meet 25 year old Tim Wilson. tim is from america and is an exchange student at a university in sendai. after the earthquake, tim was volunteering his time in sendai to help with the relief efforts. this past august, tim was arrested in japan after his friend sent him cookies that had marijuana in it. tim is registered in colorado as a medical marijuana patient and i guess his friend from there sent him cookies in the mail. tim didn’t receive the package with the cookies in it. instead, customs found it and tim got arrested. for those of you who don’t know, japan has a very strict anti-drug law that won’t budge. tim has been in a japanese jail since august and his first court appearance is in january 2012. he is facing 10 years in prison with deportation right after.
i keep on stressing how countries have different laws and cultures. marijuana is legal in some states in america. but japan, don’t even think about it. this poor kid’s friend who sent the cookies must be feeling like shit.
i feel somewhat sorry for this kid, but at the same time, japan is a country that is really strict on drugs to keep it out of the country. so i totally understand why the japanese government is making an example out of this kid.
if you travel into other countries, please know the laws. in hawaii, you would go to jail overnight for something like this. in japan, you will go to jail for 3650 nights.
