I've been through Boulder a lot of time. You can just TELL the pot use was incredible.
Very digusting and depressing place.. Burned out hippy HQ.. Well, outside of the liberaltarians. Frankly I'd think they'd all want to move there.
Hard to believe NE Iowa was amongst the least pot consumers. When I was at U of Iowa, you could score between classes.
Yes, there are pockets of drifters, loafers, and panhandlers....
..but it's not the cesspool you described.
When was the last time you were in Boulder?
The area near the campus is actually pretty nice, once you get past the students who smell like hippies and the professors who smell like hippies. I don't know about the rest of the town, but it generally seemed pretty liveable, even if it is a breeding ground for nanny-state politicans countrywide.
Now, you want a disgusting and depressing place, try Flint, MI. Mile after mile of boarded up, graffiti'ed row houses and shuttered factory buildings.