Police statistics show that the number of people taken into police custody on narcotics-related charges is on the decrease. Still, optimism about drug use in Japan is not warranted, as recent arrests or indictments have involved a former lawmaker and members of the Self-Defense Forces.
Mr. Kenji Kobayashi, a former Diet member of the Democratic Party of Japan, who ran in vain in the No. 7 constituency in Aichi Prefecture in the Sept. 11 general elections, was indicted together with two aides on a charge of possessing a stimulant drug. Ironically, in his Diet debate in March 2002, he had called on the government to strengthen measures to control smuggling of stimulant drugs and other narcotics.
Among the SDF members arrested or indicted were seven submariners stationed at the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture accused of having possessed or sold marijuana. Submariners represent an elite 5 percent of the 40,000-strong MSDF.