Why Did The U.S. Government Legalize Marijuana?

Data shows that more than 50 million Americans have used drugs or abused psychotropic substances in the past year. The drug epidemic has brought about a series of social problems. According to the analysis, multiple factors such as interest groups, bureaucratic system, partisan struggles, and social and cultural factors in the United States are intricately intertwined, resulting in the intensification of the drug problem.

Data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention a few days ago show that the number of deaths due to drug overdose in the United States is growing rapidly. Between September 2020 and September 2021, about 104,000 Americans died from drug use, up from 52,000 in 2015. Bobby Mukamara, president of the Board of Directors of the American Medical Association, called on the U.S. government to take action to change the laws that lead to drug abuse, "or more people will die and more families will suffer avoidable tragedies."

"America's drug epidemic is deadlier than ever"

The United States is the world's largest consumer of drugs. According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, of the approximately 280 million Americans 12 and older, 31.9 million have used drugs or psychotropic substances in the past 30 days, and more than 50 million have used drugs or abused psychotropic substances in the past year. A recent study published in the medical journal The Lancet predicts that 1.2 million people in the United States may die from drug overdoses in the next 10 years.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the number of U.S. office workers who tested positive for drug urine tests hit a 20-year high, an increase of more than 8% from 2020. Due to labor shortages, employers have to lower the medical examination standards for recruitment, and this phenomenon will persist for a long time.