Kawamura warns public against drug abuse after Sakai's arrest

Tuesday 11th August, 03:26 PM JST

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kyoken at 10:55 PM JST - 11th August

Kawamura told a news conference, adding preventive measures must be implemented by society as a whole.

Take away this burden of living a self determined life. What a difficult thing anyway to decided for oneself what is healthy and what not. Have the government to decide and we can go on to busy ourself with endless shopping.
J_rock at 11:47 PM JST - 11th August

It's amusing, and also frustrating, to hear all these politicians and JT posters moralizing on the evils of "drug" abuse while saying idiotic things like "I get high on life and Guinness", with absolutely no trace of irony. Recreational alcohol abuse is a sanctioned and accepted part of life in Japan and many other countries, but just because you can buy it in a convenience store doesn't mean that it's not a drug.

Meth is a terrible and very destructive drug, and although I support the decriminalization of certain substances, it is most certainly not one of them. But these types of discussions, both inside and outside of Japan, lack any credibility because they're rife with hypocrisy. People will always seek to alter their consciousness, and whether Japan wants to admit it or not, Japanese people are already doing lots of drugs, both legal and illegal. I've never seen as much Speed as I saw in clubs in Japan. And it wasn't a case of the foreign boogeyman pushing it on the innocent Japanese. The sooner Japan drops the American style hysteria, and the "war on drugs" B.S., the sooner they can begin to have honest discussions about the topic and maybe address some of the issues which drive so many of it's citizens, at all levels of society, to abuse methamphetamines.
usaexpat at 12:09 AM JST - 12th August

bamboohat: Your post is pretty much right on. Kawamura is just flapping his gums to get some air time. At the end of the day Sakai's run in with the law won't warn anyone off drugs. Just a shame for her that she got caught and her idiot of a husband rolled on her.
Bento at 04:38 AM JST - 12th August

"Fact 1 - A small amount of amphetamine could never destroy anyone's life. Fact 2 - The Tokyo Police Department can destroy a life and has destroyed many more than illegal drugs have over the years." finediner, may i point you in the direction of smithinjapan he is currently giving lessons on life the universe and everything and it appears you require an education before your ignorance gets you in real trouble. To all those currently taking illegal drugs and thinking they are just fine dandy and in control..prove it to yourself by stopping for a year..if you can. I'm clean and always intend to be, although i fully understand that the high obtainable must be extraordinary..why else would other humans kill for it pimp their own girlfriends to get the money for it abandon their children for it..
J_rock at 05:28 AM JST - 12th August

Bento, this is exactly the same false dichotomy to which I was referring earlier. If someone is gainfully employed, is able to maintain successful relationships, and is generally making a positive contribution to society, then what would it possibly prove were they to quit using illegal drugs for a year? Without getting too specific in a public forum, of all the "drugs" I do, I would find it hardest to give up my after-work drink. And while I maintain that it is a very dangerous drug and should remain illegal, Finediner has a point. Not everyone who uses Meth recreationally, especially the tiny amounts found on Sakai and her husband, turns into a tweaked-out speed freak. I personally know several university educated, high-achieving professionals, who regularly use illegal drugs on weekends. Would you go as far as to say that they are neither "in control", or "fine and dandy"? The difference between "legal" and "illegal" drugs is completely arbitrary, and not based on any qualities inherent to the substances themselves. The "war on drugs" is nothing more than a farcical war on personal freedom and (at least in the west) the poor. The sooner it's discredited and people are deprogrammed from the decades of brainwashing, the better off everyone will be.
smithinjapan at 03:40 PM JST - 12th August

nigelboy: "That's funny because it's completely the opposite from the Japanese people I know because that's all they want to talk about, PERIOD. You see, that's why the media is all over this news constantly and will continue on for days because the "Japanese" people want to "hear about her", PERIOD."

Well, clearly we know different people. The difference being, of course, you're trying to paint it in a positive light while I'm pointing out the negative. Nori-p will become an example of 'the fallen' and will pretty soon probably be given a reprieve, and get her celebrity status back, with people painting her as a victim and her husband (and probably foreign influence) as the bad guy(s), etc. Hell, it's already happening even on HERE with people saying her husband is the 'scum bag' and what not.

For the time being, though, the fact still remains that if you talk about drug abuse in Japan people seethe with anger over Russian sumo wrestlers smoking pot, or people at Waseda university (foreigners) smuggling, but if you mention Oshio or Nori-p they kind of lower their eyes, sigh, and say 'zannen', if anything at all.

As for the 'daily news' on Nori-p, it's simply celebrity gossip, and that's all.
drink_more_milk at 05:14 PM JST - 12th August

‘‘It is necessary to get people to recognize how much drugs would harm their health and ruin their lives,’’ - Kawamura

Technically speaking, they were doing pretty well until the police arrested them. Kawamura should have rephrased his statement to "It is necessary to get people to recognize how much the police will harm their health and ruin their lives if they use drugs."
Bento at 05:45 PM JST - 12th August

if a job/relationship is only possible when the people in question are able to "chill" by using drugs then i'd qualify that lifestyle as unsuccessful.I'm guessing by your post you consider that you make a positive contribution to society..after the negative contribution your illegal drug use currently has fueling the criminal activities associated with the trade,is taken into account..is your contribution to society highly positive or just marginally positive..or in fact actually negative (but classified as positive because well that's what people want to believe).By the sound of it you couldn't go drug free for a year. "not everyone who uses meth..." what facts have you to validate that little distortion..do you know people who have started using it used it for a period of time and then stopped using it and have been able to maintain the similarly successful way of life they had before they took the first dose without the fear that they may one day return to using it. The BBC documentary referred to earlier depicted one couple who "took meth because its what we want to do"..the man had abandoned his children to someone else to look after(but had convinced himself that this had been done through love for his children..when in fact it was simply so he could concentrate on his chosen ambition in life to get high as often as possible and f$%k everyone else and that happened to include his "loved life partner" whom he had pimped to get the cash his(and it had become hers too) addiction required.Now whether the drug is illegal or given away free would not change that mans priority in life..any substance capable of making a human behave that way is obviously dangerous and not life enhancing as biased users tend to think in their chemically dependent brains.
Monoflow at 05:56 PM JST - 12th August

@london... it's this 50/50-thing, I know. A smart young bizman using drug, because he has nothing better to do and it's kind of cool for him, i trully call a punk. While the girl next door facing problems of whatever, using drugs to solve it and now having to prostitute herself to get it everyday (happens to one of my neighbours daughter), I won't critizise of course. Let's leave it like that, not every drug user is a punk, I agree, It only keeps me thinking how careless the world deals with this stuff...
J_rock at 12:03 AM JST - 13th August

do you know people who have started using it used it for a period of time and then stopped using it and have been able to maintain the similarly successful way of life they had before they took the first dose without the fear that they may one day return to using it.

Yes. Anymore questions?

And nowhere in my post did I mention that the people in question need drugs in order to maintain their jobs or relationships. Apparently, you don't require drugs to distort what are fairly basic arguments.

And almost nobody could go drug free for a year, yourself included. That's my point. It's hypocritical for people in societies such as ours, where "legal" drugs are over-prescribed for every physical and psychological ailment, and used recreationally by millions in socially accepted contexts (caffeine, nicotine, alcohol) for people to arbitrarily demonize certain compounds and to criminalize their use because they have been deemed "bad", often for dubious historical or social (ie. racist, classist, political) reasons, which you might discover were you to read up on some of these evil drugs you seem so scared by.

From your reply, it's obvious that you're intent on missing the point regardless of what I or anyone says. Your opinion is obviously uninformed and seemingly resistant to facts based on observation and peoples' personal experience. Recreational drug use is not necessarily a recipe for disaster. Especially when many of the substances deemed "illegal" are much less dangerous than others which can be obtained legally.

Should the mother of a 10 year-old child be messing around with Meth? Of course not, and nobody is saying that what she did was right. But you need to get over the propaganda that's obviously taken such a toll on you and realize that it's not just skid row junkies who use "illegal" drugs, and that it's very possible that the accountant doing your taxes, the lawyer handling your divorce, or the doctor who writes your presecription for the "good" drugs might enjoy relaxing or partying with substances that would cause you to reflexively label them a criminal. Wake up.
nigelboy at 12:54 AM JST - 13th August

Well, clearly we know different people. The difference being, of course, you're trying to paint it in a positive light while I'm pointing out the negative. Nori-p will become an example of 'the fallen' and will pretty soon probably be given a reprieve, and get her celebrity status back, with people painting her as a victim and her husband (and probably foreign influence) as the bad guy(s), etc. Hell, it's already happening even on HERE with people saying her husband is the 'scum bag' and what not.

Get her celebrity status back? You got to be sh+++ng me. In Japan, you don't get your "status" back unless you're a musician. http://geinoujin.moryou.com/syabu.html
Bento at 06:55 PM JST - 13th August

Jrock, I did not imply that you had suggested drugs were used to maintain a "successful lifestyle" .it was a judgement of mine..if they were required to maintain it then they were then, by my own definition,"unsuccessful"..no implication..direct statement. Of course you consider the issue 'foggy' your life requires the use of these substances,no one is going to implicate themselves as a chemical dependent willingly(the example i used would not even admit he was dependent on methamphetamine..he admitted only to drugs being the way he wanted to live his life(but i remind you it had led to him abandoning his children and pimping his girlfriend,this man still believed he was in control of his life just like you and the other "non skid row junkies" do,smart clothes and clean surroundings don't make the dependence any less.From the inside you never have an objective unbiased non partisan view of the situation, my view of drugs is of course also biased by my view of them, i consider them real threats to happy lives..because i have seen the problems they have caused of course its your own personal choice if you want to use them,however while they remain illegal those "personal choices" impinge on my own freedoms as the crimal activities associated with the trade respect no demarcation line between the addicts and non addicted.My view of the dangers of illegal drugs is also my view of those legal drugs ,whether prescribed by a doctor or obtained from a dealer, which have a similar capability of inducing narcotic dependence,where obtaining the compound becomes the 'enabler of life'.I would respectively suggest that certain medications (antibiotics,blood pressure,and statins to name some) have no relevance to this matter and your implication that they do is well deranged,a cranial irregularity possibly brought on by your substance use or abuse (the name chosen does not mitigate the damage done)but as yet not obvious to you as the blinkered user.The "propaganda" the situation has taken far less of a toll on me than the use of drugs has/will take on you,like it or not.

If i found out my accountant was "partying" with illegal drugs i would sack them, i won't need a lawyer for a divorce,but if i found my lawyer doing the same they would be sacked too, if my Doctor was doing drugs i would report them to the GMC as a positive danger to their patients(if found guilty they would be struck off) None drug users take this matter seriously.
Klein2 at 11:55 AM JST - 14th August

Oh hey. I know a good debate ender. If any of you want to see some SAFE FOR WORK photos of what meth will do to you, google SAN DIEGO FACES OF METH You can probably find a site that I looked at yesterday with pictures of people before and after they did METH for some period of time.

Hoooo eeee. Nasty nasty nasty stuff. You can quibble and say OH YEAH, these are just the people who were caught or... MAYBE they were just having a bad hair day, but ...no. Meth will suck the life out of you.

Have a look. Kawamura and Japanese police should do things like this.

Ooops. Found out it is a FOX news station. Oh well. In that case, take it with a huge handful of salt, but still, it might be enlightening. KSWB San Diego.
Klein2 at 12:06 PM JST - 14th August

Let me split a hair or two. First of all, I would probably not use drugs whether they were legal or not, but it seems to me that there is a huge leap from someone growing and smoking his own wacky tabacky and doing the meth, heroin, cocaine road to hell. The difference is scale and concentrations. It would be impossible for an individual user of heroin to ever get the ambition to grow enough and process enough to feed their own habit or produce enough wine to stay drunk for an entire year. Therefore, drugs might be self limiting if we just made people produce their own. By the same token, I suppose I could not object to some hermit on a deserted island using whatever drug they want. Suicide through brain death... go ahead. But not in my society.

Aaaah. Maybe I am wrong about that. Glad I don't have to worry about it. Hands down though, LSD, ecstasy, meth... all are produced with nasty processes from volatile chemicals. How could they be called anything but poison?
Damien15 at 04:59 PM JST - 17th August

Drugs don't ruin people's lifes. People ruin their own lifes, and kill each other. I think only 1% or 2% of drug users turns to be drug abusers. Responsible person enjoying his/her life, loving and being loved, would not abuse drugs and would not let it ruin life. There has to be a difference between soft and hard drugs, and there has to be a difference in treatment for drug users and abusers.