Looking at the broader perspective, people who want to deaden their
consciousness with the use of drugs (who have that right if they so choose,
laws or not) are never common in a society where freedom of action is
possible, i.e., where one can work to achieve values in a productive job.
There is a direct correlation between controlled societies and drug use.
Look at Russia, Sweden, E. Germany, etc. etc. No number of laws can stop
people from trying to escape an unbearable existence. It is the increasing
power of the government in this country, one of the effects of which is to
destroy the economy and thus productive jobs and careers, which is partly
responsible for the growing number of drug users. The fundamental cause is
a collapse of philosophic ideas, whose final consequences are reflected in
politics (via modern college graduates in power who have minds worse off
than many drug users.)