







●Introduction

Some states legalized recreational marijuana in the US while Japan is vehemently anti-marijuana. The way of thinking about drugs is completely different between the two countries. Drugs and homelessness are critical social issues in the US although the states that allow recreational marijuana are increasing. Legalizing marijuana will never happen in Japan at least in the near future, in my opinion. The reason why Japan is so strict against drug use is explained below with the statistics from national survey in Japan.

Why is Japan so strict about recreational drug use ?

Simply put, it’s because Japanese people strongly believe that illegal drugs are terrifying.

The results of public opinion survey carried out by Cabinet Office in Japan are shown below. The survey was done in 2006, which is a little old, but this survey was conducted nationwide by the government of Japan. I believe the results are applicable even nowadays in some degree. The target group for the survey was people aged from 15 to 64 in Japan. If you are interested in the survey in more details, please check this website of Cabinet Office.

Most of Japanese people believe that recreational drugs such as marijuana are terrifying according to the figures below. Surprisingly, more than 90% of Japanese people feel so according to the public opinion poll.

This number, more than 90% of Japanese people, would be incredibly high number in terms of American standard. I imagine that the US result would be much lower if there was a similar survey in the US. There are several states where recreational marijuana is legal in the US and there are a lot of marijuana shops in those states.

No1 reason why Japanese people find drugs terrifying is that “Drugs undermine your mind and body”. Other main reasons are “You may get addicted to the drug”, “You may get involved with a crime”, and “You may die of acute poisoning”.



















Opium wars









According to my Japanese experience, one of the reasons why Japanese people are afraid of drugs is what they learned in the history class in Japan.

Japanese students learn about Opium Wars between China and the British Empire around 1840. Due to the prevalence of opium in China, Chinese people deteriorated their health and the public morals lowered. After China lost the war, China was forced to make inequitable treaties with the British Empire.

Current Japanese history education teaches students that if you started to consume stimulant drugs, you would make your health worse, which may even lead to the destruction of the country.

Japanese media

Also, Japanese media tends to broadcast the news about drugs on a large scale when some people get arrested for using illegal drugs in Japan because many Japanese people are interested in the problems related with drugs. More than 60% of people are interested in drug problems in Japan according to the figure below.

Drug abusers are usually reported as if they were serial killers on TV so that Japanese people who watch the news realize that they don’t want to be put in such position by using illegal drugs. Being caught with even the smallest amount of marijuana can lead to national media coverage, thus ending school attendance or a job, crippling the chance at future employment. Bringing shame to your friends and family and possibly destroying their reputations along with your own. Then there is the punishment of the actual justice system where the penalties are substantially harsher than what I have seen reported in America.

It’s more than 90% of Japanese people who believe using illegal drugs should not be tolerated no matter what the reason behind it is (Please see the figure below). A great number of people think “Absolutely No Drugs!”. This belief of Japanese people makes Japanese police crack down on drugs very hard.











Summary

・A large number of Japanese people believe that drugs are terrifying. Therefore, Japanese police are very strict on the usage or possession of illegal drugs, compared with the US police.

・The main reason why Japanese people are afraid of drugs is “Drugs undermine your mind and body”. Japan’s history education on Opium Wars has affected to create the belief as well.

・Japanese media tends to broadcast the drug problems or the arrest of celebrities on suspicion of using illegal drugs because a lot of Japanese people are very interested in drug abuse problems.





