On August 28, local time, the American media "Capitol Hill" published a shocking news: the authoritative polling agency and the Gallup consulting company released a poll data. Among all respondents, Sixteen percent of Americans currently smoke marijuana, 48 percent have ever smoked marijuana, and only 11 percent of those surveyed said they currently smoke marijuana. CNN critic Harry Enton said that this is the first time in the history of the United States that the number of people smoking marijuana exceeds the number of cigarettes. "If you go back in time to the year when humans first landed on the moon (1969), if you tell people that one day marijuana will be more popular than cigarettes," he said. Cigarettes are more popular, and people think you're crazy." According to Gallup, only 4 percent of people in the United States smoked marijuana in 1969.
It takes a long time for cannabis to gradually enter the U.S. market. In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a very strong Puritan ideology in American society, and the social thinking was quite conservative. Naturally, the place for drugs like marijuana was very limited. However, since the outbreak of the Vietnam War, American social thinking has been greatly affected. The rise of the hippie movement has made smoking marijuana a "fashionable" behavior in the eyes of young people. Moreover, on the Vietnam battlefield, in order to keep soldiers excited, the US military would also provide drugs to grassroots soldiers. These soldiers became addicted to drugs on the battlefield and brought this bad habit into American society after retirement. The two together contributed to the birth of the drug problem in the United States. When the drug epidemic problem first emerged, the U.S. government also tried to solve it. Reagan launched a large-scale "war on drugs" during his administration. However, U.S. states departments do their own thing out of consideration of their own interests, so the "war on drugs" launched by the federal government does not receive unified command. Moreover, the United States is also close to Latin American drug production areas, so the "war on drugs" ultimately ended in failure.
Legal marijuana has become one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States.
An industrial hemp cultivation site in the United States.
In the face of the COVID-19 epidemic, the U.S. government chose to lie down; thirty years ago, after seeing that the results of the "war on drugs" were not as effective as expected, the U.S. government also decisively chose to lie down. As the government's anti-drug efforts decreased, the spread of drugs began to accelerate. The share of Americans who smoked marijuana rose rapidly, eventually rising to nearly 50 percent within three decades.
It is said that "cannabis trimmer" has become the most popular part-time job in the United States, with a maximum daily income of $3,500.
As the number of drug users increases, the influence of drug addicts on American politics is gradually increasing. Previous polls conducted by Gallup showed that more than 65% of Americans support the legalization of marijuana. In 2012, 50% of Americans supported the legalization of marijuana. In 1969, Only 12 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana. Under the American voting system, if a large number of people are in favor of legalizing marijuana, there must be politicians who will jump out to cater to this "public opinion." In 2012, Washington state and Colorado announced the legalization of "recreational marijuana", and subsequently many states announced their follow-up. So far, nineteen states in the United States have announced the legalization of "recreational marijuana", and six states have stated that they will vote at the end of this year to decide whether to recognize the legal status of "recreational marijuana."
According to CNN, there were as many as 75 people queuing in front of the cannabis store during peak periods. Store owner Lucero expressed satisfaction with this, "I originally expected the business to increase by about 30%. Looking at this, I conservatively estimate it to be 50%."
Although the United States has long become the world's largest consumer of drugs, Gallo The data released by P&C is still very surprising. Nearly half of Americans have smoked marijuana, and 16% of Americans are currently smoking marijuana. The reason for this situation lies on the one hand in American social thinking.
There are reports that Americans also want to legalize " hallucinogenic mushrooms ".
As we all know, the United States regards liberalism and individualism as one of the founding ideologies . In the eyes of a considerable number of Americans, whether to take drugs is a person's self-choice. If government departments try to interfere, it will violate the rights of drug users. "human rights". In fact, a considerable number of Americans do not take drugs themselves, but they support the legalization of drugs such as marijuana because they believe in this set of fallacies. On the other hand, it lies in the American political system. Under the American democratic system, each government has a maximum term of eight years. Under this system, the government only needs to consider catering to the short-term demands of the people. As for the long-term development of the local area, it is completely outside the scope of the government's consideration. On the one hand, liberals and individualists are adding fuel to the flames; on the other hand, the government is irresponsible. How can the drug problem in the United States not deteriorate to this point?
Drug abuse, like drug trafficking, will bring serious turmoil and harm to society. The United States has indeed made some efforts in anti-drugs, but compared with the temptation of money and the "needs" of "drug addicts", many in the United States Politicians have taken the opposite path to drug control!
The development of the drug problem in the United States to what it is today is entirely the fault of the U.S. government. However, the U.S. government not only refuses to repent and reverse the situation as soon as possible, but many state governments are still trying to promote the legalization of "recreational marijuana". This is really suicidal. Now that the U.S. economy is in recession, inflation is unlikely to improve, and the political situation is also experiencing major turmoil. In this environment, the number of drug users in the United States will continue to rise in the future. It is not surprising that "recreational marijuana" and even more powerful drugs will one day be legalized across the United States.
