The following article which discusses illegal drug use trends in Japan makes almost no mention of marijuana. It seems its use is not causing any problems worth mentioning here. While laws against marijuana use are strictly enforced in Japan, the real problems show up in connection with other drugs. Continued marijuana prohibition only distracts effort from the real problems and prevents education that compares the real risks.

JAPAN

"The Third Wave of Amphetamine Consumption"

According to statistics from the Japanese National Police Agency, the number of amphetamine users in Japan allegedly topped one million in 1997. The rise in consumption is partly due to the drop in street retail prices for the drug, which have fallen from 10,000 yen for a 0.03 gram dose to 2000 yen today. Truck and taxi drivers, laborers with monotonous jobs, and certain white-collar workers all take amphetamine. Its use extends even to the Japanese administrative elite, as shown by the January 1998 arrest on amphetamine consumption charges of the Reverend Masanori Sagara, the 50-year old superior of a Shinto sanctuary, the ancient religion of Japan. In March 1998, a 42-year old school teacher, an ice skating coach, and a former civil servant of the prestigious Ministry of Finance, Takashi Hata, were found in possession of 46.9 kilograms of amphetamine, which they both consumed and sold. Police note that organized crime does not exercise a monopoly over amphetamine distribution: "ordinary citizens and students" are also involved. The distribution of amphetamines and other narcotics is also undertaken by foreigners. Nearly 280,000 Asians reside in Japan illegally. In 1997, some 873 foreigners were arrested in Japan, including 328 Iranian nationals (of whom 220 were arrested on amphetamine trafficking charges). Iranians make up the most numerous and best organized foreign Asian community in Japan. When one of them is arrested or deported to Iran and his mobile telephone seized, another member of the same organization asks the telephone rental company to transfer the same telephone number to another person, who can thus take over business with the arrested man's clients.

But Asians are not the only ones on the market. Police dismantled a network lead by a French national in late December 1997. The networks' dealers were made up of citizens of the United States, Canada, and other European countries. They had brought into Japan 10,000 ecstasy pills made in the Netherlands.

Police have also noticed since the early 1990s a boom in the manufacture of synthetic drugs in China, in particular by laboratories located in southern China's Fujian and Guangdong provinces. The production is aimed at supplying the Japanese market. Chinese triads established on the continent, in Hong Kong, or in Taiwan dominate the supply of the Japanese market, and cooperate with the yakuza in importing the drugs into the islands. One of the larger seizures of 1998 involved 200 kg of amphetamine discovered on March 18 aboard a fishing boat originating from the Chinese port of Dalian. The route passed by the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. Eight persons; both Japanese and Chinese, were arrested. To avoid detection, the networks increasingly use small ports located in the southern provinces. During the first half of 1998, police discovered 9 kg of opium in Fushiki port (Toyama prefecture); 20 kg of cannabis in Minamata port (Kumamoto); 60 kg of amphetamines in Hososhima port (Miyazaki), etc.

The recent popularity of amphetamine has not stopped other drugs from making an appearance. Cocaine continues to spread discreetly among certain intellectual and artistic circles, particularly in show business and the cinema. Cocaine came into the headlines in Japan in 1993 with the arrest of Haruki Kadokawa, author and producer of a popular children's film and head of a large publishing house named after him. It is said that the famous film director Juzo Itami, who committed suicide on December 20,1997, was a heavy cocaine user. Another indication of the growing popularity of this drug are the arrests of Japanese nationals in cocaine-producing countries. Two Japanese were arrested at Quito airport in Ecuador on December 29, 1997, while boarding an aircraft with nearly 15 kg of cocaine.

Booming Drug Use among Minors

Dealers are doing good business because they offer a variety of products and because prices are falling. The report presented to the UNGASS meeting blames the worsening situation on "a decline in moral standards and a growing tendency to enjoy life", as is also shown by "immoral sexual behavior", "the imported idea that 'individuals should be free to decide whether to use drugs'", and, finally, on the fact that "families are losing the ability to provide family education due to decreasing family size". Leaving aside the surprising condemnation of family planning, it can hardly be denied that drug use among young people is a result of the growing gap between parents and children. Although the report blames the western cultural model, it fails to point out that it is the economic model that is probably the main reason for booming drug use. While parents are wrapped up in their sacrosanct jobs, three generations after the war, grandparents seem to have lost their former role of keeping families together.

Glue sniffing is also regaining popularity among secondary school pupils. Paint solvents have become such a profitable market that it has been taken over by the yakuza themselves. In Tokyo two criminal organizations, the Kyokutokai Shinseikay and the Sumiyoishikai, have become involved particularly in the distribution of toluene on the local market. These two groups recruit youths to sell 100- milliliter bottles of this product for a unit price of 2000 yen on the street. Police in Shinjuku, one of the Japanese capital's most lively areas, have noted 22 regular points of sale around the train station. The yakuza pay the wholesale price of 2000 yen for a 16-liter can of toluene. Police estimate that 2200 bottles are sold each day on average, which makes 800,000 bottles each year. The annual profit from these sales could reach 1.6 billion yen. This type of drug use, of course, has a detrimental effect on juvenile delinquency.

At the start of January 1998, the country was shocked by the murder of a little girl on a street in Sakai, a suburb of Osaka, by a teenager who told the police he had been sniffing glue for two years. He also attacked the girl's mother, stabbing her with a kitchen knife before passers-by intervened. As a result of the case, the local authorities appealed to the government to strengthen legislation on the sale of toxic products such as industrial glue. Another subject causing concern is the proportion of girls who are now taking drugs. Of the 1596 people arrested for drug-related offences in 1997 (mostly stimulants), 60% were female. When these girls were asked by police about their reasons for taking drugs, some said they wanted to "try something new". Others said they were trying to cope with anxiety or lose weight. Other drug users are under-age prostitutes, whose numbers have been increasing rapidly in Tokyo and other major Japanese cities. Measures other than law enforcement are also being taken in an attempt to deal with the problem. The rehabilitation center for drug addicts opened in Tokyo's Nippori neighborhood in 1985 has been used as a model for others, and 13 similar establishments are now in operation throughout Japan. Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto (before his resignation in July 1998) has launched a five-year plan which called for, among other things, a high school awareness campaign on the dangers of drugs. The commission responsible for putting the plan into practice is placed directly under the prime minister's authority. Four priorities were set out in the plan: drug awareness among school-going youths; additional resources for anti- smuggling authorities; measures to increase international cooperation; and additional resources for the rehabilitation of drug addicts.

The Role of Yakuza Money in the Crisis

Restoring Japan's financial system to health, a prerequisite for the world's second largest economy to emerge from its doldrums, presents a distinct risk of bankrupting other financial institutions. This stabilization must deal with combating the hold of organized crime on the banks, brokerage houses, and real estate groups whose managers have been arrested for agreeing to do business with the Sokaya, the gangs specialized in corporate blackmail. The government has told the country's banks to clean house as quickly as possible, including handing over precise details as to the extent of their bad loans. The sluggishness with which they are moving seems to attest to the existence of numerous scandals involving the mafia.

Numerous organized crime bosses have found themselves in an extremely precarious position due to the stock market and financial crisis now shaking Japan and the rest of East Asia. Some have even committed suicide. Others are turning to new activities. According to international money laundering specialists, they are trying to set up vast drug money laundering operations, in particular on behalf of foreign criminal organizations, and above all those from Latin America. Another profitable smuggling activity is illegal immigration to Japan, especially coming from China. The yakuza cooperate with the Chinese mafia group known as the "Snake Heads" in this activity.

See also:
Hemp as a "drug"
How many users are there?
The Hemp Control Law
Hemp prohibition in Japan