Following the Wednesday start of a system to issue partial suspended sentences, three district courts did so Thursday in cases involving kakuseizai stimulants.
The Chiba District Court handed a two-year prison term to Kumiko Saito, 37, for possession and use of the stimulants, either amphetamine or methamphetamine, a suspension of two years and six months of the two-year prison term, subject to probation.
This means the woman will be released after serving 18 months in jail and then placed under the supervision of a probation officer for two years.
Presiding Judge Yoko Nagao said it will be helpful and appropriate to apply the partially suspended sentence to provide the defendant with sufficient guidance by a probation office that has a drug abuse prevention program.
Later the same day, the Osaka District Court and the Nagoya District Court's Ichinomiya branch also handed partially suspended sentences to Yuki Kubo, 28, and Makoto Yoshioka, 40, respectively, for possession and use of the stimulants.