ABSTRACT
The Stimulant Control Law was established in Japan in 1951 to control methamphetamine. The law was amended in 1954 and 1955 to control it more strictly. Many people today believe that the law was established and amended because addiction and psychosis were caused by drug use. However, investigation of the process by which the law was established reveals that some specific groups of people were blamed in the 1950s; this was among the most important factors behind the enactment and enforcement of the law. While establishing this law, some users of the drug were condemned as immoral and during its amendment, foreign political powers were blamed for the prevalence of drug use. These framing processes, accompanied by specific discursive activities of ‘othering’, reveal what the drug law actually did in society and highlight Japanese notions about drugs and drug problems.
