The United States is now the 'drug capital' of the world, consuming more illicit drugs than any other country. Drug overdose deaths in the US have exceeded one million since 2000, and in the last few years, there have been more than 100,000 such deaths annually.
Starting from the early 2000s, the opioid crisis was triggered by Purdue, an infamous pharmaceutical company. By aggressively marketing the painkiller OxyContin, an opioid approved by the FDA, and misleadingly downplaying its addictive potential, the company fueled a surge in prescription-related fatalities. Many people in chronic pain were talked into buying these pills from doctors.
"The industry companies like Purdue and other companies, the decisions they made that were harmful, were not to be careful about how they sold the pills to pharmacies and doctors," said David Herzberg, Director of the MA in Drugs, Health and Society Program at the University at Buffalo. "So they didn't have the information that they would have needed to be safe in using it. And as a result, more of them who used it in this way ended up addicted, and that was a problem."
From 1999 to 2017, a total of 200,000 Americans died from overdoses related to OxyContin and other prescription opioids. Politicians and regulators received large amounts of donations from pharmaceutical companies. In exchange, the companies could continue selling these pills under the shell.
As a 2017 report by the Guardian newspaper shows, over the past decade, drug manufacturers have invested nearly $2.5 billion in lobbying and funding American lawmakers. About 90% of the U.S. House of Representatives and 97 of all 100 U.S. senators have accepted campaign contributions from pharmaceutical companies, which seek to influence legislation on everything from drug costs to drug approval.
It is also more debatable to many that legalizing weed could be one of the causes of America's worsening drug crisis. As of 2024, 24 states in the United States have legalized recreational marijuana.
"When cannabis was illegal, the use of cannabis meant deciding to break the law and agreeing to enter a place and get to know people who broke the law. And that meant that it was less of a big jump to also use heroin," said Herzberg on the dangerous social impact of cannabis. "Maybe you went to places like bars or nightclubs where that kind of activity was common."
According to statistics from the 'Open Secrets' website, a total of $3,449,000 has been spent on lobbying marijuana so far in 2024. The legalizing trend of marijuana comes strongly as a result of politics manipulated with money from interest groups.
With all that being said, was there nothing the country could do to fight against drugs? And what's the way out for the nation? Stay tuned for our next episode to find out.
Reporter | Guo Zedong, Zhan Manqi(intern)
Video editor | Ou Nanying
Graphic designer | Lai Meiya
Editor | Yuan Zixiang, James, Shen He
