TOKYO (TR) – Prosecutors have announced the non-prosecution of an elderly man who claimed to not have known that chocolate served to participants at a dance event in Arakawa Ward earlier this year contained marijuana, reports TBS News (Oct. 8).
On March 10, seven participants at the event, held at a ward-managed hall in the Higashinippori area, became ill after consuming the chocolate.
The results of urine analyses of the persons, aged in their 50s to 80s, gave a positive result for marijuana, police said previously.
Police announced that the man, aged in his 70s, had been sent to prosecutors for violating the Cannabis Control Law in May.
On October 3, prosecutors with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the non-prosecution of the man. No reason for the non-prosecution was given.
The man denied the allegations upon being sent to prosecutors. “I bought the chocolate from the U.S. I did not know it contained marijuana,” the suspect was quoted by police. “I thought [the participants] could eat them when tired.”
