Part I The Japan Coast Guard Toward the 21st Century
1. Behind the Stage of Globalization
(1) Smuggling of Drugs and Firearms
1] Frequency of Large-Scale Stimulant Smuggling
a) Intensification of the Drugs and Firearms Issue
Drug abuse, including stimulants and narcotics, threatens the safety of society as a whole. It does not just undermine the health of users and destroy their lives, the way people behave to acquire drugs and their conduct while hallucinating is often linked to crime. Furthermore, crime syndicates contribute to drugs distribution channels, representing the source of funding.
Although the main type of drug being abused varies depending on the county and region, cannabis is the drug that is currently being abused the most in the world. However, besides stimulants demonstrating symptoms of a global prevalence, recent trends show that psychotropic drugs, including hallucinogens, such as LSD, sleeping drugs and tranquilizers, and other substances including narcotics, such as heroin, are also being abused in all countries. This is becoming a grave issue all over the world with the abuse of drugs exhibiting a spread into the younger generations of society.
Furthermore, the state of affairs is such that we should also be extremely concerned about public security as regards firearms given the continuance of atrocious incidents involving firearms and the fact that ordinary citizens continue to suffer.
b) Succession of Large-Scale Stimulant Smuggling Cases
According to National Police Agency statistics, the volume of stimulants confiscated in Japan in 1999 was 1,975.9kg (approximately 2 tons), representing the largest amount confiscated on record (refer to Diagram 1). Moreover, large-scale confiscation cases (this refers to cases in which more than 50kg were confiscated) account for nearly 90% of the volume impounded.
