Comment by filoleg

> Amphetamines are strictly controlled there too while in parts of the US they are widely used as performance enhancers for studying.

In the US, amphetamines are strictly controlled too, it is a schedule II drug. You need to be prescribed by a doctor, and they cannot write a prescription for more than 30 days worth of prescription at once. You have to visit the doctor every 90 days to get re-validated that you need your prescription and all is good. If you are caught even once abusing drugs (not just this specific one, but any in general), including stuff like giving them out to other people, you are never getting prescribed amphetamines again in your life, and that will be the least of your worries in this scenario.

Iirc in Japan amphetamines are "controlled" in a sense that they cannot be prescribed at all. Hell, I was looking to travel to Japan soon, and turns out I cannot even bring my 30 days worth of prescription that I fully legally own in the US, no matter what kind of records or papers from my doctor or the hospital that I am willing to provide to their authorities.

So yeah, it is a bit easier to control abuse when no one can get the drug even legally in your country in the first place. I wouldn't call a full-on ban as "controlled" though. Not trying to make a claim that the US approach to this is better than that of Japan, that's not my intent. Just pointing out that using amphetamines as an example of "Japan controlling drugs" compared to the US is a bit of a bad example.