More than 1.3M Japanese use marijuana, survey says国内の大麻使用経験者、推計130万人

Around 1.3 million Japanese aged 15 to 64 have used marijuana, according to a new survey. The survey results were announced by the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry on June 17.

The survey is based on 2,899 people who answered questions in September and October last year about substance abuse. The center estimates that around 1,331,000 people in Japan, or 1.4 percent of all Japanese, use marijuana. That number is 0.4 percentage points higher than the previous survey in 2015.

The survey was done by the National Institute of Mental Health, under section chief Takuya Shimane. He said he was worried about the rise of marijuana use among young people, saying it “was bigger than I imagined.”

Marijuana use in the United States is around 16.2 percent, while in Israel it’s around 27 percent, according to the World Health Organization. (Kyodo）