Cannabis use will be criminalized under revisions to Japan's cannabis control law, a health ministry expert panel stated in a report released on June 11.
The expert panel, headed by Shonan University of Medical Sciences professor Tsutomo Suzuki, made the decision due to concerns about young people's abuse of the drug. Meanwhile, the panel also concluded that cannabis-derived medications – currently restricted in Japan – should be permitted. The expert panel will now begin deliberating specific measures ahead of revisions to the Cannabis Control Act next year.
While the current law enacted in 1948 prohibits the possession and cultivation of cannabis, there is no criminal punishment for its use, such as smoking it. The introduction of a provision banning using the drug had previously been put off as farmers who cultivate the plant, which is used to make hemp "shimenawa" ropes for Shinto shrines and other uses, can inhale it as they work.
In February, the health ministry presented test results to the expert panel showing that no cannabinoids had been detected in the farmers' urine. In response, the panel concluded that "there are no reasonable grounds for not imposing penalties on cannabis use." The report raised the need to set up a punishment for using the drug, in addition to the current penalties for possession (imprisonment with work for five years or less) and cultivation (imprisonment with work for seven years or less).
During discussions, three out of the panel's 12 members objected to establishing new criminal penalties, voicing views such as "it goes against the global trend of focusing on supporting recovery," and "it cannot be said that cannabis use is causing social harm, and there are no factual grounds for implementing (criminal penalties)." Other parties, including an addicts' support group, had also called for "support" as opposed to "criminal punishment," and were demanding that the provision be scrapped.
The expert panel reviewed the current cannabis law, which imposes regulations based on the parts of the cannabis plant, and deemed it appropriate to adjust them to focus restrictions on a substance called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a hallucinogen. The panel called for a review of the law to organize distribution and management structures, including a license system, to enable medical cannabis use.
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