Waseda University to survey students on cannabis use

Written by Meenaa on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Waseda University will conduct a survey of its students to get a better picture of recent student cannabis usage, according to the university.

Waseda is expected to survey all of its about 55,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

The survey will be conducted at a private Web site only university staff and students can access, the university said. It will consist of several sections with questions related to cannabis usage and will ask students if they have ever used the drug.

The university is still contemplating whether it will require respondents to enter their names on the surveys, a university official said.

At a Monday press conference at its Shinjuku Ward campus, the university disclosed that four more students had been arrested in violation of the Cannabis Control Law. One is a male Japanese student and three are Americans who were attending the School of International Liberal Studies (SILS).

The Japanese, then 19 years old, and one American, then 20 years old, were arrested in October 2004 by the Metropolitan Police Department. The other two Americans, aged 21 and 28, were arrested by the Chiba prefectural police in July. In both cases, the students were arrested on suspicion of cannabis possession, the university said.

Since 2004, seven Waseda students have been arrested in violation of the Cannabis Control Law. Because six of the seven were attending SILS, the university is considering taking other steps at the school to prevent further cannabis use.

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Warrant issued for student

An arrest warrant has been issued for a 20-year-old Waseda student the Chiba prefectural police strongly suspect was behind attempted marijuana smuggling, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Tuesday.

Two other Waseda students and a student from Tokyo University of Science have already been arrested by the Chiba prefectural police for allegedly attempting to smuggle marijuana into Japan in violation of the Cannabis Control Law.

The Chiba prefectural police and Narita Airport customs have obtained an arrest warrant for the male sophomore of the School of International Liberal Studies for possession of cannabis and other violations. The student is currently overseas.

According to one of the investigating officers, the male student, who has visited the Netherlands on at least one occasion, is suspected of having hemp sent to Japan via international airmail from the Netherlands to a 22-year-old Malaysian student of the university in May.

The Malaysian student, an acquaintance of the student sought by the police, has already been found guilty by a court, handed a suspended sentence and expelled from the university.

The suspect is thought to have approached foreign students with the idea of having cannabis sent to them from overseas, a smuggling arrangement the suspect financed by collecting money from interested parties, the officer said.
(Nov. 19, 2008)