I learned about the events in Ireland from X.
Free Patrick Moore. Five years in prison for giving cannabis oil to the sick and dying
In Japan, there are artists who are similarly fighting in court over personal use of cannabis.
The trial was held on January 30th and was the 10th trial. The defendant, Mr. Oyabu, only used marijuana for personal use and had no commercial intent, so the suspended sentence is final. So he could have easily ended the trial. However, he is fighting, arguing that it is strange for the authorities to criminalize the use of cannabis by individuals without causing inconvenience to anyone.
I want people around the world to know the reality of trials in Japan. The following is a summary of news from a website called “Criminal Defense Oasis” run by a group of lawyers specializing in criminal defense.
On the far right of the photo is Mr. Oyabu, a famous potter, in the center is Mr. Marui, a lawyer specializing in cannabis, and on the left is Mr. Nagayoshi, a writer.
On January 30th, the 10th hearing for Ryujiro Oyabu, who is seeking acquittal for possession of cannabis, was held at the Maebashi District Court.
Following the enactment of amendments related to the creation of cannabis use offenses and the legalization of medical cannabis in an extraordinary session of the Diet last year, attention was drawn to whether this change in the definition of cannabis would be considered in the trial.
Exactly at 1:30 PM, the proceedings began with both the prosecution and the defense (consisting of Oyabu and lawyers Hidehiro Marui and Shinichi Ishizuka) in attendance. At the outset, the defense applied for two witnesses, Professor Hisashi Sonoda of Konan University and Dr. Yuji Masataka, but Judge Ken Hashimoto simply heard the opinion that there was no necessity for the prosecutor and rejected the defense’s request without explaining why there was no “necessity.”
In the end, the only evidence adopted from the defense’s request was the “report” (from the 6th hearing) touching on Oyabu’s artistic activities and their relation to cannabis and the “opinion” (from the 8th hearing) of Yoshihiro Hiraoka, former chief researcher at the Kyoto Prefectural Police Headquarters Scientific Investigation Research Institute, who concluded that the plant fragments were indeed cannabis.
The presiding judge seemed eager to conclude the trial, urging the prosecutor to promptly present their argument.
While the defense was taken aback, the prosecutor read out the gist of their argument.
The argument organized the defense’s claims into five points:
① the penalty under the Cannabis Control Act is unconstitutional,
② the Cannabis Control Act violates international treaties,
③ the defendant cannot be recognized as having “arbitrarily” possessed cannabis,
④ the “plant fragments containing cannabis” in this case do not fall under cannabis plants (Cannabis Sativa L.) as defined by the Cannabis Control Act, and
⑤ the questioning and arrest leading to the seizure of the cannabis in this case were illegal, and therefore, the seized cannabis and its expert appraisal report should be excluded as illegally obtained evidence.
Regarding point
①, it was stated that it had been settled as constitutional in a Supreme Court judgment dated September 10, 1985. The prosecutor spent much of the argument discussing the credibility of the appraisal in point ④ and the legality of the arrest procedures in point ⑤. Afterward, they sought a six-month imprisonment sentence, stating, “In Japan, illegal drugs, including cannabis, have spread widely to the general public due to the diversification of communication methods such as SNS in recent years, and the proliferation of illegal drugs is a concern. Even in cases like this one, involving simple possession of plant fragments containing cannabis, it is necessary to punish severely to sound the alarm to society.”
Lead defense attorney Hidehiro Marui, expressing disappointment with the trial management of Judge Hashimoto, stated, “I never expected it to go all the way to the prosecutor’s argument. We hoped at least one witness would be accepted, but the judge was unusually cold. The flow of society does not criminalize self-use of cannabis, but the court and the prosecution are going in the opposite direction. It is still accepted by both the prosecution and the court. During the recent debate on revising the law to criminalize cannabis use, a politician said that if the enforcement of the offense is bad, they want to actively address it. I want politicians to know about the situation of this trial.”
Supporter Hideo Nagayoshi criticized Judge Hashimoto’s trial management, saying, “The judge says the defense can argue what they want in the next hearing, but if the defense’s evidence requests are mostly rejected, the defense cannot present evidence in court. This deprives the defense of the basis of their argument.”
Marui, criticizing Judge Hashimoto’s conduct with restrained anger, said, “Next time, it’s the closing argument. Then there will be a verdict. The conclusion has already been reached. The trial’s approach so far lacks consideration for human rights. The court does not touch upon the reasons why self-use of cannabis is wrong. It’s truly dictatorial.”
Finally, Nagayoshi confirmed the significance of the Oyabu cannabis trial and outlined future plans. “This may be the last trial advocating for the current law. However, in this trial, the prosecutor has not clarified the harmfulness of cannabis and has not touched upon it. The judge did not raise any issues with that. That itself is a violation of human rights. How many people have been found guilty in such cases? I’m very concerned about the investigation under the amended law that established the cannabis use offense. We have to monitor that too, but first, we want to spread the progress and content of this trial to the world and support it firmly.”
The next hearing is scheduled for March 29th, from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM, when the defense’s final argument will be presented.
Mr. Oyabu’s first name is “Ryujiro”. This first character means dragon. His works depict the feeling of a dragon. I really like his work and use it regularly.
Ryujiro Oyabu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yaburyu/?hl=ja
Japanese trials are not fair or impartial at all. Even if he loses the case, he still wins in his life. This beautiful work proves it.