It was used as a fiber crop in the Jomon era around 10,000 years ago and has traditionally been regarded as a symbol of purity. Even today, ropes and clothing made from the marijuana plant are used in Sumo tournaments and Shinto ceremonies, including the Emperor's coronation. Possession of marijuana carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. The government's uninformed but fixed attitude is a source of frustration to Maeda. And Overseas Overseas studies have come down firmly in favor of medical use of marijuana but public and professional advocates continue to face government opposition.
Legal change is, however, gradually being won at the ballots and in the courts.
The IOM recommended that doctors be allowed to launch clinical studies of marijuana so making marijuana available nationwide to patients. This recommendation was rejected by the US government. In the 1996 US elections, a majority of voters in Arizona and California passed ballots to legalise marijuana use by people with letters of recommendation from their doctors. Tragically, medical users in these and other states are still prosecuted under the federal law, and some patients have died as a result of being denied their medicine. In other countries such as Switzerland and the Netherlands, possession of small amounts of marijuana is no longer punishable.