Cannabis and Japan?

[Tokis-Phoenix]

This is something i have been thinking about for a while and would like to know more on the subject, so i guess this place is as good as any for info on Japan .

A while back i remember reading somewhere (think it was online, although i forget where) that Cannabis use actually has quite a history in japan and its use goes quite a long way back in their history, however apparently a lot of modern historians try to cover up or not openly talk about this aspect of their society as far as its history and use is concerned etc.

Does anyone know anymore on this subject? I'm just curious about thats all, as it suprises me if what i read back then about this is true.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

It was a no no back when.

When I was in Fukuoka in 1970 & 71 even the bravest of the hippy-dippy types stayed away from pot. If you bought up the subject of any type of drug , my Japanese friends would look around nervously and say no way. They all acted like the police would capture you and put you to death. The young croud I hung with abused perscription drugs with booze and a few sniffed glue, but I never saw any Japanese with pot in the 2 years I was there. In the two years I worked at the Japanese bar called the Pitt Inn, I never saw any pot being used or sold.

Uncle Frank

☝

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thats what i thought too- i always assumed that japanese were clean people and didn't really ever have much of a pot culture, but then again maybe this happened after japan become more open to western influences and ideals during the meiji, taisho or early showa periods?

 

[caster51]

Japan had a custom of Cannabis until end of war.
shinto and Cannabis have a close relation..
However, it was not habitual.
many family put it on household Shinto shrine as a charm
poppy was holy stuff


name of Tama(多摩） in tokyo means 多麻（many poppy)
After end of war, GHQ destroyed the shinto custom. that is , Cannabis was prohibited

 

[Mars Man]

Interesting information. It's new to me. (although I am aware that we all basically have it in our brains anyway) I guess that in that way, it may have been something which could be said to be similar to some native american spiritual customs.

 

[Ewok85]

Cannabis = Hemp, a versatile plant with a long and still existing history in Japan. Hemp is making a comeback in the US as well - I've heard its friendlier to grow than cotton and can be used to make all sorts of things.

Roll up for the Marijuana Mystery Tour

Hokkaido, the most pristine of Japan's main islands, is going to pot -- literally, according to Tokudane Saizensen (3/13). While crowded Japan has more than its fair share of concrete jungles in the mega-cities of Kanto and Kansai, there's apparently plenty of grass in the northernmost island, both of the backyard variety and of the underground.

So prevalent is cannabis in the north that Marijuana Mystery Tours are all the rage. Piping hot Hokkaido has attracted so many weed fans, it's become known as "Hemp Heaven."

Hokkaido became Japan's hemp haven during the Meiji Era (1868 to 1912), when the plant was grown to use making ropes, military uniforms and other defense-related items. Hemp farms were set up throughout the island and flourished through until the end of World War II.

However, Tokudane Saizensen notes, things changed in 1948 with the enactment of the Cannabis Control Law, which effectively banned the cultivation of hemp, whose use was curtailed anyhow by the importation of imported textiles and creation of other fabrics. The hemp farms disappeared.

But getting rid of the weed wasn't as easy as it seemed. In fact, plenty of fields popped up from the seeds uncollected at the old hemp farms. Cannabis plants grew wild throughout Hokkaido and the plant capable of surviving in even the harshest of conditions spread here, there and everywhere.

Hokkaido's hoochie remained largely untouched, though, thanks to a strong Japanese stigma about drug use and an ignorance of the mystical powers of the plant. That all changed as use of the Internet spread throughout the mid- to late-'90s and the Marijuana Mystery Tours in Hokkaido virtually became one of the island's tourist attractions.

"Go to most Hokkaido bookstores and they'll be packed with books about dope," a reporter from a Hokkaido newspaper tells Tokudane Saizensen. "The books are filled with information about where the grass is growing, its street value and even have people writing about their experience on cultivation tours."

Seizures of cannabis and hashish in Hokkaido both reached record levels last year. Authorities are well aware of the prevalence of wild hemp on the island and are removing about 1 million plants a year. It may not be long before Hokkaido's gunja grounds go up in smoke, but that's not stopping people's interest in the area.

"Loads of information about marijuana farms (in Hokkaido) is appearing on online bulletin boards. People just won't stop writing about them," the hemp hack tells Tokudane Saizensen. "It's this information that becomes the basis of the Marijuana Mystery Tours."

http://forums.expatjapan.net/viewtopic.php?p=9159#9159

I know people who grow and use cannabis, Japanese and foreign. They keep to themselves and don't distribute it which means they get no trouble.

 

[nice gaijin]

Hemp has over 50,000 industrial uses; it has quite a history everywhere.

I don't know much about the history of the psychoactive drug in Japan, but nowadays Japan is one of the most expensive places to buy, the quality is apparently low, and the law enforcement is pretty strict. It doesn't seem worth the risk.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks for the info/comments everyone, interesting stuff, if anyone has anymore info to share on the subject i'd be very interested .

Its a shame the pot farms were banned, because hemp does have so many useful uses- i collect kimono as a hobby, occasionally you see old hemp kimono go up on the market (it seems to be a popular material for old kimono which had religious uses, like the old pilgrimage kimono for monks), but they tend to go for a lot of money now days and get snapped up quickly whenever they appear on the market.


One thing i don't get, is that is hemp actually the same thing as cannabis which people smoke, or is it like a variety which was never cultivated for its drug properties and more for its material uses, and so is not as potent as normal pot? I know that every part of your standard cannabis plant is potent stuff- which confused me when i saw "hemp seeds" for sale as bird seed in a pet shop, surely the birds in my garden aren't getting stoned off these seeds lol?

 

[Free_Radical]

Interesting topic, and something I've wondered myself. Its the bud which is has the highest concentration of THC as I'd guess you'd know coming from Somerset ;-) You certainly wouldn't want to smoke the stalk and destroy the plant in the process.
My guess is that it's uptake will boom right about now... reason being is the massive counter-culture, growing and globally influential. Extremist anarchism and experimentalism are characteristics evidenced in contemporary film and music.

My hope however is this.... that the western tradition of breeding ever more potent strains does not happen in Japan. Its unnatural and a perversion of a custom of peace.

 

[Haruspex]

Hopefully drug use will die out entirely hehh. Never done anyone any good, after all people look down on alcoholics, but its so "cool" and "trendy" to toke nowadays. Can't people just get drunk to boot instead once a month?
Its good to hear that japanese people consider using drugs a shame, and a taboo. Very good, quite a nice example before the west.

 

[pipokun]

A deer is mighter than cops
Police officers took 20 hours just to catch a wild deer in Sapporo.

A licensed veterinarian who can handle a tranquilizer gun was in a zoo nearby, but the license is applied only in the zoo he/she works.
The stricter regulation comes after the recent Ketamine abuse among the young.
http://www.stv.ne.jp/news/item/20071102192714/
*You can see the mighty deer in the movie.

Drink beer here. But do not drive after you get drunk. The maximum fine is now 1,000,000yen.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hopefully drug use will die out entirely hehh. Never done anyone any good, after all people look down on alcoholics, but its so "cool" and "trendy" to toke nowadays. Can't people just get drunk to boot instead once a month?
Its good to hear that japanese people consider using drugs a shame, and a taboo. Very good, quite a nice example before the west.

IMHO its silly to say that you hope drug use will die out, drugs in general have done many good things- without drugs you wouldn't have anesthetic, anti-depressants, painkillers etc- according to wikipedia;

"A drug, broadly speaking, is a substance used as a medicine or narcotic.[1] There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in medicine, government regulations, and colloquial usage.[2]

In pharmacology, Dictionary.com defines a drug as "a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being."[2] Drugs may be prescribed for a limited duration, or on a regular basis for chronic disorders.[3]

Recreational drugs are chemical substances that affect the [central nervous system], such as narcotics or hallucinogens.[3] They may be used for perceived beneficial effects on perception, consciousness, personality, and behavior.[3][4] Some recreational drugs can cause addiction and habituation.[4]

Drugs are usually distinguished from endogenous biochemicals by being introduced from outside the organism.[citation needed] For example, insulin is a hormone that is synthesized in the body; it is called a hormone when it is synthesized by the pancreas inside the body, but if it is introduced into the body from outside, it is called a drug.[citation needed]

Many natural substances such as beers, wines, and some mushrooms, blur the line between food and drugs, as when ingested they affect the functioning of both mind and body."


Drug - Wikipedia


One particular type of drug may be legal in one country, but illegal in another. Does this mean that the country to legalise it was wrong, or the country to ban it was wrong? Who knows "shrugs"?

IMHO, there are a lot more damaging things that cannabis that are legal in this country and can be obtained over the counter. My fiance went through a phase of having panic attacks many years back, he was subcribed a drug called "Seroxat" (sp?), it worked and stopped the panic attacks after a while but it caused him major mood swings and problems while he was on it.
After his panic attacks went away, he wanted to come off the Seroxat, but he had a hellish time coming off it- it caused him to vomit everyday, giving him migranes and violent mood swings, one moment he'd be ok and the next moment he would be suicidal, his hands shook a lot and he lost weight, it messed up his sleeping patterns (if could sleep at all between the vomitting and migranes) etc etc. And this took weeks to stop!
Apparently what he suffered was quite common for people to go through coming off Seroxat, however he was never told about this when it was first prescribed to him by the doctor, he said he would have never ever touched the stuff if he had known how much it would mess him up while he was on it and make him suffer coming off it etc.
Have you ever seen the movie "Trainspotting" (a movie about a heroin addict)? Seeing my fiance coming off Seroxat was like seeing the scene's in the movie Trainspotting of the heroin addict coming off heroin, although admittedly not quite as bad as that, it was pretty terrible to see my fiance suffer so much.


And this Seroxat can be bought over the counter and is completely legal. Some people never have any real problems going on or off the stuff, however many have an absolutely hellish time coming off the stuff in particular.
As an example- if i had to take Seroxat or Cannibis, having seen what both do, i would take Cannibis over Seroxat any day.


So the moral of the story, at the end of the day just because something is legal doesn't mean its any less damaging than something which is illegal. I'm not saying people should go out and do illegal activities or anything like that, most things which are illegal are illegal for good reasons, but i think people should excercise a lot more caution in general about stuff like this- the world is not as black and white as it seems etc.

 

[Haruspex]

I obviously meant using drugs to get high. Im not talking about medical drugs, im sorry, i did not see a reason why i should state the obvious.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I obviously meant using drugs to get high. Im not talking about medical drugs, im sorry, i did not see a reason why i should state the obvious.

Cannibis is often veiwed as a "medical drug", due to its pain-killing (and often also anti-depressent) effects- there are a great deal of people who take it for exactly these reasons, particularly people with problems like artheritus and back pain problems where legal drugs often don't work etc.

There are also many legal "medical drugs" that people can get "high" off too, there is a great deal of abuse in society over the use of legal prescription drugs.


There basically isn't any "stating the obvious" when it comes to stuff like this, because as said in the wiki article, the boundaries and definitions of drugs are very blurred.

Even with your definition, "drugs to get high off", is not really right, would you ban caffiene because people take it for its boosting effects for example? You can get high of a nictotene. alchohol and caffiene fix etc, does this mean coffee, beer and smokes should be made illegal? None of these are "medical drugs", so do you think they should be banned or something?
IMHO You should question what you are saying more with this sort of stuff, because its a very complex subject.

 

[made of stone]

I don't know really, but I've been led believe that hemp is a strain that has a very low thc count (thc is the 'active' compound in ganja - that is, you would need to smoke an awful lot to get any 'stoned' effect at all, which isn't really practical)? I thought that was why that particular strain was cultivated for the very useful fiber (no risk of the workers getting stoned instead and falling asleep on the job, lol )

It certainly is a great taboo nowadays in Japan, but learned Japanese and non-Japanese friends have guided me to the belief that cannabis was very important in terms of art and philosophy until the American occupation forced it to be outlawed. I stand to be corrected on that, but it seems entirely feasible to me (and is what I've been led to believe by some very interesting and knowledgeable people).

mos

 

[Haruspex]

Just what isn't entirely obvious about toking for pleasure being absolutely wrong?
You wish to say that weed is used for medical reasons more often than for pleasure? Because that obviously is wrong. And as for me, sure, i would ban cigarettes without hesitation. They can be pleasant, i don't question that, but still, ban them. As for alcohol and coffe. Ban them as well if thats what it takes to ban tobacco. Its pointless to make a drama out of such things as tobacco, coffe and alcohol. People can live without them easily. Someone who cannot imagine his life without such things should reconsider what is important to him. Oh and yeah, before you ask, ban energy drinks too.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Just what isn't entirely obvious about toking for pleasure being absolutely wrong?
You wish to say that weed is used for medical reasons more often than for pleasure? Because that obviously is wrong. And as for me, sure, i would ban cigarettes without hesitation. They can be pleasant, i don't question that, but still, ban them. As for alcohol and coffe. Ban them as well if thats what it takes to ban tobacco. Its pointless to make a drama out of such things as tobacco, coffe and alcohol. People can live without them easily. Someone who cannot imagine his life without such things should reconsider what is important to him. Oh and yeah, before you ask, ban energy drinks too.

I never said nor implied that people take cannibis more often for medical reasons than pleasure, however there is no doubt that there are a lot of people at least in my country that do it for medical reasons- i have known of old sweet little grannies taking this drug to help them cope in their day to day lives with the grippling effects of severe artheritus.

There was talk of legalising cannibis for it to be sold in chemists, you may find this bbc debate of interest on the subject;

BBC News | PANORAMA | Your Comments on Cannabis from the chemist


"We must keep an open mind toward this subject, and consider the pain that so many patients endure."

"Is it possible that we have criminalised the sick and mentally ill for seeking relief in cannabis"

"It appears to be the remedy for a vast number of people suffering from horrific illnesses"

"I can smoke a spliff and the pain melts"




Perhaps if you are ever unlucky enough to suffer from poor health and have to live with crippling pain and agony in your day to day life, you might see the drug (cannibis) in a different light. You tell someone they can "live without cannibis easily" when that person is taking it to deal with the agony they have to live with in their day to day lives from their illnesses which they have through no fault of their own.

IMHO, it is very narrow-minded to put every cannibis user into the steriotypical catagory of the stoned irresponsable druggie who should be looked down upon.


Right now you sound like you are becomming one of the PC yogurt eating morning jogging brigade with your talk of banning all drugs for pleasure. What ever happened to people's rights? What ever happened to people being allowed to decide what they want to do themselves after weighing of the facts of the decision they may undertake? While you are on your drug banning brigade, you might as well tax unhealthy foods which have proven links to causing people obesity etc.

The fact of the matter is that we don't all lead our lives to the most healthy ways posible. Some people are more concerned about adding life to their years than years to their life- i keep an open mind towards cannibis personally, i have nothing against those that do it for pleasure or for its many medical uses, i've known people who do it for both of these reasons and both of these types of people were kind, respectable and likeable open-minded people etc. I know it is an illegal drug, but then again that doesn't effect my opinions to any major extent on it because i base my opinions on what i have seen, learnt/studied and experienced rather than just agreeing with everything i'm told is right or wrong by our disfunctional government.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I don't know really, but I've been led believe that hemp is a strain that has a very low thc count (thc is the 'active' compound in ganja - that is, you would need to smoke an awful lot to get any 'stoned' effect at all, which isn't really practical)? I thought that was why that particular strain was cultivated for the very useful fiber (no risk of the workers getting stoned instead and falling asleep on the job, lol )
It certainly is a great taboo nowadays in Japan, but learned Japanese and non-Japanese friends have guided me to the belief that cannabis was very important in terms of art and philosophy until the American occupation forced it to be outlawed. I stand to be corrected on that, but it seems entirely feasible to me (and is what I've been led to believe by some very interesting and knowledgeable people).
mos

Yes as far as i am aware hemp is still cannibis but it has been developed for its material uses rather than for its drug like uses. I would say that the difference between hemp and the cannibis you find being sold on the streets is the sort of the difference you find between a working breed of dog which has been selectively bred for its working abilities, and a toy breed of dog which has been selectively bred purely for its cute appeal etc.


Hemp is actually very good stuff, it has hundreds of uses in society- it is more environmentally friendly to produce than cotton and materials like wool, it is easily biodegradable, cheap and easy to produce, hemp seeds can also be used as animal feed (for example, my local petshop sells hemp seeds for birds, which i buy to feed it to the wild birds in my garden, which they seem to enjoy a great deal), it can be used in soap, as oil, in clothes etc etc. The plant can be grown in a wide variety of climes and is very undemanding to grow etc.

IMHO It is actually a great shame that it isn't used more often due it being so much more environmentally friendly to produce than so many other products and is good for the economy to produce etc.

I think many people's predujiced views towards cannibis have blinded them from the many positive uses that hemp has to offer to our society etc.

I don't think it would just be good for Japan to produce such a plant, but also many other countries/cultures/societies etc across the world


.

 

[Sukotto]

窶佚･窶独 窶堋ｽ窶堋｢窶堙
taima

I believe is the word.

The 2nd two kanji in this pic are the ones.
I'm not sure what the first two add to it.

Here actually is a site with a page on Hempen Culture In Japan



I actually just ordered and received in the mail a hemp blanket for a double sized bed. No, you cannot get high by smoking it.
Imported from Canada, imported from Dracula's homeland of Romania.
It's actually a 42% hemp, 58% flax mixed weave.
Quite nice and soft, unlike those hemp necklaces that were all the rage in the 90s. Finer weave.

The hemp and marijuana are different but related plants,
I'm pretty sure.

 

[soaljack]

Free the weed

Cannsbis is just a plant, and should never have been outlawed in the first place. I can't believe that the laws in japan can be so harsh on this amazing plant that can do so much to help people
watch this short doc on cannabis prohibition and see for yourself

its at youtube / soaljack

Thanks,

 

[ChrisGR]

Cannsbis is just a plant, and should never have been outlawed in the first place. I can't believe that the laws in japan can be so harsh on this amazing plant that can do so much to help people
watch this short doc on cannabis prohibition and see for yourself
its at youtube / soaljack
Thanks,

Cannabis is a drug. Alcohol is a drug. Cigarettes are a drug. All those three have different but about equal consequences. What i mean is the only reason cigarettes and alcohol are not banned in compairance with cannabis, is that many people drink and smoke and in simple words that gives money to the governments by the taxes on the cigarettes and alcohol companies and thats much.

I believe that its the best not to use any of those three, at least not to an exceed rate.

 

[nice gaijin]

...What i mean is the only reason cigarettes and alcohol are not banned in compairance with cannabis, is that many people drink and smoke and in simple words that gives money to the governments by the taxes on the cigarettes and alcohol companies and thats much.

At least here in the states, that is most certainly not the only reason cannabis is classified as a narcotic while liquor and tobacco aren't.

 

[ChrisGR]

At least here in the states, that is most certainly not the only reason cannabis is classified as a narcotic while liquor and tobacco aren't.

yeah i correct the "only". But its one of the most important. but which reason you mean?

 

[nice gaijin]

actually, taxing cannabis is one of the main arguments for legalization, lately. There are several reasons marijuana and hemp were originally criminalized, and an industry of law enforcement has sprung up around it. Below are some links that can explain the situation better than I.

http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/12/22/whyIsMarijuanaIllegal.html
The criminalization of marijuana
http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/hemp_conspiracy.htm

video about legalizing hemp

lol it's pretty goofy. The voiceover doesn't lend to credibility, but what he's saying is true.

 

[Putrefaction]

IMHO its silly to say that you hope drug use will die out, drugs in general have done many good things- without drugs you wouldn't have anesthetic, anti-depressants, painkillers etc- according to wikipedia;

"A drug, broadly speaking, is a substance used as a medicine or narcotic.[1] There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in medicine, government regulations, and colloquial usage.[2]

As a person working in a pharmacy, I can tell you 2/3 scripts for narcotics are "fake" in the sense that the person is in no need of it; and is just taking it for its sake or to feel good. I started out marijuana because everyone was raving about it, I stopped because it was absolute ****. If you want to legalize marijuana, prepare for 9/10 scripts being abused. Or overprescribed, really, since glaucoma patients would rather spend a twenty on a bag of weed over seventy on glaucoma eye drops.

I dislike drugs because I've been brought up in the suburbs where from 1 - 10 you hear drugs suck! I'm cool because I stay away from them! And then you learn that throughout his teen years your dad blazed and listened to people who blazed...it's sad. Tobacco earns a hard spot in my heart, I want it banned as well.