Japan’s “growing marijuana problem”
For the past few weeks, the Japanese media has been treating a handful of cases involving the cultivation/possession of marijuana by students at some of Japan’s top universities as major national news. Three of those arrested in the last week were Waseda University students, prompting a public apology from the school’s administrators (pictured above):
The university has decided to conduct a survey asking all of its students whether they have used cannabis, it said.
“We are sorry for causing so much trouble,” Tomoki Waragai, executive director of the university, told a press conference.
The three students, who were accused of growing or importing cannabis, were given suspended sentences in court. Of them, two were expelled and the school is considering how to deal with the remaining one, its officials said.
Most of the Waseda students arrested for marijuana in the last few years have been foreigners. A Yomiuri article about the issue underlines this point my including some quotations from students interviewed:
A male student at the university’s School of Education was not surprised to hear of the arrests.
“Many foreigners study at the School of International Liberal Studies,” the 21-year-old third-year student said. “It’s rumored they bring back cannabis after going home during summer and other vacations.”
A second-year literature student, 20, said: “Quite a few students are said to be smoking cannabis. I don’t think it’s such a bad thing.”
Uh oh, it looks like some of the nation’s bright young students aren’t realizing that marijuana is a super dangerous drug. Luckily, Mainichi has an editorial about the “growing marijuana problem” that educates people about how marijuana makes people to jump off buildings and take lots of sleeping pills:
Five years ago, the woman had smoked marijuana at the urging of an acquaintance. “My mind and body became as light as a feather, and my stress and fatigue blew away,” she said. She smoked marijuana with the acquaintance about once a week and did not experience hallucinations or other side effects associated with narcotics.
However, due to troubles with her friends, and job-related stress, she began to smoke marijuana more frequently. Several months later, she jumped from her fourth-floor condominium apartment immediately after smoking marijuana. She suffered complex fractures in six places, but somehow survived. After being discharged from hospital she stopped smoking marijuana but began taking massive quantities of sleeping pills and tranquilizers, and became addicted to them.
“If I hadn’t used marijuana, this would not have happened. My mind and body are in tatters,” she said.
Unable to present evidence that smoking marijuana is more dangerous than legal drugs such as alcohol, many such media reports have taken to reporting information about marijuana being a so-called gateway drug.
Update: A few amusing screen captures from a news report that aired about the Waseda marijuana scandal
The student being taken away in handcuffs claims that he “became interested in Marijuana after learning about Holland in class.”
The two above shots show a pamphlet about dangerous drugs (including marijuana) that Waseda distributed to students last summer. Look at that scary blood!
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“…did not experience hallucinations or other side effects associated with narcotics”
Gee, I wonder why? And I wonder why the paper wrote that?
The Number One killer drug? Alcohol. Addicative and legal and available in a wide variety of flavours.
“Most of the Waseda students arrested for marijuana in the last few years have been foreigners.”
It’s foreigners’ fault,again.
Don’t know why this was posted in “Foreigners in Japan”.
In this instance it’s a “home-grown” problem.
I can see your point though:
Foreigners go to Waseda University, so the problem is blamed on foreigners – not the squeaky clean Japanese students who ordered the seeds on the Internet, or tried to import the seeds via post! No, no, it’s not our lovely innocent Japanese children who seek out dealers to make a purchase.
It’s like saying forigners are to blame for all automobile accidents in Japan, because foreigners drive cars.
I agree with you 100%
Looking at the links, apparently this is posted in the right section. 3 of 4 were foreigners.
So it is foreigners leading Japanese astray (not!)
Anyone want to buy some? HeHe!
Japan needs to update their drug rhetoric. Marijuana making you go insane and/or making you take other drugs that will make you go insane is straight out of Reefer Madness.
Can you say “red herring”, anyone?
Holland is a countr with long and exiting history, unique culture and interesting social patterns, prides with numerous world wide famous people of art, sciense and sports, and from all this the guy was interested in the fact that weed is legal there.And this is a Waseda student?!Gee, I wonder who got him there, because he certainly doesn’t have the IQ to pass the exams.
Cannabis is not legal in Holland.
It has never been legal, however, police and the justice department are not actively prosecuting people in possession of Cannabis in amounts for personal use (up to 4 grams).
The outlets where you can buy Cannabis have periodic raids but are hardly ever fined. However, recently, a lot of these outlets have been forced to close, because the majority of the people in Holland’s border areas have had it with the tourists that only come over for the drugs.
momonga,
You must be smoking something.
The Dutch were one of the most destructive colonizing forces during the heyday of Western European to the nether regions of the world.
Now look at them – high as a kite and lazy as dodos, with very little productivity except for spouting out some silly artistic ideas.
Sorry, I mean to say “Western European Expansion”
You’ve totally missed my point, haven’t you…
I’m not trying to argue if Holland sux or doesn’t. The fact is, that even that moron from Waseda couldn’t argue about Dutch colonizing policy, or any other historical feature, positive or negative.He won’t be able to argue if the Dutch are really “lazy as dodos” (while I wonder what EXACTLY makes you say that) or if their art is “silly”. Because the only thing that impressed him was that you can easily obtain weed there.
Yep, I was under the impression that all this “West-East European hatred was over like 20 years ago.Now many Easterners flock the Dutch job market, one wonders why.
If marijuana is such a dangerous problem in Japan, they might wanna do something about the, oh, say, 8000 or so pencil cases, notebooks, erasers, clothing and keychains with marijuana leaves all over them, in my elementary and junior high schools.
Honestly, Japan, join the rest of the westernized/civilized world in the movement towards decriminalization, will you?
That being said, if you’re dumb enough to carry in Japan, as nutty as they are about it, then you probably deserve to get hammered.
(I’m personally for keeping it illegal, just to make things clear)
Good point that people getting busted in Japan only have themselves to blame, as everyone should know the score.
I’m not sure if the rest of the west is actually moving toward decriminalisation, but it is accepted in the UK at least that people will do grass and E, etc, so as well as prevention there is also harm reduction, and sufficiently vocal campaign groups to say that stuff like the above about gateway drugs is total nonsense.
In Scotland, IIRC, one in three hospital accident & emergency admissions are due to booze, yet per person spending on addicts is in the 100s to 1 in favour of drug abusers.
“(I’m personally for keeping it illegal, just to make things clear)”
To make things clearer, care to indicate why you feel this way?
Not really, as I don’t really want to distract the thread.
On the other hand, legalising it would stop people droning on at length about how wonderful it is…
You’re a foolish person for wanting it to be illegal, as that is saying you want people to go to jail for recreational activities of which do not harm others at all… I’m sure the only reason it’s viewed horridly in Japan is because of the influence of the United States. Japan has to live up to big brother America and it’s puritan based legal system.
Oh the sweet paradox of popular pot-leaf imagery. Perhaps the young tikes just want to be rebellious?
I wish weed would get legalized here and Japan could get over their stupid stigma about such a harmless drug. I miss Ms. Mary Jane
“Danger” is misinterpreted here.
It becomes dangerous when people start to become complacent.
THAT is the problem.
“Unable to present evidence that smoking marijuana is more dangerous than legal drugs such as alcohol, many such media reports have taken to reporting information about marijuana being a so-called gateway drug.”
There have been thousands upon thousands of studies that have proven the gateway theory false. The truth is tobacco is a larger “gateway drug”, about 70% of hard drug users are daily tobacco users.
I agree with you. And I guess many of those arrested students were of the same opinion as well.
But the thing is about what is believed by the majority of the people, and unfortunately not the scientific fact. Moreover, it’s about legal or not.
TIJ. “if it is on NHK it must be true”. The problem is there are too many old people here in japan with very outdated views. There are not enough young people to vote against them. It is a population issue. The biggest problem is the old people can force votes in their favor, the younger generations and foreigners(who can’t vote) don’t stand a chance which keeps japan forever stuck in the past.
“if it is on tv it must be true!”- 1950’s america… japan has a very long way to go.
Drugs are an immature use of time. Even if they don’t necessarily “hurt” you, they hurt others around you and they take time away from other things you should be doing. These students deserve to be jailed for setting a bad example. University is a time to study and learn, not do smoke marijuana. Idiots.
wow you are uneducated. Do some research and you may be enlightened.
Well, I don’t know how YOU spent your time in college …
“[Drugs] take time away from other things you should be doing.”
WTF? I guess the population in general should thank you for being the self-appointed authoritarian figure and to tell us what we should be doing with our time.
The derogitory term “narc” was coined precisely to describe asshats like yourself.
“…they hurt others around you and they take time away from other things you should be doing.”
So we can expect video games, iPods, the internet, bowling allies, sports games, anything that requires a helmet to ride, and girlfriends or boyfriends to be outlawed soon too then, right?
Yeah… Tried smoking my iPod – it sucks…
I’ll go out on a limb, and assume that police are much more likely to arrest foreigners and prosecute, while Japanese might get a talking to in the koban to confess which gaijin gave them the marijuana, and are then sent home.
In this case, the Japanese students got caught with frikkin glow lamps in their room, right? Thus even they would have to be arrested, right?
I always support legalization of marijuana, as it hopefully is a way to keep lefties at home baked, rather than out throwing rocks at Starbucks (on the days they aren’t drinking lattes there) or worse, voting.
But drugs are for tools anyway.
Much better highs are to be had from doing something with your life, but the effort, the effort.
Now, where’s my drink?
And just why can’t the right wing get a bit baked as well?
I really like a lot about japan, but this is one of japans major weak points. Does anyone ever think about the connection between cannabis use and suicide in japan? Maybe if everyone started to toke up people would be a little more happy about life.
Oh dear, following your line of reasoning, since smoking rates are on the decline in this nation, that must surely be the sign for an upcoming suicide epidemic, I guess.
Wake up kiddies. Marijuana is not good for you. It has been known to trigger psychotic episodes. Smoke it at your peril.
Not good for you does not automatically mean it should be illegal.
Wake up kiddies. Red meat is not good for you. It has been known to trigger colon cancer and heart disease. Eat it at your peril.
Wake up kiddies. Alcohol is not good for you. It has been known to trigger liver dysfunction and clinical depression. Drink it at your peril.
Wake up kiddies. Tobacco is not good for you. It has been known to trigger lung cancer and emphysema. Smoke it at your peril.
Wake up kiddies. French fries are not good for you. They have been known to trigger high cholesterol and obesity. Eat them at your peril.
Wake up kiddies. Butter and/or margarine are not good…
And they wonder why kids these days indulge in risky behaviour ‘despite all the warnings’. Whatever they do is wrong anyway, so why the hell not?
Why are you ragging on psychotic episodes?
That is, “triggers” psychotic episodes in squares who already have psychotic tenancies.
You wanna take drugs?
Don’t go to Japan. Go elsewhere. We don’t need you, we don’t want you.
who is “we”? The “cool” gaijin? The women seem to love the fact that I’m here.
Yes, plenty of nihonjin love pot. And want it to become legalized.
Of course alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical companies see it as a threat to their profiteering, and therefor invest in politicians and media to make the “right” choices.
yes drugs are bad. now take your medication! marijuana was only made illegal in the US because of it’s inability to be regulated and broad range of commercial applications (paper, fuel, biomass, plastic, fiberglass, paint base, waterproofing base etc.). now we are seeing kids in asian countries fully loaded with anti weed propaganda, turning to prescription drugs and alcohol instead of their traditional medicinal herbs.
remember that millions of people are dying from prescription drugs and alcohol regularly. huge industries are created around the marketing of these drugs, and great lengths are taken to downplay the side effects and increase their social acceptance. drug testers will give positive feedback about new drugs they test, or they are not asked to test again.
herb is a plant, one which has a history of assisting man through his difficulties, for thousands of years. some of the most influential people in the world used it, including some of the founding fathers. the constitution was written on hemp, wars were fought over it and won because of it. despite the mind opening stress reducing abilities of this plant, most important are it’s industrial applications. imagine if we could grow (to mention a few) our own fuel, food, paper, clothing and medicine with the same seed?
Let’s not forget that a significant fraction of Japan’s economy is directly dependent upon global use of marijuana.
If you doubt that, name just one playstation or nintendo game that is not significantly enhanced with some THC in the system. All of these games are at least 200% more enjoyable when you are baked. Coincidence? I think not.
If you are still in doubt, toke up and play some Katamari Damacy. You will see……..
mario and his mushrooms are also a pretty good indicator imo
These publicly apologizing administrators sure look stressed out. They should smoke a bit!
It may not be bad for you per se but scientists have found positive correlation between smoking marijuana and God not loving you as much.
Marijuana should go down well in a Shinto / Buddhist country – Achieving inner peace the easy way – but a major bummer if there is any fasting involved.
perhaps the most inexcusable offense in this, is that making herb illegal makes criminals out of these innocent kids. terrorists in there own homes, they were not supporting drug dealers or triads. how were they doing in school? something tells me they were doing quite well. if they were potheads then they probably weren’t even out drinking and being raucus, just sitting back playing video games or something. kids all over the world are subject to such injustices, and many times enter into real criminal activity introduced through the prison environment.
Love the way the jumping-survivor blames Marijuana for her troubles. The “troubles with her friends, and job-related stress” obviously had nothing to do with it.
Its so much easier to blame that nasty drug than the person who obtained it, rolled it up, set fire to it and stuck it in their mouth.
Exactly. Correlation does not imply causation. It’s the first sentence in the scientist handbook!
Or, if you’re a lawyer with an obsession for latin: cum hoc ergo propter hoc.
What I don’t understand is why the university feels the need to apologize. These acts were committed by adults, and as such, with individual responsibilities. They knew what they were doing was illegal, they pay the consequences.
As part of the Waseda community I think that apology doesn’t concern me, because I don’t “I’m causing the trouble”, to use their words, and I don’t think the administration of the university is at fault for what fully grown up students do on their free time.
Now, what I do blame on the University is the alarmist rethoric being used to handle this (from a mail sent to my Waseda student account):
“Students must not be misled by the false claims that certain types of
illegal drugs can “alleviate tiredness”, “make you feel refreshed” or
“help you to lose weight”. Illegal drugs such as cannabis and stimulants
not only lures users to crime, but also incurs serious and often
irreversible consequences to your health. Simply possessing illegal
drugs will result in severe social punishments, leading to a wasted life.
All students of Waseda University must be aware of the consequences of
illegal drug use, and act responsibly. Please be reminded that Waseda
University inflicts severe punishments when dealing with such illegal
activity.
In light of recent events, Waseda University will be taking strong
measures to prevent future occurrences of this kind. As part of this, we
will be holding an online survey via Waseda-Net Portal regarding illegal
drugs, and also reprinting a feature article on illegal drugs in the
November 20th issue of the Waseda Weekly.”
This kind of text was made by university officials to appeal to adult people?
Give me a break…
hahahaha
“Students must not be misled by the false claims that certain types of
illegal drugs can “alleviate tiredness”, “make you feel refreshed” or
“help you to lose weight”. Illegal drugs such as cannabis and stimulants
not only lures users to crime, but also incurs serious and often
irreversible consequences to your health. Simply possessing illegal
drugs will result in severe social punishments, leading to a wasted life.”
basically the only thing they have said is that you will become a criminal if you do it (TRUE) and that severe social punishments will cause for your life to become wasted… sadly this is probably the extent of their knowledge on the subject, and this from a college? get your money back is my advice!
the only true thing i should say, look at how this is worded:
–Students must not be misled by the false claims that certain types of
illegal drugs can “alleviate tiredness”, “make you feel refreshed” or
“help you to lose weight”–
Immediately this begins, assuming it is not paraphrased, with utter misinformation. don’t believe that stimulants will alleviate tiredness? why are they called stimulants and used by so many people for that purpose? why provide misinformation for students?
–Illegal drugs such as cannabis and stimulants
not only lures users to crime, but also incurs serious and often
irreversible consequences to your health.–
now they have attempted to provide us with a blanket statement that includes all illegal drugs and no legal ones. lures one to crime? it IS a crime, but who sees it as such in and of itself? therefore the need to try and scare people with this kind of stuff:
–Simply possessing illegal
drugs will result in severe social punishments, leading to a wasted life–