Tyler Cowen: Legal Weed Is a Mistake We Had to Make

I think the article for the most part makes solid points worth considering, save this nostalgic nugget:

“Still, an old-fashioned part of me feels that even if alcohol is worse for you than strong pot, the old-fashioned drink culture of socializing, with rough and tough macho figures such as Jack Kerouac and Jackson Pollock, was better and more creative than what we have been replacing it with.”

Ignoring the quality of their work, Kerouac drank himself to death, and Pollock died in a car crash while under the influence of alcohol. It’s like arguing for heroin because Hendrix and Joplin were great.

Are there any numbers on addiction? That seems like a separate issue than its public visibility, which seems like it flouts the existing rules on both alcohol and cigarettes.