would be easy to understand for everyone, drawing a clear line for all citizens, and quickly making all other attempts of creating or distribution of illegal drugs or their many synthetic derivates obsolete right from beginning. The current situation of running behind the development and the race against time to check and ban each of the many thousands of possible natural replacements like plants, herbs, fungi etc or all chemical recombinant substances, that's really not helpful and instead very ineffective or like in this case even dangerous and severely health or life threatening. There are available legal drugs allowed for consumption, and that just has to be sufficient for everyone, my opinion on this.

Once HHCH, or hexahydrocannabihexol, is designated as a psychoactive drug, its possession, use and distribution in Japan will be illegal, health minister Keizo Takemi said in a press conference.

The really crazy thing about this is that HHCH, unlike THC, especially at low doses, is barely even psychoactive in my opinion. Unlike with straight cannabis, which does very much induce psychological effects, HHCH does not strongly affect mood or put the user in an altered state of consciousness. Rather, the feeling of HHCH is comparable to that which one feels after spending half an hour on the treadmill.

The health ministry is also considering banning all substances with structures similar to HHCH, which can cause hallucinations and memory impairment.

It does not produce hallucinations at low doses. You could probably make yourself hallucinate from drinking ten cups of coffee, that doesn't mean that coffee is dangerous.

I reject the notion that this substance poses actual danger. The health ministry is on a power trip. What gives them the power to wave a magic wand and make things illegal whenever they feel like it, without any reasonable testing or analysis? Abolish this worthless bureaucratic institution and all their works; I guarantee you all these problems disappear.

You’d think they would make more fuss about the random dude wandering around festivals giving tainted candy to strangers. If weed gummies are giving people severe reactions then there is definitely something wrong with them… or most likely the guy hasn’t washed his hands in a long time or something

Oh Japanese bureaucrats! Still hung up on Reefer Madness. Quite a few decades out of date, like a lot of policy in Japan.

Ban it, Japan doesn't need fake or real drugs.

They can ban HHCH but another way around will be soon found.

They can ban HHCH but another way around will be soon found.

That's true, although, I think at a certain point, the government will probably get bored of playing whack-a-mole with derivative substances, and eventually just try going full on draconian. As in, anybody could be arrested at any time under the suspicion they are intoxicated not under the effects of alcohol. Anything that could be perceived as a mind-altering substance can be treated that way from a legal perspective.

The silly part is, the government already opened Pandora's box by legalizing CBD. Many CBD vape carts, particularly the terpene flavored ones, smell like weed. So if someone is hitting a vape that may have something other than the typical ingredients, what do they plan to do, test every single person they come across vaping?

For those that want to employ harm reduction strategies while also discouraging stoner culture, ultimately the best compromise would be legalizing THC-containing products, while prohibiting the smoking of cannabis. In other words, people can be allowed to responsibly do it, but in a way that is discreet, unnoticable, and doesn't promote it's use.