Pubdate: Sun, 01 Mar 2009
Source: Japan Times (Japan)
Copyright: 2009 The Japan Times
Contact:  http://www.japantimes.co.jp/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/755

NATIONAL DRUG WOES SURFACE IN U.S. REPORT

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) A U.S. government report on narcotics control 
Friday describes Japan as a place with widespread marijuana use and 
one of the largest markets for methamphetamines in Asia.

The 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, issued by 
the U.S. Department of State, said that "marijuana use is widespread" 
in Japan while "methamphetamine abuse remains the biggest challenge" 
to its antinarcotics efforts.

Although the report did not elaborate, its reference to marijuana use 
in Japan apparently reflects the recent statistical jump in 
cannabis-related crimes, including highly publicized cases involving 
sumo wrestlers and college students in the past year.

Earlier this month, the National Police Agency reported that police 
departments across the country handled 3,832 cannabis-related cases 
involving 2,778 offenders last year, both all-time highs since the 
NPA began tracking records in 1956.

One of the cases that drew national attention was when Russian sumo 
wrestler Wakanoho was arrested for marijuana possession in August.

Two other Russians tested positive for marijuana shortly afterward in 
tests conducted by sumo's governing body, before a Japanese grappler 
was arrested in January in the latest marijuana-related incident to 
hit the ancient sport. All four have been dismissed from sumo.

Arrests of college students were reported throughout the year for 
possessing, smoking, growing or smuggling cannabis or marijuana.

As for methamphetamine abuse in Japan, the State Department report 
said the reduction in the drug's supply that began in mid-2006 
"appears to have reversed" and that Chinese traffickers using 
supplies from China and Canada are believed to "have stepped in to 
fill the gap" presumably created by the 2006 closure of mega-labs in 
Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The report said Afghanistan "remained the world's largest grower of 
opium poppy" despite a 19 percent decline in 2008 in opium poppy 
cultivation in the country. It noted that the antigovernment 
insurgency, most commonly associated with the Taliban, exploits the 
narcotics trade for financial gain.

On the situation in North Korea, the report said drug trafficking 
with a connection to the communist country "appears to be down sharply."

"There have been no instances of drug trafficking suggestive of 
state-directed trafficking for six years (in North Korea), but there 
still is insufficient evidence to say for certain that 
state-sponsored trafficking has stopped at this time," it said.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart