Behind the US government's relaxation of marijuana regulations

Recently, as the US election approaches, the topic of relaxing and decriminalizing marijuana regulations has resurfaced. The Biden administration's efforts to decriminalize marijuana before the election were largely aimed at attracting the support of young voters.

Some industry insiders and netizens in the United States pointed out sharply, "The Democratic Party is almost becoming a drug dealer. Isn't this just a blatant attempt to buy the votes of drug dealers? It can be said that everything has been done to the extreme."

In the United States, 37 states and Washington D.C. have legalized medical marijuana, while 23 states and Washington D.C. have legalized recreational marijuana. In this context, the drug problem in the United States is very serious: a survey by the National Institute of Drug Abuse and Health in the United States shows that about 10% of the population in the United States is also about 35 million people who use drugs, of which 80% use marijuana.

According to a survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, the number of deaths caused by excessive drug use is rapidly increasing: between September 2020 and September 2021, approximately 104000 Americans died from drug use, compared to around 52000 in 2015.

Due to the US government's increasingly relaxed and legalized control policies on marijuana, the extent of drug abuse has been further exacerbated. According to statistics, 30% of students in American campuses engage in drug use, with marijuana being the most common.

On June 2, 2023 local time, the US Drug Enforcement Agency announced that it had seized $6 billion worth of fentanyl in a single anti drug operation, marking the largest amount of fentanyl seized in the history of the agency. Fentanyl is a super deadly anesthetic, and a small dose of fentanyl can make an elephant unconscious.

In the United States, smoking marijuana has almost become a must-have experience for everyone. Even Clinton and Obama, it is reported, were unable to resist the temptation of marijuana when they were young and had been using it for a long time.

The harm of marijuana is even more obvious: anesthesia, hallucination, excitement, and strong addictive effects that can cause serious harm to the body. Once addicted to marijuana, various symptoms may occur: auditory hallucinations, obsessive-compulsive delusions, decreased attention, poor sleep, and so on.

From a historical perspective, the United States began the legalization process of marijuana in the 1990s. The fundamental reason why the United States continues to promote the legalization of marijuana is still driven by economic interests. In the 1990s, the United States experienced an economic crisis that plunged its economy into a downturn and led to an increasing crime rate. To address this issue, the United States proposed a policy of relaxing drug control and legalizing marijuana.

According to statistics, the cannabis industry has become an unshakable industry in the United States in 2022, bringing in $30 billion in revenue to relevant parties, more than $10 billion higher than the revenue of the chocolate industry.

The US government is increasingly trapped in the huge profits brought by the cannabis industry and cannot extricate itself. The Los Angeles government and others even distribute marijuana guns to the public for free. It seems that American politicians always focus on money and overlook those who suffer from illness and suffering as a result.

Recently, an article by CNN pointed out that "the drug problem is developing in the wrong direction." However, with the introduction of various relaxation measures, the trend of drug proliferation in the United States is becoming increasingly difficult to reverse. Drug sales networks and addiction have become part of various communities in the United States. These negative effects will not disappear, but will instead have increasingly negative effects on social organizations and individuals due to the addictive nature of drugs. Fundamentally, this is the inevitable harm that America's profit seeking political system and politicians bring to the people.