Objective: The shortage of hospital pharmacists has recently become a serious social issue. Pharmacist remuneration (starting salary) is an important factor for pharmacy students when deciding on their career paths; however, there are no detailed reports on trends and differences in salaries between pharmacy and hospital pharmacists. Therefore, to recruit pharmacists and to help improve the quality of medical care, we looked into the starting salaries of job listings for pharmacists and have considered keeping them stable in order to ensure human resources of the pharmacists.

Method: Information on starting salaries for pharmacy pharmacists (excluding drugstores) and hospital pharmacists was collected from the job information for the Faculty of Pharmacy at Toho University for the fiscal years 2001 to 2020.

Results: The number of job offers was 4,319 for pharmacy pharmacists and 8,875 for hospital pharmacists. The average starting salary for a pharmacy pharmacist was 248,734 yen in FY2001 and 289,431 yen in FY2020. The average starting salary for hospital pharmacists was 221,048 yen in FY2001 and 247,844 yen in FY2020.

Conclusion: This study revealed that the starting salaries for pharmacy pharmacists and hospital pharmacists have increased over the last 20 years. On the contrary, the gap in starting salaries between pharmacy pharmacists and hospital pharmacists has widened since FY2001. Since FY2011, when the pharmacy department was converted to a six-year system, the difference in starting salary has remained at JPY 40,000 range. It is crucial to improve the treatment and wage gap by re-evaluating the work content of hospital pharmacists and raising their salary level (at least about 40,000 yen per month) in order to attract human resources that are biased toward pharmacy pharmacists back to hospitals.

Objective: Drug abuse among younger people is a serious problem in Japan. This note aims to highlight the current status and issues regarding the use of cannabis and the misuse of over-the-counter drugs (so-called overdose), which are increasingly causing social problems. Considering the above, this article discusses the need for drug abuse prevention activities.

Data Sources, Study Selection, and Data Extraction: This study reviewed the literature and information from government agencies regarding drug abuse among the younger generation.

Results and Conclusion: In recent years, the decreasing age of individuals abusing cannabis has become a growing concern. However, the usefulness of cannabis in medicine is being reviewed internationally, and application of medicines produced from cannabis plants will be legalized in Japan as well. To prevent the spread of the misconception that cannabis is safe, it is necessary to reiterate the differences in the pharmacological effects of cannabinoids in cannabis plants to the younger generaton. Regarding the problem of overdose, the government is considering regulating drug sales, and counseling by a pharmacist during the sale is becoming increasingly important. Because overdose among younger people is often triggered by mental health issues, education that incorporates mental support is necessary. Intervention by pharmacists is significant for implementing drug abuse prevention activities according to the current situation.