It is fascinating to see in the United States, next to the mirage of Silicon Valley, the development of three suicidal behaviours that seem to condemn the greatest power in the world to its decline: galloping obesity, immoderate use of all drugs, and unlimited freedom to shoot at each other in all public places.
A reminder of the facts:
• Obesity: Today, 40% of the US population are considered obese, including 18.5% of Americans under the age of 18. Twenty years ago, this number was at 14%. Obesity contributes significantly to the increase of type II diabetes, heart attacks and certain types of cancer. Obesity costs about $ 200 billion each year in health costs. This will continue to increase, and sugar is the main culprit.
• Drugs: The country consumes 80% of the world’s opiate production, and an estimated three million American citizens are dependant on it. And it continues to increase: Whereas in the year 2000, there was one heroin user per thousand inhabitants, they are more than two per thousand today. Many of these drugs are legally administered as painkillers. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the United States, overdoses killed 64,000 people in 2016, nearly a one-quarter increase from 2015; notably opioids, often used as painkillers, are responsible for 21,000 deaths in 2016, compared to 3,000 in 2013, a seven-fold increase in three years. Moreover, there are new uses of heroin and other drugs, such as fentanyl, a synthetic narcotic fifty times more powerful than heroin.
• Weapons: 30% of Americans own a firearm; and in many states a 12-year-old can legally buy one. 32,000 people died by firearms in 2015, of which more than 20,000 were recorded as suicides. Since the beginning of the year, there have already been 18 shootings in schools.
And as the data overlap, tens of millions of obese Americans and drug users own a firearm.
Who does not see the risks? Why is the US Administration still not reacting? Because it would call into question considerable interests that are embedded in the structure of the political and economic systems of the United States: the sugar industry, the drug industry and the weapon manufacturers are among the most powerful actors in the country. They corrupt politicians with political donations and the spirit of citizens through advertising campaigns. And President Trump, who thinks everything was better before, is not at all prepared to change that. On the contrary, he will exacerbate these issues by liberalizing their uses.
America is slowly committing suicide. Moreover, there is a part of the country, in any case, that does not love itself anymore. This part of American society is less concerned with preparing its future, and is entirely turned toward the present and the immediate enjoyments, among which is the drive toward death.
This America is dangerous for itself and for the world: when you are suicidal, you don’t mind dragging others into death. And we can imagine that such an impulse could also drag the country into crazy military adventures; just like its refusal to act on greenhouse gases regulation is already driving the planet to another suicide.
However, young Americans are starting to react. Masses of young people are marching against politicians that the NRA corrupted. And they are consuming less and less sugar. And they are moving away from drugs: only 5% of them admit to consuming drugs, compared to 10% in 2002.
Let us have hope in this youth and do what is in our power to help them. It is also our future.
j@attali.com