2 Drug offenses

  The Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Act was partially amended and came into effect in August 1972 so as to criminalize the act of abusing thinners, etc. Since then, as shown in Fig. 4-1-2-1, most juvenile drug offenses have come under Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Act violations. However, the number of juveniles referred by police for violations of this Act has been on a declining trend, after hitting a peak (29,254 juveniles) in 1982 and declining sharply around 1993, and its rate among overall drug offenses has also been decreasing.
  The number of juveniles cleared for Stimulants Control Act violations increased significantly from 1975 to 1982, reaching a record high at 2,769 juveniles in 1982. Recently, the number had been on a downward trend, but increased slightly to 308 in 2007 (up by 4.1% from the previous year) while the juvenile rate remained unchanged from the previous year at 2.5% (Source: The Pharmaceutical and Food Safety Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, The Criminal Investigation Bureau, National Police Agency, and The Guard and Rescue Department, Japan Coast Guard, herein after the same in this subsection).
  The number of juveniles cleared for Cannabis Control Act violations remained on the range of 200 in recent years and was 184 in 2007 (down by 6.6% from the previous year).
  The number of juveniles cleared for Narcotics and Psychotropic Control Act violations has been on a declining trend, after hitting a peak at 80 in 2004, and was 31 in 2007 (down by 22.5% from the previous year). Most Narcotics and Psychotropic Control Act violations were for synthetic narcotic drugs such as MDMA.