Arrested Nihon Univ. Student Admits Marijuana Use

Jiji Press

15:20 JST, August 10, 2023

Tokyo (Jiji Press)—A member of Nihon University’s American football team who was arrested last week for alleged possession of illegal drugs has admitted that he smoked marijuana, informed sources told Jiji Press on Wednesday.

Noriyasu Kitabatake, 21, also admitted during voluntary questioning by Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department before his arrest that he received pills when he bought marijuana, according to the sources.

Kitabatake claimed that he received the pills as a free gift without knowing that they contained stimulants.

The MPD’s drug and firearms control division believes that Kitabatake used marijuana regularly, and is investigating how he obtained such illegal drugs.

Kitabatake was arrested on suspicion of possessing 0.198 gram of pill fragments containing stimulants and a small amount of marijuana at the team’s dormitory in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward on July 6.

On July 6, Nihon University inspected the personal belongings of 11 students in the dormitory in the presence of Yasuhiro Sawada, vice president of the university.

During the inspection, pieces of a plant and other items were found in a container in Kitabatake’s room.

The university kept the plant pieces and other items at its headquarters as it was unsure whether they were illegal drugs, while planning to persuade Kitabatake to turn himself in if they were such drugs.

Nihon University made a report to the MPD only after Mariko Hayashi, who chairs the university’s Board of Trustees, received a letter from a person who claimed to be a guardian of a student on July 18 about a member of the American football team using marijuana.