SNA (Tokyo) — While some voices are calling on Japan to consider the legalization of marijuana use, the government is currently weighing legislation to tighten the criminalization approach, even as it contemplates the possibility of more complex policies.

Japan has long been noted for its harsh, some would say draconian, approach to drug law enforcement. There is no sign that the National Police Agency, for example, is contemplating any change in direction. Indeed, their debate at the moment regards what could be considered the closing of a legal loophole: While the cultivation and possession of marijuana are illegal under the Cannabis Control Act of 1948, there is no law against the actual “use” of marijuana.

The National Police Agency and others have been concerned about the growing number of marijuana arrests in recent years, believing that this stems from the possibility that more Japanese young people, in particular, have been using marijuana. Last year there were nearly 5,300 marijuana-related arrests, of which about 65% involved Japanese under the age of thirty. Moreover, the amount of liquid marijuana confiscated by Tokyo Customs last year was reportedly about seventy times the 2019 level.

This partly explains the rather hysterical response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the legalization of marijuana in a growing number of overseas jurisdictions. For example, the Consulate-General of Japan in New York recently issued a statement warning, “Japan’s Cannabis Control Act provides for punishment for unnecessarily cultivating, possessing, or receiving cannabis, and you may be charged with a crime. This regulation may be applied not only inside Japan but also overseas. Therefore, Japanese residents and Japanese tourists are requested to comply with Japanese law and be careful not to touch marijuana, even outside Japan.”

In response to such law enforcement concerns and other discussions, the Ministry of Health established this January the Study Group on Countermeasures against Cannabis and Other Drugs to compile an official strategy.

However, this policy debate is pitting conservative politicians and law enforcement officials against some members of Japan’s medical community and a handful of decriminalization advocates. Since the talks are sponsored by the Ministry of Health, it includes scientists, doctors, and others who are calling for a more fact-based approach, and this may lead to an unpredictable outcome.

For example, Toshihiko Matsumoto, director of drug dependence research of the National Institute of Mental Health at the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, who is a member of the government’s study group, is arguing against making use of marijuana into a crime largely on the basis that it may obstruct recovery support and treatment for addicts.

Matsumoto argues that criminalizing marijuana use will make it more difficult for individuals to seek treatment from medical professionals and also make many doctors feel pressure to break their confidentiality obligations and report matters to police.

“There has been a trend of ‘not punishment, but treatment.’ I do not think the Ministry of Health should take any measures that would prevent such a trend,” he stated in an interview with Buzzfeed Japan earlier this year.

Michiko Kameishi, a lawyer and member of Osaka Bar Association, joined some of her colleagues earlier this year to petition the Ministry of Health arguing more directly against any efforts to toughen anti-drug laws.

“The use of drugs such as cannabis should not be treated as a crime,” she argued. “Rather, punishment should be reduced or even eliminated if possible. Treatment, recovery, and support should be reinforced.”

She added, “Rather than strengthening control and utilizing huge amounts of tax revenues for police, courts, and prisons, it is much more cost-effective to move toward non-punishment and to reduce the negative impact of drugs on health and society… Strengthening control of drugs and making the use of cannabis into a new crime goes against the international trend of drug policy.”

While there is little reason at this point to believe that the Ministry of Health study group is prepared to accept views such as Kameishi’s in their totality, there is some indication that they might accept a more complex definitions of marijuana, including the possibility of opening Japan to some medical uses.

Ichiro Takumi, associate professor at St. Mariana University School of Medicine and deputy director of the Epilepsy Center of Kanagawa Prefecture, is among those medical professionals who have been urging the government to allow some forms of medical use.

“Surgical treatment is not sufficient for extremely difficult conditions such as Dravet syndrome on which repeated cramps are induced by fever and high temperatures,” he explained in a Japanese-language essay. “If medications such as [Epidiolex, a medication for Epilepsy which contains marijuana elements] is used widely and improves the lives of many patients, then I think there is a significance for the promotion of medical treatment.”

It remains unclear what the final conclusions of the Ministry of Health study group will be. It could recommend either a toughening or a relaxing of the Cannabis Control Act. It could even propose splitting the difference by endorsing the law enforcement officials’ wish to make the use of marijuana into its own crime, while at the same time opening the door to some medical uses of cannabis.

Research assistance for this article was provided by Kentaro Kato

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