Pubdate: Mon, 17 Nov 2008 Source: Mainichi Daily News (Japan) Copyright: 2008 The Mainichi Newspapers Co. Contact: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/info/etc/contact.html Website: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3807 Authors: Ryo Takeuchi, Taichi Yamamoto, Naozumi Takahashi, and Taizo Yamada Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) LOOPHOLE IN CANNABIS CONTROL LAW FUELS GROWING MARIJUANA PROBLEM Marijuana usage is a growing problem in Japanese society, particularly among young people. Students from Keio University, Doshisha University and other prestigious universities as well as entertainers, sumo wrestlers, a professional tennis player, and a dentist have been arrested for violating the Cannabis Control Law. The lack of regulations prohibiting the possession of marijuana seeds, and the lowering of the psychological hurdle to inhaling marijuana, as compared to other illegal drugs, have all contributed to the problem. Investigators from the Metropolitan Police Department barged into an apartment on the 7th floor of a building in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, acting on information that the occupant possessed marijuana. Opening a closet, they found a small marijuana patch -- 25 marijuana plants growing to a height of 40 centimeters under lighting equipment. "In the past, I acquired the seeds abroad, and then cultivated them for personal use," said actor Taishu Kase (real name Nobuhiro Kawamoto), 38, after his arrest for violating the Cannabis Control Law. Recently, there has been a surge in cases involving people who have cultivated marijuana from seeds. According to the National Police Agency, 73 people involved in 91 cases were brought up on charges of cultivating marijuana in the first half of fiscal 2008. The number of cases had increased by 18, and the number of individuals implicated had risen by 23 over the same period of the previous fiscal year. The rise in the number of arrests can be blamed in part on the limits of the law, which prohibits cultivation of marijuana, but does not establish punitive restrictions on the possession of the seeds, which are sold for use as feed, and for other purposes. The Compliance and Narcotics Division of the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare explains that marijuana seeds are not prohibited because they "do not contain any harmful ingredients." At a store near JR Shibuya Station that sells imported sundry goods, books on marijuana and smoking paraphernalia are for sale. "Seeds? We no longer carry them," said a clerk, but he did admit that the store had stocked them until about a year ago. According to a man with intimate knowledge of the marijuana seed business, there were about 100 stores nationwide that sold marijuana seeds when sales reached their peak, but the stores have disappeared after authorities cracked down on seed importers in Tokyo and Osaka. The main channel for acquiring seeds has now become the Internet. Two members of the Kanto Gakuin University rugby team told law enforcement authorities that they had cultivated marijuana from seeds they had ordered from the Web site of an Osaka sundry goods store, and 12 other team members have admitted to smoking marijuana. The Kanagawa Prefectural Police arrested the 34-year-old president of the company and two others in May on suspicion of abetting the cultivation of marijuana. The store has admitted to selling seeds to about 180 people in 42 prefectures during the months of November and December 2007 alone. But the channels for acquiring marijuana have diversified. In addition to cultivating marijuana from seeds, marijuana in leaf form has been acquired in busy shopping districts as well as on the campus of Keio University. "While in college I smoked it. As for marijuana sales on campus, they probably occur quite frequently," said a male company employee, 24, who graduated from Keio University this spring. On Nov. 13, a Doshisha University senior, Chino Nishida, 22, was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for three years, by the Kobe District Court. The student admitted that she had acquired marijuana from a former Kwansei Gakuin University student as well as from another acquaintance, a Brazilian man who was also a dealer. This fall, a 28-year-old woman from Kanagawa Prefecture was admitted to the Akagi-Kohgen Hospital in Shibukawa, Gunma Prefecture. The facility is currently treating about 100 patients for drug addiction. 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. According to the hospital director, Michio Takemura, nearly 50 percent of his recently hospitalized patients have used marijuana. "In the past, there were many cases in which thinner use led to narcotic addiction, but more of my recent patients started with marijuana, particularly those ranging in age from their teens to their 30s," said Takemura. "I believe that those who use marijuana tend to be younger and more affluent. Young people who are indifferent to society and other people who have not been able to find a goal in life might be turning to marijuana to feel more alive and for emotional thrills," says Masaaki Noda, a professor of psychopathology at Kwansei Gakuin University and an expert on the psychology of young people. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin