LOL! Actually it's let addiction and social ills skyrocket and let government budgets take a hit. Actually, it's let's hurt our kids cause we're stupid and selfish.
Historically speaking, the biggest single cause of drug epidemics among US children is hysterical, idiotic anti-drug campaigns.
The first example was the huge teen drinking epidemic during alcohol prohibition. That was one of the major reasons that alcohol prohibition was repealed.
A really good example is glue sniffing (huffing)? Did you ever wonder how huffing got started? Think about it. Glue is such a terrible "drug" that it isn't even fair to call it a "drug." Anyone with any money is going to go for something else. So how did kids ever get the idea that they should sniff glue for fun?
As it turns out, there was no record of recreational glue sniffing in the US until 1959. Then, by 1960, kids were being arrested by the thousands for sniffing glue, even though there were no laws against sniffing glue. So what happened?
As it turns out, in 1959, the Denver Post published an article about glue that had the headline "Kids Warned Not to Sniff Glue." Until that happened, it had never occurred to kids that they ought to be sniffing glue. It was the old "kids, don't put beans in your ears" syndrome. Suddenly, the authorities were telling them that sniffing glue was dangerous, exciting, and they shouldn't do it. So, quite naturally, lots of kids started doing it.
That was followed by more sensational articles, with more kids trying it, and even more sensational articles. We still have the problem with us more than fifty years later. In all that time, the crusaders were so mindless that they never thought to tell kids that glue sniffing is really just boring and stupid.
Google "How to Launch A Nationwide Drug Menace" if you want to read the story. It is a good illustration of how stupid and thoughtless the prohibitionists really are.
