Japanese Ministry of Health discusses legalization of medical cannabis

A panel of Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare met May 25 to begin talks on lifting the ban on medicinal cannabis for patients suffering from refractory epilepsy.

As The Asahi Shimbun reports, the ministry could revise the current law sometime this summer. Japanese law currently prohibits the possession or cultivation of any part of cannabis, including “the spikes, leaves, roots, and undeveloped stalks of the cannabis plant.”

The Asahi Shimbun refers to the “Group of Seven,” or the seven countries with the most advanced economies, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Of these, Japan currently has one of the strictest approaches to regulating and prohibiting cannabis. In August 2021, the Japanese ministry wrote a report recommending that the government should consider following the example of other countries to allow patients to use medicinal cannabis.

While the department is discussing including a provision in the Cannabis Control Act that would exempt the use of medicinal cannabis from punishment, the agency is also seeking to further criminalize recreational use.

Although cannabis is illegal, there are some Japanese cannabis growers who are licensed to produce hemp to make shimenawa, a special rope commonly used in shrines. There are no penalties for these cultivators for fear that making the ropes may involve “accidental inhalation of marijuana substances.” However, this assumption was disproved when, in a survey conducted in 2019, none of the farmers tested positive for cannabis in their urine.

The Asahi Shimbun writes that some experts believe the law should provide treatment options for “marijuana addicts to prevent recidivism,” which primarily includes Japanese youth.

In December 2021, Japanese gaming company Capcom, in partnership with the Osaka Prefectural Police (OPP), allowed the use of its character Ace Attorney to curb cannabis use among the country’s youth. Previously, Capcom has supported the OPP in other crime prevention campaigns. “Capcom hopes to support crime prevention activities in Osaka and throughout Japan through this program, which will see the production of 6,000 original posters as well as 4,000 original flyers to accompany individually wrapped face masks,” the company said in a press release.

Japan has long banned cannabis under the Cannabis Control Act, which originally went into effect in 1948. Historically, cannabis had its place in Japanese culture and religion, but from the 1950s onwards, Japanese cannabis law mirrored that of the United States’ prohibitionist policies. The Japanese hemp industry was allowed to continue operating, but few farms remain due to expensive cultivation licenses and a declining demand for hemp products.

While the government’s perspective is beginning to change, it’s still clear that Japan needs more progress before it can fully embrace cannabis legalization. In 1980, former Beatles band member Paul McCartney visited Japan with less than eight ounces in his possession, earning him an 11-year ban from returning. In February 2022, a US Marine was sentenced to two years’ hard labor for shipping “half a gallon of weed-infused liquid and a quarter pound of cannabis” from an unnamed person in Nevada. On May 17, a school nurse was arrested for allegedly possessing “an unspecified amount of dried cannabis in two jars and a plastic bag.”

Even when Canada legalized cannabis in 2018, the Japanese government issued a statement reminding Japanese nationals living abroad that the use of cannabis is illegal even if they live in a country where it is legal .

According to Kyodo News, the National Police Agency released data showing that 5,482 people were caught violating Japan’s cannabis law (4,537 for possession, 273 for illegal sale and 230 for illegal cultivation).