International Exchange/Overseas Program

The global study (Seattle, USA) planned to visit 11 facilities in King County for research on drugs and abuse, and stayed for 2 days from February 25 to March 3.This time, I will report only about drug-related investigations.

First, on the third day, I visited the University of Washington Campus Police, which was set up on the campus of the University of Washington, and experienced a detection experiment using a simple drug test kit.Students will receive a small amount of resin in advance and place it in a small nylon bag.After that, by sequentially opening the three types of liquid reagents contained in the pouch, the resin finally turned reddish purple, revealing that it was cannabis.In order to be used as evidence in an actual trial, a formal appraisal using gas chromatography by an expert researcher at a forensic laboratory is required, but such a method is necessary for police officers to determine the type of suspected drug at the scene. is used.Although it was called a simple examination, it was extremely valuable because students who are not police officers would never experience it in Japanese police organizations.

Next, we visited a courthouse in King County, received a lecture on what a drag court looks like, and then watched a trial in action. Beginning in 1994, King County introduced drug courts, allowing suspects arrested for drug-related charges to choose between a general criminal trial or a drug court upon indictment.However, only defendants involved in the buying, selling, transporting, or using of drugs can choose drug courts.Drug courts are aimed at getting people out of drug addiction rather than punishing them, and if they complete the program, their sentences will be reduced or they will be acquitted.However, a defendant who fails to complete his or her case to the end may end up with a more unfavorable trial outcome than in a general trial.Most of the defendants are 25-34 years old, followed by 18-24 years old, and it can be said that the system is applied to young people who are relatively less criminal.

I also visited a private facility called SEADRUNER, which is an organization that helps people recover from drug addiction.In Japan, if you use drugs such as narcotics or cannabis, you will only be arrested by the police and sent to a juvenile training school or prison. there is no place When you come to SEADRUNER, you first get an injection of a drug that removes narcotics from your body, and spend most of the 3-4 days in bed.After that, while receiving counseling, he was completely cut off from the outside world for 2 days, unable to use his mobile phone or postal mail so that he would never touch drugs again.Furthermore, for 60 months, the residents are given certain roles such as meal attendants and cleaners, entering a period in which a kind of community is formed.What is noteworthy is that if necessary, you can invite your wife, husband, and children to live together on the first floor.Here, there are no surveillance cameras like in Japanese prisons, and there are no people to patrol the facilities day and night.After that, they will be moved to the second floor and will be able to go out because they will be doing social rehabilitation activities for employment.In addition, depending on the case, you can commute for half a year as an outpatient.In the United States, there are multiple such facilities in every region, and it is extremely diverse.It seems that there are also programs for pregnant women, divided by race.The common point with the drug court is that those who have children are well protected so that their children's lives are not tormented by their parents' crimes.I could feel the Americanness of emphasizing the role of the family in escaping from drug addiction.

In addition, I visited the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and received a lecture, but the DEA is like the FBI that specializes in investigating illegal drugs.Drug crimes are so common and serious in America.In fact, most of the homeless people you see downtown are drug-related.There is such a strong connection between drugs and the homeless that it is hard to tell whether they became homeless because they were involved in drugs or because they are addicted to drugs and escaping from reality.

In Japan, where we live, there is neither the DEA, a dedicated drug investigation organization, nor the drug court, a court system.In other words, the actual situation in our country may not be as serious as the drug addiction in the United States.And it can be said that our research has revealed that in the United States, states spend huge amounts of public funds on drug addicts to help them recover.

Now then, how can we make use of the various information we have obtained this time?There is no doubt that the systems and organizations that I learned in King County and Seattle City are generous systems for correcting drug addicts.However, it is highly questionable when asked whether they can be brought into Japan as they are.First, would most Japanese citizens agree to spend so much tax money on drug addicts?In the future, when drug crime becomes as serious in Japan as in the United States, it may be necessary to apply American legal systems and organizations, but for the time being, what should Japan prioritize in maintaining public order? Huh?It is planned that the students will discuss it in post-learning from now on and summarize it by the debriefing session. (Pictured at the King County Youth Center)

(Makoto Nakayama, Department of Human Psychology)