US states legalizing the use of marijuana baffles many Chinese

A puzzling occurrence to many Chinese visiting the United States in the last four years is that marijuana has been legalized by a growing number of states, and support for its use among the public is also rising.

This is quite a contrast to the fact that most people in China still associate drugs with the country's bitter Opium War in the mid 19th century, a war forced upon it by the British to legalize its opium trade in China.

So far, 29US states and the District of Columbia have legalized the use ofmari-juana for medical use, and some of them have also allowed recreational use since the states of Colorado and Washington became the first to legalize recreational use in 2012.