世論 What Japan Thinks

One of the big stories doing the rounds in Japan is the number of people getting busted for possession of maru, and the general moral panic over the matter. To try to quantify the size of the problem, the university student-targeted Social Networking Service LinNo today published the results of a survey of their users, as reported by ITMedia.

Demographics

Between the 11th and 18th of November 2008 465 university students who were members of the LinNo SNS completed an internet-based questionnaire. No further demographic information was provided.

The questionnaire seemed just a little tame to me, although perhaps a fuller set of questions was asked. Do students believe it should be legalised? Why was “join in” an option if a friend was puffing away, but not if it was a boy or girlfriend? What about usage of other drugs? What about the “just say no” policy? Do they believe it to be a gateway drug?

Research results

Q1: Have you ever used cannabis? (Sample size=465)

Yes	3.4%
No	96.6%

Q2: Have you ever been in situations where you could have used cannabis? (Sample size=465)

No, never	91.0%
Not really	3.9%
A little	2.6%
Very much so	2.6%

Q3: Would you like to try cannabis? (Sample size=465)

No, never	79.4%
Not really	9.9%
A little	7.7%
Very much so	3.0%

Q4: If it was legalised, would you like to try cannabis? (Sample size=465)

No, never	65.6%
Not really	18.3%
A little	10.8%
Very much so	5.4%

Q5: Has someone close to you used cannabis? (Sample size=465)

Yes	17.0%
No	83.0%

Q6: Do you feel cannabis is an issue close to you? (Sample size=465)

No, not at all	51.8%
Not really	26.9%
A little	17.4%
Very much so	3.9%

Q7: If a friend was using cannabis, what would you do? (Sample size=465)

Persuade them to quit	49.5%
Warn them about it	21.7%
Pretend I didn’t see	11.6%
Join in	3.2%
Other	14.0%

Q8: If your boyfriend/girlfriend was using cannabis, what would you do? (Sample size=465)

Persuade them to quit	76.1%
Warn them about it	9.2%
Other	14.6%