A population that old and conservative loves shit like that. Also, the government urging young people to instead drink more alcohol sounds like something straight out of the Soviet Unions playbook.

WTF? Japan, you're supposed to be doing the opposite!

amid increasing concerns that the lack of a ban on use is promoting drug abuse by young people.

This fucking backwards ass notion of weed as a "gateway drug" needs to die. Their reasoning for calling it that shows their idiocy, in that it's called that because it's cheap and harmless, so they think it will lead to people believing other drugs are similar. Imagine branding something as dangerous because it's (Checks Notes) cheap and harmless.

Although from personal experience, I'd say that weed is a gateway drug of sorts, in that if you're addicted to something far more dangerous (like alcohol), using weed can act like a "gateway" to sobriety.

This is worse than you think. Most countries don't criminalize use, only possession. Criminalizing use like Sweden does likely means that even having cannabis in your system is illegal and could lead to fines, criminal record, and jail time. It's insanely backwards.

but getting blind drunk in the street every night for them is fine. Ridiculous.

Part of the world: takes a step forward

Japan: not on my fucking watch

Wasn’t it already illegal?

I don't like weed. I've tried it throughout my teens, but left it there.

With that said, it's amazing to me that we're still having the same conversations around drugs. Decriminalise EVERYTHING! Ensure what is on the market is clean, drive the costs down to remove criminals from the market, and dedicate every police force to protecting those on the bottom rung of the drug ladder.

I read a book from a former officer a while back, where he'd spent two years working on infiltrating a drug network. It was successful, and they not only shut down a major network of drugs, but arrested around 100 people, and removed tons of illegal weapons from the market, and arrested several people in the network known to police for being involved in several murders. They believed that the drug market in the UK during this time had been disrupted "for three hours". That was all it took for another gang to take over, and apparently it's those successes that cause a lot of people to leave drug enforcement - after all, what's the point?

There almost seems to be zero benefit to drug criminalisation, other than "old conservatives hate it".

The pant is illegal because it's cheap to grow yourself, but if you let some drug companies make money off of processing it, then it's perfectly fine to use...

Idiotic position in 2024.

Fucking idiots. Legalize and tax it. It works every time.

I work at a company that has big offices in Japan and the US (as well as many other places) and it’s pretty interesting to see the contrasts in living standards and expectations up close.

On the one hand, when coworkers visit from Japan they are disgusted by how dirty, unsafe, and uncourteous the US is by comparison. They complain endlessly about the low quality standards of the food. I picture myself having to pick worms and hair out of everything and that’s what things seem like from their perspective.

But then some of them move to the US because they can’t handle the stuffy, oppressive attitude in Japan. Everything is about what you can’t do or aren’t supposed to do. One guy said he was so relieved to go to the US where people know how to say “we can find a way to do that.”

R2 we're supposed to be going up not down!

While the possession and cultivation of marijuana are already banned in Japan, the country will prohibit its use as well, setting a prison sentence of up to seven years for violation.

Ok, so that clears that up.

I told a guy in Tokyo we smoke weed walking down the street in America and he looked at me like I was insane.

It's just a fucking plant

Great way to regress in societal development.