the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum from Barcelona presents its latest exhibition: Cannabis Japonica.
Open until February 26, 2023, this breathtaking collection offers a journey through Japan’s cultural ties to the Cannabis plant.
Despite the current extremely strong crackdown on cannabis, hemp is an integral part of Japanese culture.
“Cultivated hemp was the family’s main source of fiber for weaving fabrics and was also an important source of income, as merchants in the city bought the finest hemp fibers,” reads the website. museum.
“This silk-like hemp was used to create the most precious garments, from summer kimonos to samurai weapons and the robes of Shinto priests. Every aspect of hemp work, from planting to weaving, was done by women. This practice continued during the Meiji era, when Japan quickly became an industrialized empire. »
Admission to the exhibition, organized to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the institution, is free.
What are the current cannabis policies in Japan?
Despite its millennial relationship with this plant, Japan currently has extremely restrictive cannabis policies.
On the Asian island, both recreational and medical cannabis remain illegal. Cannabis possession carries a five-year prison sentence, while cultivation carries an even stiffer sentence of seven years behind bars.
In addition, the Japanese Ministry of Health recently set up an expert group to review cannabis laws, apparently in response to rising rates of cannabis use among the Japanese population.
The group will examine in particular the possibility of imposing a severe sanction for the simple fact of having consumed cannabis. If the proposal is approved and implemented, cannabis users could be jailed for traces of cannabinoids in their bodies.
