吸毒

Pot-smoking students are on the road to ruin

2008/11/20

這"吸毒"多少反映出日本的一面相

Writer Sakunosuke Oda (1913-1947), the author of the novel "Meoto Zenzai," is said to have been good at administering methamphetamine shots. Soon after World War II, he was often seen tucking up his sleeve with a deliberate air to give himself a shot while drinking with others.

Referring to this act, Ango Sakaguichi (1906-1955), a fellow writer of the Buraiha (decadent school), made the following comment in an essay: "Since it was the latest fad at the time, he apparently wanted to show off."

Whether in an attempt to appear decadent or just because they think it's cool, a number of university students suspected of possessing, selling, buying or growing marijuana have been arrested recently. The pollution is believed to be widespread. University officials are on edge, worrying whether their students are clean.

I saw footage of a student being nabbed on television. The student repeatedly asked an investigator searching his apartment "Are you serious?"

The student appeared defeated upon hearing the answer, "This is for real." Perhaps the student was growing marijuana with little sense of guilt, but the price he has to pay is high.

What is serious is the fact that nearly 70 percent of being caught for drug violations involve people in their teens or 20s. While it is true that curiosity is an important attribute of youth, using drugs out of curiosity must be condemned.

Marijuana could serve as a pathway to harder drugs. If people give in to temptation and cross the threshold, a straight road to destruction awaits them.

"Ones who start a fashion are heroes, those who refuse to follow it to the end are daring and all those in between are fools." Playwright Masakazu Yamazaki quoted the line he once wrote for an old drama in a monthly magazine.

If marijuana is a fashion for some young people, all those who fall for it would be fools, if we are to follow Yamazaki's logic.

Although I don't think the people who started it are heroes, I urge others not to follow their lead and remain "daring." It would be too wasteful for young people to smoke pot just to see what they have accumulated go up in smoke.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 19(IHT/Asahi: November 20,2008)