U.S. gov't report refers to widespread marijuana use in Japan+

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 Kyodo - A U.S. government report on narcotics control Friday pointed to widespread marijuana use in Japan, which also is mentioned as 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 the country's
antinarcotics efforts.
Though the report did not elaborate, its reference to marijuana use in Japan
apparently reflected a growing number of cannabis-related crimes in the
country, including highly publicized cases involving sumo wrestlers and college
students in the past year.
Earlier this month, Japan's 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 national sport. All
four have been dismissed from sumo.
Arrests of college and university 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.
Japan is also seeing trafficking of MDMA, known as ecstasy, ''continue to
increase significantly,'' the report said.
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 anti-government 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.