More student pot busts reported

Three Waseda University students and a Tokyo University of Science student were arrested this year for allegedly violating the Cannabis Control Law, law enforcement sources said Saturday.

According to the sources, a 21-year-old male Waseda University student was arrested in August for growing cannabis in an apartment building in Toshima Ward, Tokyo, after buying seeds from a 34-year-old man, who was also arrested for violating the cannabis law.

The student, a junior at the prestigious private university, bought 10 cannabis seeds for ¥11,500 in late June after he "harbored an interest in cannabis through a lecture on the Netherlands at the university," he was quoted as telling investigators.

In a separate case, two other Waseda University students and the Tokyo University of Science student were arrested after trying to smuggle cannabis into Japan from the Netherlands via airmail in late May.

The Netherlands is known as a nation that takes a tolerant policy toward soft drugs like cannabis. A number of college students were arrested earlier this year for violating the cannabis law, including students at Doshisha University and Keio University.