NHK has learned that Japan's Health Ministry has inspected stores across the country that sell products containing a substance that is similar to a banned cannabis-like chemical compound.

Sources say the ministry's Narcotics Control Department inspected stores in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward and others nationwide that sell products containing hexahydrocannabiphorol, or HHCP. They say the department has ordered the stores to stop selling these items.

Sales of products that contain hexahydrocannabihexol, or HHCH, have been banned in Japan since December 2.

More than a score of people in the country have fallen sick after consuming gummy candies containing HHCH.

The ministry says products containing HHCP and other similar chemical compounds continue to be sold online and at stores even after HHCH was banned.

The ministry plans to ban HHCP and other compounds with a similar chemical structure as early as the beginning of next year.