if she is so stupid as to try and post pot then she has no business teaching anyone really, regardless of what the pot was used for. it might as well have been nutmeg into certain countries that outlaw nutmeg in certain quantities.

werent teachers meant to teach you how to, at the very least, do some research?

In fairness to the Japanese government, I think I can see why they're strict about allowing pot into their country even in small amounts.

In the UK for example, it's quite easy to do a fly over with thermal cameras and find which houses are ganja-farms because they light up like beacons from all the heat-lamps. In places Australia, this is much more difficult because obviously it's a much hotter climate and the hot spots blend in. Japan thus far hasn't had a history of pot being a common place, easy to obtain drug, and I don't think it's unfair that they want to keep it that way.

If they relaxed on it, it would be easy in some areas of Japan for this hidden cell farms to boom, making their job of regulating the trade a lot more difficult. It would also send out a message to the criminal community that drug running was an unspoken OK and the government would turn a blind eye. Given how that sort of thing is rife and fuels a lot of violence in other asian countries, that would lead Japan into the same generic dis-reputation that it tries very hard to distance itself from.

this is getting away from the stupid teacher topic, but a big part of japan's anti pot thing and its whole pot being a gateway drug thing is very similar to the west's attitudes in say the 50's. its not just about pot etc, but about quite a few things.

but then that might be because people who grew up in the 50's are now such a big part of the community that every thing caters to, that the attitudes still exist. but had this story taken place elsewhere, like say america, i believe the outrage would have been the same.

having said that, drugs are more widespread here than the media would have you believe, theyre much more expensive, but theyre there,..... and as they say, the more the old people make something wrong, the more fun it is to do.

i know what you mean. its all natural, just tax it like tabbaco or alcahol!

The question isn`t whether the law is justified or not. It`s that it is a very obvious law (not something they just didn`t know about) - it was complete common sense. They broke the law in a foreign country when they most definitely should have known better. These people should have been able to live without for the length of their contract - I mean, it isn`t physically addictive right? They were stupid to break the law in a foreign country - that is all that matters.

If the law were something that you could simply not know about or forget about by habit - like the Time magazine example - I could excuse them in a way for breaking it. But this is in a completely different category - there is no room for excuses. They knowingly broke the law in a country known for VERY strongly enforcing that law. The law itself does not matter in this case.

I guess it's on a par then to that British couple who were stupid enough to have sex on a public beach in a muslim country and then wondered why they got arrested. Oh, and then tried to pretend that wasn't what they were doing. 9__9;

Cannabis has grown both domestically and wildly in Japan from the Neolithic Jomon period (10,000 to 300 BC) to present times. The term "Jomon" itself means "pattern of ropes", which were likely made of hemp.



This is flawed.


If they relaxed on it, why would it make regulating more difficult? After all, they are relaxed.

Legalizing it would eliminate the illegal trade -- considering it wouldn't be illegal. Look through-out History, prohibition never works.






Despite everything I've said, this surely sums it up :D

Prohibition is working in Japan, and it is working admirably. Japan doesn't have heroin or crack addicts selling their bodies so they can get enough money for another fix or hit. The jails are not full of dealers and other drug violators, and thousands of people aren't being killed here every year in gang wars.

Japan doesn't give offenders a slap on the wrist, then turn them free to break more laws. Offenders are seriously punished, their names are published, and they are scorned.

BTW, the picture you posted shows an Edo-period Japanese woman holding a tobacco pipe.

I have to agree with Sangetsu. There are several reasons why it is true, but the drug laws in the US are not as successful as in Japan. Partially it is geography, politics and social attitudes, but the strict laws in Japan have helped keep it a country that is not full of drug addicts, dealers, rehab clinics and people committing crimes like robbery and prostitution to get drug money on the scale it happens in the US.

I don't have world statistics, but I would think that Japan's drug policy could be considered on the more successful side.

anyone being arrested over marijuana in any country is ridiculous. its more natural than alcohol with a less mortality rate.