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INTEREST: Japan Cabinet Office Posts Manga to Convey the Dangers of Drug Use

If you're heated about a comic illustrating a stern outlook on drugs, no matter how soft they may be, you're living in a privileged society.

This. I'm fine with how people want to spend their time, but having spent time with drug junkies, you end up getting soured on the whole thing. I don't want the rest of the world to be an Amsterdam.

I could go for a manga adaptation of "Reefer Madness", drawn by Junji Ito. Now that would be a mind trip.

leafy sea dragon wrote:

My thought on this: This is so outlandish and cartoonish that no one it's aimed at will take it seriously. The Spider-Man anti-smoking story did it better.

Even the artwork looks like it's from the late 70's. (By manga standards.)
Although, TBH, I hear "Government produced anime/manga", and that's sort of the level on which I picture it. Sort of their equivalent of our Reagan-era "Cartoon All-Stars Against Drugs".

If you're heated about a comic illustrating a stern outlook on drugs, no matter how soft they may be, you're living in a privileged society.

This. I'm fine with how people want to spend their time, but having spent time with drug junkies, you end up getting soured on the whole thing. I don't want the rest of the world to be an Amsterdam.

People can't be mad at how grossly the comic exaggerates the dangers
of using said drugs?

You can do whatever you want, I'm just saying that bottom of the line is they're trying to prevent as much loss of life as possible,

and we should be grateful that there are people looking out for our safety to such an extent.

You can do whatever you want, I'm just saying that bottom of the line is they're trying to prevent as much loss of life as possible, and we should be grateful that there are people looking out for our safety to such an extent. Drugs are more harmful than comics anyway, worst case scenario is people stop using them.

I should point out that I am not against these anti-drug public service announcements. I consider their existence very valuable in making sure the mainstream remembers addictive substances are, well, addictive. However, in cases like this, the story is grossly uninformed, exaggerated, and likely poorly written. It's the manga equivalent of those American stories where some kid finds a bigger kid who desperately and aggressively wants to give his cocaine or meth or even weed to every kid who passes by. It's not grounded in reality, which is what's needed for a convincing PSA story.

You guys bring up fair points and I definitely don't deny them. It's all the more reason however to ignore it, since no one will take it seriously. They should have went with harder drugs or just alcohol then. I never said it was grounded in reality only that there are worse things worthy of complaint, since the intentions in the comic are good. Propoganda comes in many sizes and bearings, ugly and pretty, and this one's harmless.

Well, Japan is heavily influenced by Western countries and their ideas about prohibition of drugs. They never went full crazy like the US did in the 1930's with alcohol though.