Prescription for Arrest: Japan’s Drug Laws Snare Foreigners
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The arrest of a high-profile Toyota Motor Corp. executive yesterday highlights the danger globetrotters can face bringing psychotropic or other medications into nations where they’re banned.
Julie Hamp, named Toyota’s first woman managing officer in April, faces drug-smuggling charges after having oxycodone pills sent to her from the U.S., said a spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, declining to be named on policy grounds. Her arrest was front-page news, coming amid a widely publicized crackdown on the sale of mood-altering herbs that previously fell outside Japan’s strict laws against recreational drugs.