crime

Shiga store manager arrested after 2 buyers of herbs hospitalized

18 Comments

Police in Kusatsu, Shiga Prefecture, said Friday they have arrested the manager of a herb store after two people to whom he sold synthetic cannabis got sick and had to be hospitalized.

According to police, the store manager, identified as Norihiro Maeda, 37, was arrested for causing injury through negligence, NTV reported. Police said Maeda failed to provide adequate warnings to customers about the side effects of inhaling the hallucinogenic herbs that he is selling at his store, Upper Gate.

Police said that on May 28, Maeda sold three grams of synthetic cannabis to a 23-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman for 5,500 yen. The two were later taken to hospital, suffering from acute drug intoxication, NTV reported.

Police said it is the first time in Japan that a herb retailer has been charged over professional negligence, NTV reported.

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18 Comments
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At least it's not "bath salts"

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"suffering from acute drug intoxication"

It's called being "high' in all other parts of the world. As in dude! I'm so high now! This is some good $hit!

0 ( +4 / -4 )

This is called passing the buck. Its the government in the wrong. They ban sales of real cannabis for starters, which prompts people to buy this junk instead.. There is no law requiring certain warnings on this product, like so many others. And how many tried it without getting sick? And there are a whole bunch of things I can only guess at, such as if it came prepackaged to the seller, what verbal advice he gave, etc.

And consider all the people who got sick drinking Yukijirushi milk or vegetables tainted with O-157 or eating peanuts only to find they have a peanut allergy. You think any arrests were made? You see any warning labels on milk? Packages of peanuts?

And how was he supposed to know it would make people sick anyway? Its not like this all really well documented stuff yet, certainly not as well documented as peanut allergies. Yet, the clerk at the supermarket does not warn you when you buy peanuts.

The authorities have overstepped the mark yet again, and should be arresting themselves!

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Actually the chemicals coating the herbs they are selling in Japan to smoke, is pretty much the same as the stuff they sell in the US to snort, called Bath Salts. It might be what prompted some nut-case to eat another guys face in Florida recently. This stuff is dangerous. Inexperienced, curious young Japanese folks who have never been stoned can absolutely panic, go berserk, or go into convulsions and die! Even experienced stoners should stay away. It's ironic that this dangerous, untested supposed "synthetic THC" is legal here in Japan, but the natural green stuff that has been proven to be pretty harmless for years and years by happy potheads all over the world is illegal and carries very serious legal repercussions even for possession of small amounts. If you are living in Japan, you should steer clear of both, the former for your health sake and the latter to keep you out of jail.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Many of the packages say "not for human consumption" but the guys selling it in the head shops describe the effects it has on you when you smoke it and sell pipes and smoking paraphernalia in the same shop. Nobody really knows what effect it has on the human brain yet. If you use it moderately, you may have a pleasant experience but you still don't know what it is doing to you, long term. Putting synthetic chemicals into your brain puts you into the position of being a guinea pig for a substance that very little is known about. The guys who sell it don't care -obviously somebody is making a crapload of money off of it. I say ban the fake stuff and legalize the natural green stuff.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

"suffering from acute drug intoxication" So in other words they are light weights...like me.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

I say ban the fake stuff and legalize the natural green stuff.

plus one on that

7 ( +7 / -0 )

So people really can't live without drugs? Used as "medicine" it is a quite different matter but for "recreation"? There are so many other ways to "feel good" such as volunteering to help all those unfortunate people who lost everything in last year's disaster for example...

-6 ( +4 / -10 )

Whoever gave me the "thumbs down" must REALLY think their "habit" is more important then "helping those in need". Congratulations! You just won the booby prize! We personally got a BIG "high" from helping those in need the best we could...

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

Hey Mr. Viking, if people want to smoke a little herb now and then (or every day for that matter), that's there choice. Why do you feel upset if somebody wants to feel good, using their own money, their own time, on their own property?

And some times the best way to "help those in need' is to offer 'em a toke on whatever you've got. How is it any different than buying somebody a beer at the local pub, or are you against that as well?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

"ban the fake stuff and legalize the natural green stuff."

This is what makes sense!

Mr Viking, doing helpful acts for those in need is indeed noble, and commendable. But humans have pursued various forms of pleasure, for entertainment and stress-relief, since before recorded history, so please get off your high-horse before you clothesline yourself with a branch.

The artificial chemicals are what's truly dangerous, including with foods.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

@gaijinfo & Hervé

OK you guys, knock yourselves out. Being from a medical family I have seen - first hand - what drugs can do to both body and mind.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

I'm with FightingViking.

I work next to a Methadone clinic and I see the shells of people queuing up every day... their bodies ravaged by drugs and their death-like faces. Why anyone would want to smoke real or fake dope, weed, pot, whatever the term you choose to call it is beyond me.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Seriously, get a life!

Recreational drug use is for people that don't have a life, basically. It can help you escape the reality of that fact, but not to deal with it, basically.

DEAL WITH IT, pot heads--as in, vegetables.

I speak from experience, alcohol is basically enough. Even marijuana has been proven to be addictive, with a sort of economics of diminishing returns. Alcohol is also dangerous, but it doesn't kill your work ethic. What do they call that syndrome? Something about motivation? Motorvation? Rotorvation?

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

alcohol enough? LOL

Alcohol is that man made"garbage" like cigarettes that should be banned along with all that synthetic chemical trash. How some people here dare to compare Marihuana, the genuine and natural herb used for hundreds and hundreds of years with all man made garbage is truly beyond me. Some of the very worst criminal cases including murder were done by people intoxicated with alcohol, not high on weed!!!

I speak from experience, alcohol is basically enough. Even marijuana has been proven to be addictive, with a sort of economics of diminishing returns. Alcohol is also dangerous, but it doesn't kill your work ethic. What do they call that syndrome? Something about motivation? Motorvation? Rotorvation?

Yeah, that's what all alcoholics say to justify their alcohol addiction. Time to get to your AAA meeting, son.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

ahhh haha, so many conflicting (and ignorant) views in the comments. If you have a problem with recreational drug use (pot) then you "must" also have a problem with alcohol, cigarettes and fast food? ....... No, ofcourse you don't, cause like most normal people you probably enjoy the occasional beer and crapy fast food burger... each to their own when it comes to cigarettes though.

It's all about moderation. Everything can kill you if you do it enough. I bet you know a lot more alcoholics, smokers and overweight people with eating disorders than you do drug abusers. These people are killing them self just as much as a drug abuser. So why do you look down on people that want to smoke pot recreationally? More people kill them selfs from being addicted to other things that ARE legal. But you don't look down on those people do you? We wouldn't even be having this conversation if pot was legal in the first place.

Bottom line is. Pot isn't the problem. The people are.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Some real ignorant people commenting on here that have no idea of reality, if they knew slightly anything about the subject they wouldn't be commenting the way they are.

Heroin, methadone etc are nothing like marijuana so absolutely no comparison can be drawn.

Methadone addicts standing outside a methadone clinic compared to someone having a lazy toke at home after work, is a million miles apart.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Arguing over personal preferences regarding substances to use or not use to get a little high after work or during times of relaxation could go on forever -I mean "different strokes for different folks" right? IF Legal! The problem this article (and a steady stream of recent, similar articles) brings up regarding these synthetic herbs that are being marketed here in Japan as a legal alternative to marijuana, is the trouble that the Japanese authorities are having trying to control substances that may be technically legal but could be harmful to public health.

It seems to me that there is a subculture here in Japan that is definitely 4:20 friendly. Western drug culture and values are being disseminated through music, the net, movies, and even television from outside Japan, and many Japanese people seem open to it and even desire to partake of that culture (as well as the substance!) while foreigners bring that attitude with them to Japan. The problem is that the legal system here in Japan is in no way going along with these changes in people's thinking and still deals very harshly with any drug-related offenses. Will that change in the future? Maybe, check back in 2050! In the meantime, the situation creates a huge vacuum for borderline legal alternatives, and people will continue to get hurt. Proceed with caution. Have a glass of beer or wine and just chill, I guess.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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