The Japanese administration wants to talk about the potential legalization of medical marijuana.
On May 25, a team from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare convened to start talking about easing the prohibition on medical marijuana to help those with refractory epilepsy.
The ministry may update the present law this summer, according to The Asahi Shimbun. The spikes, leaves, roots, and ungrown stalk of the cannabis plant are all now prohibited under Japanese law, as well as any production of cannabis.
The “Group of Seven,” or the seven nations with the most developed economies, are those of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, according to the Asahi Shimbun. Japan currently has one of the harshest policies on cannabis prohibition and regulation. The Japanese Ministry issued a report in August 2021 recommending that the government take into account following other nations’ lead and allowing patients to use medical cannabis.
The ministry is debating including a clause in the Cannabis Control Law that would prevent the use of cannabis for medical purposes from giving rise to criminal charges, but the agency also wants to make recreational use even more illegal.
Despite the fact that cannabis is prohibited, certain licensed Japanese cannabis growers are able to produce the hemp needed to make the particular rope known as shimenawa, which is frequently used at shrines. Since the manufacture of the ropes can include “unintentionally inhaling substances of marijuana,” there are no penalties for these growers. When no farmers’ urine tests for cannabis tested positive in a 2019 survey, this presumption was refuted.
According to The Asahi Shimbun, some legal experts think that in order to deter repeat violations, the government should offer marijuana addiction treatment choices to individuals who are “addicted to marijuana.” This primarily refers to Japanese youth.
In cooperation with the Osaka Prefectural Police, the Japanese video game company Capcom authorized the use of its Ace Attorney character in December 2021 to reduce cannabis usage among the nation’s youth (OPP). In the past, Capcom has helped the OPP with different efforts to reduce crime. According to a press release from the company, “Capcom hopes to support crime prevention activities in Osaka and throughout all of Japan through this program, which will see the production of 6,000 original posters and 4,000 original flyers that will be included with individually wrapped face masks.”
Under the 1948-enacted Cannabis Control Law, marijuana has been illegal in Japan for a very long time. Cannabis had had a place in Japanese culture and religion, but starting in the 1950s, Japanese cannabis laws began to resemble American prohibition policies. The Japanese hemp sector was still allowed to function, although few farms are still in operation because growing permits are pricey and there is less of a market for hemp products.
Even if the government’s viewpoint is starting to change, it is still obvious that Japan needs to make more advancements before it can fully support the legalization of cannabis. Paul McCartney, a former member of the Beatles, was issued an 11-year travel restriction after visiting Japan in 1980 carrying less than eight ounces of marijuana. A U.S. Marine was sentenced to two years of hard labor in February 2022 for ordering “a half-gallon of weed-infused drink and the quarter-pound of cannabis” by mail from an unidentified person in Nevada. For allegedly having “an undefined amount of dried cannabis in two jars and a plastic bag,” a school nurse was jailed on May 17.
Even after Canada legalized marijuana in 2018, the Japanese government issued a statement warning citizens of Japan residing abroad that it is still against the law to use cannabis, even if they reside in a country where it is permitted.
