Actually it has won the war on drugs. Cough medicine isn't any more mind altering than caffeine is, of course you can destroy yourself overdosing on anything considered a toxin in high doses...
This is hilarious. You think Japan is struggling with drug trafficking, drug abuse and policing of drug use?
I've been following drug policy around the world for decades. The reason it is so interesting (and so pernicious) is because it's a big jumble of counterintuitive, niggling details and unintended consequences that defies common sense.
Of course cough medicine isn't any more mind altering than caffeine - except that there at least two types of highly psychoactive cough medicine: opioid, which has narcotic effects, and dextromethorphan, which has dissociative effects.
Experts, including Dr. Toshihiko Matsumoto, claim that wrist-cutting, suicides, and other self-harm increases when it becomes more difficult for young people to purchase cough syrup, presumably because they use it self-medicate trauma.
This is a microcosm for drug policy in general. Prohibition is only successful if you ignore second-order effects.
None of this is to discourage you from learning more about drug policy. Maybe if more people learned about it we would stop repeating the same mistakes over and over again
> I've been following drug policy around the world for decades
Is this supposed to make you an authority on the topic?
> Of course cough medicine …
You literally said “cough medicine isn’t mind altering,” and then used the next paragraph to explain how it is mind-altering.
> … presumably because they use it self-medicate trauma
Are you implying that when vulnerable people try to harm themselves with drugs we should let them pick their own drugs and dosage? How about, you know, real medical help?
This is a huge reach. I am almost laughing at the comment, it's that crazy. You know what else makes suicide more common? Having a bad day, being poor, losing a lover, not having a family.
These are all net negatives that can be offset with net positives.
Telling them they can all smoke weed for no reason is not.
I'm actually amazed you think this way, but then again, you are a foreigner in Japan and those are constantly bitter that places in East Asia are actually not rampant with drugs and drug abused homelessness.
>Prohibition is only successful if you ignore second-order effects.
Prohibition is only successful if you want it to be, the West does not. Much of Asia did. That's the difference and it's amazing living in Asia without having to worry about a war on drugs.
>None of this is to discourage you from learning more about drug policy.
Why do you think I'm commenting here so bluntly if you think I don't know about what I'm talking about?
> Telling them they can all smoke weed for no reason is not.
So now you're putting words in my mouth?
> I'm actually amazed you think this way, but then again, you are a foreigner in Japan and those are constantly bitter
"Pointing out ways that something you like can improve means you secretly hate it" is not a cogent argument.
> that places in East Asia are actually not rampant with drugs and drug abused homelessness.
Have you ever been to Japan? I've met a lot of drug users, and I've seen a lot of drugs. I know someone who runs a methamphetamine self-help group and credits cannabis with his recovery. I've met compassionate growers who supply cancer patients with free cannabis. I've been in a brick-and-mortar store that sells grey-market research chemicals from overseas. I know a shaman who runs underground pharmahuasca ceremonies. And last but not least, I dodge drunk salarymen and puddles of vomit on my way home from work every Friday night. Or do you not consider alcohol to be a drug...?
> Why do you think I'm commenting here so bluntly if you think I don't know about what I'm talking about?
You didn't even know about cough medicine. You have a credibility deficit right now. I've given you names and keywords and falsifiable statements and personal experience. All you've given me is baseless confidence and status quo bias. Throw me a bone!
In the meantime, may I suggest you read a book? "Drug Use for Grownups" by Dr. Carl Hart is a good place to start.
Japan, and many other countries around the world follow the US' lead. Your stupid racist cannibis propaganda and subsequent laws infiltrated the world over. We're all paying for it now.
This is true, unfortunately the biggest export from the US is its mistakes. Probably because it is a lot easier to export something if you have to force yourself to live with it, but then get bitter if others don't.
If you're an American, please stop ruining other peoples countries because you want them to be like your own messed up one.
This is hilarious. You think Japan is struggling with drug trafficking, drug abuse and policing of drug use?