Because they are LEGAL. The reason so many continued using alcohol after prohibition is becasue society has used alcohol since near the beginning of society. You cannot instantly de-normalize it. Illicit hard drugs are not normal because they are illegal. Look at society's view of them via the 60's vs the 2000's. Drug laws did that.
And other drugs are ILLEGAL because ... they're ILLEGAL ??
Look at society's view of them via the 60's vs the 2000's. Drug laws did that.
But did that really made a significant dent in the overall use of drugs? Unlikely. And the supply is greater and cheaper than ever, despite ever more draconian laws.
Yet, according to the drug war purists (I'm assuming you're not one, because you support MJ legalization) we need tougher laws, more law enforcement, more jails, etc. to "win" the war on drugs and create our shining city on the hill of a "Drug-Free America".
Can't you see the folly in that kind of utopian, socialistic thinking?