TOUGH LESSONS IN DRUG USE

Until recently, Japan has not needed much of a drug policy, but recent
headlines about "university pot busts" indicate one is overdue.
Outside of Japan, marijuana arrests no longer even get space in
newspapers, since access and use of marijuana is an everyday reality,
unhealthy and questionable as it may be. Japan would do well to learn
from the missteps in enforcement and legal policy of other countries
before the problem spreads here.

Japan has been traditionally intolerant of illegal drug use, yet the
recent arrests of students at good universities, along with well-known
sports people, make better propaganda than effective policy. The
example of the U.S. where prisons in the 1990s became swamped with
people convicted of drug misdemeanors is instructive. As "educational"
as such well-publicized arrests may be, Japan surely does not want its
prisons full of students and sports stars caught with a few marijuana
seeds or a resin-filled pipe.

There are no shortcuts to successfully interdicting the supply of
drugs in any country, and Japan can no longer pretend to be an
exception. Many countries, however, have found reasonable and
effective policies. Most of those policies tried to keep the lowest
level of drug offender out of prison while focusing on the larger
organizations and supply routes that distribute illegal substances.
However, young people in Japan tempted to use drugs should remember
that not only are their actions illegal, but their party thrills
support criminal organizations and other suppliers and an illicit
shadow economy.

Illegal marijuana use by students at universities may be taken as a
strange sign of internationalization. There will be no way to restrict
Japanese students from reading about marijuana on the Internet and
becoming curious. Many students encounter marijuana when traveling or
studying abroad. Still, the use of marijuana inside a country with
strict intolerance to drug use is a sign of incredibly bad judgment,
at best, and remains a crime with real consequences.

These students' lives, and those of their families, could be
permanently damaged. Getting kicked out of university and having
trouble finding future employment is harsh punishment. After the
headlines die down, the government will need a broad policy that
establishes fair punishments together with effectual reduction of
supply and better education about drugs, including alcohol and
tobacco, the two most commonly abused drugs.