You may be right about that. I care because I lived through the ‘counterculture revolution’ and I’ve watched the changes for the worse that occurred in the lives of individuals, and in the life of our nation, as a result.
Ah jeez ... you sound just like my mother, lamenting the "sad loss" of we generation of yutes who did drugs from the 70s through the 80s ... the vast majority of whom matured into level-headed, responsible, smart, contented, productive folks of good character ... with the wistful regret of how much better they may have been ...! When my mother gets into that mode of sighing and regretting, all you can do is roll your eyes.
I lived through the counterculture, too. A lot of us survived just fine *glitch/twitch*, thank you very much!
No, seriously, lighten up. Drugs have always been around and always will. The destruction of the counterculture wasn't wrought by drugs, it was wrought by declining moral values embraced in pop culture, from abortion to unmarried motherhood, to divorce to shacking-up, to the embrace of open homosexuality to the "free love" ethic, to the welfare and entitlement mentality.
Blame something other than the drugs, and you'll be hitting closer to the truth, as this incident with Phelps rather serves to illustrate.
I too lived through the drug era and have seen the lives destroyed, including a brother who snorted, smoked and drank himself into a very early grave. However, those lives would have been just as easily destroyed with alcohol, or food. Most people who get sideways on drugs are damaged prior to their first drug experience. Most (I’d posit 90+ percent) people who try drugs just as quickly put them down and go on to successful and productive lives.