Tokyo police make first arrests for cannabis use under revised law
Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested and indicted a 44-year-old man and a woman for using marijuana, the first use arrests since the revised Cannabis Control Law took effect on 12 December 2024; dried marijuana was found in their vehicle and urine tests were positive.
🇯🇵 Tokyo · Japan
Arrested
2
On 31 March 2025 it was disclosed that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police
Department had arrested and indicted two people, a 44-year-old man identified
as Tsuyoshi Takahashi and an unnamed woman, for the alleged use of marijuana
within Tokyo.[1]These are the first arrests by the department specifically
for the crime of using marijuana since the revised Cannabis Control Law came
into effect on 12 December 2024.[1][2]
During the interaction with police, dried marijuana was found in the vehicle
occupied by Takahashi and the woman.[1]Urine tests on both returned positive
results for cannabis metabolites, indicating recent consumption.[1]Both
reportedly admitted the charges against them.[1]
Before the December 2024 revision, Japanese law punished possession,
cultivation, sale and import of cannabis but not use itself; use is now a
criminal offence.[1][2]
Police in Higashi-ku, Okayama arrested a 67-year-old unemployed man on 4 November 2026 for allegedly possessing one cannabis cigarette at home. The search followed a 5 October tip about garden cultivation, and officers are also investigating a cannabis-like plant found in his garden.
Hiroshima-Chuo police arrested a 41-year-old self-described Nagoya landscaper in Nagarekawa, Hiroshima, on suspicion of cannabis possession. The red-handed arrest was made on 3 November 2026 under the Narcotics Control Law; no quantity or further details were in the accessible text.
Matsusaka police arrested a 22-year-old Filipino beautician on 1 November 2026 after cannabis was found in his car during a late-night patrol in Okamoto-cho. He admitted possession and police say they are tracing how he obtained the drug.
On 6 October 2026 Kagoshima police, searching a barber's home in Higashi Mochida, Aira, for another case, found several cannabis plants in pots on an outdoor terrace and arrested Toru Kondo, 61, and his wife Yuko, 56, on the spot for suspected cultivation.
