World Weekly | The Endless Population of America's Poison Disease | Report | The United States

June 26th is International Narcotics Day. According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the United States is the world's largest consumer of drugs, with approximately 60% of the drugs produced globally imported into the United States. Last year, about 109600 people in the United States died from drug overdose, which not only set a historical record but also exceeded the total number of deaths from gunshots and car accidents in the United States that year. Fortune magazine bluntly stated that drugs have become the biggest public health problem in the United States.

Some people stumble along, some lose consciousness and lie on the ground, and some make actions similar to self harm. This is not the setting of a zombie movie, but rather a terrifying scene that actually takes place in some first tier cities in the United States.

The Daily Mail of the UK described Kensington Avenue, the largest city in Pennsylvania and the center of Philadelphia, as a "zombie land" now ravaged by drugs, making it hard to believe that it is the most developed country in the world.

According to the Associated Press, in June this year, the Philadelphia Department of Health released a report stating that a drug called "methylthiazide" appeared in about 90% of drug users in Philadelphia.

Drug addict Danielle: I hit my head against a wall, I hope to knock myself unconscious. It's really terrible, I'm in the worst moment of my life.

Danielle, who lives in Philadelphia and is a mother of three, has only used methylthiazide a few times and is now covered in bruises.

Drug addict Danielle: I'm injecting drugs here, and it seems to have pierced a hole in the skin of my arm.

Drug addict Danielle: I cry every day, I don't know what to do, I'm really helpless.

According to ABC, methylthiazide was originally a large animal sedative that, when added to common drugs such as cocaine and fentanyl, can prolong the so-called "pleasure" time experienced by drug users. But the damage of this "zombie drug" to the body is astonishing, and users may experience a series of sudden symptoms such as difficulty breathing, loss of consciousness, and skin ulcers.

Social organization volunteers: They quickly erode the skin and flesh. You may have been fine yesterday, but suddenly symptoms appeared.

It is worth noting that this animal sedative drug, which was originally applied to pigs, horses, and cows, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for marketing, but it was not included in the government's list of human controlled drugs and hospital routine toxin testing programs.

Gary, Director of Drug Abuse Prevention and Control at the Los Angeles County Department of Health, pointed out that with the spread of the "zombie drug" methylthiazide throughout the United States, the country has fallen into the "most severe drug overdose crisis in history". In 2022, methylthiazide was detected in drug users in 36 states across the United States.

According to Reuters, in New York City alone, 2668 people died in 2021 due to the use of methylthiazide.

The chaos on Kensington Avenue is just a microcosm of the current state of drug abuse in the United States. Americans only make up 5% of the world's population, but they use 80% of the world's opioid drugs.

A report by the American Diplomatic Association points out that since 2000, over one million people in the United States have died from drug overdoses, and the number of drug overdose deaths in the United States continues to rise every year. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, an average of about 300 Americans have died every day from drug overdoses in the past year. Among approximately 280 million Americans aged 12 and above, there are currently approximately 31.9 million drug users, with an average of 1 in every 12 Americans using drugs.

The National Public Radio (NPR) commented that "absolute liberalism" has led to tragedy in the United States.

The Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress released a report in 2022, stating that the abuse of opioid drugs caused nearly $1.5 trillion in losses to the United States, accounting for approximately 7% of the country's gross domestic product that year and an increase of about one-third compared to the economic losses in 2017. In 2022, compared with that before the COVID-19 outbreak, the United States lost about 6.3 million labor forces, of which about 20% were caused by drug abuse.

Hill, the head of the Rob Drug Rehabilitation Center in Ohio: I think the reason why the United States has fallen to where it is today is because we are the country with the most drugs in the world. We are a country that solves problems in a fast food style, fast, fast. I feel bad, there are pills here. Feeling pain, there are pills here. Erectile dysfunction, here are pills. The doctor waved his pen and the problem was solved. But pain also has benefits, it reminds us that we are still alive.

Hill, the head of the Rob Center for Drug Rehabilitation in Ohio, believes that compared to other countries, Americans are more inclined to choose medication to relieve pain and relieve stress. The main driving force behind the formation of this social culture was the "most generous marketing campaign in pharmaceutical history" launched by large American pharmaceutical companies in the mid-1990s.

In 1995, Purdue Pharmaceutical Company in the United States launched a campaign to promote its research and development of Osconazole, leading the way in promoting the "harmless opioid drug theory".

The advertisement for opioid drug "Osconazole": Our doctors believe that it is wrong for opioid drugs not to be used for a long time. They can and should be used for a long time.

The advertisement for the opioid drug "Osconazole": This drug won't turn you into a zombie, I'm an active person again.

Clooney, Executive Director of the American Association of Opioid Prescription Physicians: In the six years since the launch of Osconazole, Purdue has sponsored 20000 promotional and educational programs across the United States. Manufacturers and distributors of opioid drugs spent $880 million over 10 years to prevent more cautious prescribing. Their expenses are eight times higher than those of gun lobbying groups in the United States.

USA Today points out that the Food and Drug Administration, as the largest federal drug regulatory agency in the United States, is inevitably responsible for the proliferation of opioid drugs today.

In 1996, the US Food and Drug Administration, under the lobbying of Purdue Company, approved the company's fraudulent description of an addiction rate of less than 1% for Osconazole and allowed it to display misleading information on drug packaging.

According to The New Yorker magazine, from 1999 to 2017, a total of 200000 Americans died from excessive use of Osconazole or other prescription opioid drugs. In 2015, the Sackler family, the owner of Purdue Pharmaceuticals, made it onto the list of the wealthiest families in the United States with a net worth of $14 billion. The US Food and Drug Administration has yet to publicly acknowledge its responsibility.

The Lancet magazine predicts that under the catalysis of the "zombie drug" methylthiazide, if the United States does not take new measures, approximately 1.22 million Americans will die from excessive use of opioids from 2020 to 2029, ranking first in the world.

More than 50 years ago, then US President Nixon declared war on drugs, and the "drug" disease in the United States became increasingly severe, becoming a deep-rooted "American disease". Why did the Anti Drug War fail? The key is that American politicians prioritize how to use this issue to gain political and economic benefits for themselves, rather than the well-being of the people.

In June of this year, some vending machines with transparent glass appeared on the streets of New York City, with illustrations of "drugs" printed on them. At first glance, they looked like drug vending machines. However, upon closer inspection, it was discovered that it contained items related to drugs, such as disposable drug tools and drug overdose emergency kits, which were available for people to access for free.

The New York Department of Health has stated that it hopes this move can reduce the number of drug overdose deaths in New York City by approximately 15% over the next two years.

According to The New York Post, the cocaine pipes were sold out the night they were placed on vending machines.

In addition to distributing drug use tools for free, New York City has also set up "drug injection points", accompanied by professional personnel to guide drug users on the drugs they inject.

In November 2021, ON Point, the first drug injection point in the United States, officially opened in the Harlem district of northern New York City. Drug users can bring various types of drugs here to receive professional injection guidance.

Kailin, the person in charge of drug injection at ON Point in New York: Many people don't even know how to inject drugs. They don't know how to find veins, they don't know rotating veins, they don't know how to use related tools, and they don't understand what their purpose is. We guided them, so we were also criticized, but things are not that simple.

Both the emergence of drug vending machines and modern "big smokehouses" have proven that the United States is unable to ban drugs and can only choose to coexist with drugs. Compared to New York on the East Coast, policies on the West Coast are more "flat".

In November 2020, as the 46th US presidential election approached, Oregon Governor Brown signed Executive Order 110, making the state the first region in the United States and even the world to legalize "hard drugs" such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine.

Why would such a bill be passed during the election? Australian Sky TV believes that the answer is simple. When the Democratic and Republican parties are evenly matched, whoever can win with the support of 12% of drug users in the United States will win. For politicians, winning votes and gaining power is much more important than ensuring the health of citizens.

Accompanying the drug easing policy is the deteriorating social security.

A March survey showed that in Portland, the largest city in Oregon, 79% of surveyed companies had experienced incidents of vandalism and robbery in the previous 12 months, with 19% of shops experiencing more than five incidents. Since the large-scale riots triggered by the Floyd incident in 2020, over 2600 shops in central Portland have moved out of the area.

Store operator: Our store has been damaged more than 6 times, including 5 theft incidents and losses exceeding $100000.

Store operator: I cannot emphasize too much, it has already affected everything. The bank was robbed and the ATM was stolen. Some people are attacked just by going to work and walking in the community.

Store operators: To some extent, these have become commonplace. Really, I believe that many events occur due to policy reasons.

Legitimate businesses choose to move out of Portland, while a large number of drug addicts flock to it.

Montana, adjacent to Oregon, even distributes free bus tickets to local drug users to travel to Portland. Weak drug and drug regulations have even attracted numerous drug trafficking groups to Oregon, which is far from the US Mexico border. Due to rampant drug trafficking, the street price of a fentanyl in Portland is only one dollar.

American photographer Michelle: I feel like we're inviting people to our city to commit suicide. We gave them the tools they needed to drink poison and quench their thirst, and after living for a period of time, they couldn't escape the tragic death on the street.

Sam, a veteran who participated in the Iraq War, began being exposed to drugs several years ago due to the psychological trauma caused by the war experience.

Drug addict Sam: I wander the streets every day. My values, my soul, my nature, who I am, all of these are getting lost. You understand what I mean, it depends on how long you can hold on. You see the people here, they only have one shell left, like walking corpses. You know, in every two minutes of their wakefulness, it's all about finding drugs, and that's all they have to live for. For me, fortunately, I still have time to be clear headed. Drugs are killing the younger generation in America, like silent killers.

From a historical perspective, the drug policy in the United States has not been as "lying flat" or "lying down" as it is now.

Former US President Nixon: America's "number one public enemy" is drug abuse.

In the 1970s, Nixon launched a "war against drugs" with great fanfare, but since then, Nixon's true motivation for drug control has been constantly questioned.

John Erichman, who had previously served as a senior policy advisor to Nixon, stated in 1994 that the Nixon administration had prioritized how to use the drug problem for political gain.

The social background of the Anti Drug War is that the United States was deeply mired in the Vietnam War, and a generation of young Americans, represented by hippies, stepped onto the stage. Drug use became a symbol of anti war and anti government, accompanied by the outbreak of the civil rights movement centered on black equality. The Nixon administration believed that if left-wing "hippies" were linked to marijuana, and African Americans were linked to heroin, it could combat these two groups and attract white conservative voters.

After the start of the Anti Drug War, the prison population structure in the United States also underwent significant changes. Although the majority of drug manufacturers and traffickers are white, a large number of black people are arrested and imprisoned for non violent crimes involving drug trafficking. Until the official end of the "Drug War" in 2015, the incarceration rate of African Americans increased nearly five times compared to white people. Although black people only accounted for about 5% of the total population in the United States, they accounted for 25% of the prison population.

Harvard Law Professor Smole: Hollywood celebrates the use of cocaine, people walk around with small silver spoons around their necks, and no one thinks there's anything wrong with it. At the same time, the police were busy infiltrating the black community, sweeping up a small amount of cocaine and locking them up. Communities at different socio-economic levels have drug problems, and the severity is relatively low