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Japan Cabinet Office Posts Manga to Convey the Dangers of Drug Use
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
The Japanese government released a new manga in the hopes of combating the growing trend of illegal drug use. The Cabinet Office released the 10-page manga "Tatta Ichido no Ayamachi" (A Single Mistake) earlier this month about a male college student who begins to use marijuana at the urging of an upperclassman.
The student's marijuana use leads to use of other drugs and addiction. One night, while hallucinating under the influence, the college student mistakes his own father for a police officer and stabs him. Despite being addicted to drugs, the character is portrayed as believing he can quit any time and that his addiction isn't hurting anyone else.
The manga was created under the supervision of Masahiko Funada of the National Institute of Mental Health.
The end of the story discusses the rates of relapse into criminal behavior and offers national consultation centers information.
The Japanese government previously hired Kaiji and Akagi manga creator Nobuyuki Fukumoto to create a manga detailing the horrors of drug addiction in 2014. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Diet's majority Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) helped create 50,000 copies of Honobono-Ikka no Kenpo-Kaiseitte Nani? (A warm family's "What are the constitutional revisions?") manga to garner support for the party's proposed Constitution changes last year.
Source: The Yomiuri Shimbun's The Japan News
