Yeah, I think some of it can be just chaulked up to cultural hysteria. During the Reagan 80s and even during H.W. Bush, the whole "Drug War" concept and the idea that we can irradicate drugs from society (or at least middle class white society, which in all reality is all that most federal anti-drug crusaders really cared about) were very popular. Hundreds of billions of dollars and a lot of wasted effort later, there isn't much change.
The number one factor contributing to abuse and availabiity of hard drugs is generally lack of education and poverty. So, the problem really isn't the drugs themselves, it's the terrible living situations and lack of opportunity that make people feel like destroying themselves with dangerous street drugs is preferable to dealing with reality - but it's a lot easier to just point a finger at all drugs instead of a broekn system.
Unfortuantely, there is a profit driven element to this as well. The US has more of its citizens locked up in prisons that any other nation, and the vast majority of crimes are drug-related (and many are non-violent, particualrly in states with the draconian three-strikes laws concerning drug offenses). This is very big business for private contractors prison management companies, and they lobby just as hard as the drug companies to make sure that mainstream America still believes that marijuana is somehow more dangerous than booze.
When I worked in politics it was always tremendously frustrating to me that more elected officials weren't willing to really call anybody else out or draft some legislation meant to start targeting this kind of bullshit. Unfortunately a lot of that has to do with the fact that many smalltown USA sorts of places are ecnomically dependent on jobs at a prison, and so the first thing that happens if a politician wants to cut prison funding or obstruct the system in any way is that the PR folks start accusing them of destroying a town's livelihood and ruining the lives of decent, hardworking people. On top of that, opposition to the prison system makes it all too easy for critics and challengers to make you out as "soft on crime," so that compounds the first problem.
I personally don't think the problem will get solved until this country has a major shift in its attitudes about drugs and crime - owning up to the fact that pot is no different and probably much better than drinking alcohol is the first step.
The number one factor contributing to abuse and availabiity of hard drugs is generally lack of education and poverty. So, the problem really isn't the drugs themselves, it's the terrible living situations and lack of opportunity that make people feel like destroying themselves with dangerous street drugs is preferable to dealing with reality - but it's a lot easier to just point a finger at all drugs instead of a broekn system.
Unfortuantely, there is a profit driven element to this as well. The US has more of its citizens locked up in prisons that any other nation, and the vast majority of crimes are drug-related (and many are non-violent, particualrly in states with the draconian three-strikes laws concerning drug offenses). This is very big business for private contractors prison management companies, and they lobby just as hard as the drug companies to make sure that mainstream America still believes that marijuana is somehow more dangerous than booze.
When I worked in politics it was always tremendously frustrating to me that more elected officials weren't willing to really call anybody else out or draft some legislation meant to start targeting this kind of bullshit. Unfortunately a lot of that has to do with the fact that many smalltown USA sorts of places are ecnomically dependent on jobs at a prison, and so the first thing that happens if a politician wants to cut prison funding or obstruct the system in any way is that the PR folks start accusing them of destroying a town's livelihood and ruining the lives of decent, hardworking people. On top of that, opposition to the prison system makes it all too easy for critics and challengers to make you out as "soft on crime," so that compounds the first problem.
I personally don't think the problem will get solved until this country has a major shift in its attitudes about drugs and crime - owning up to the fact that pot is no different and probably much better than drinking alcohol is the first step.
