The lead actor here is the misdirected war on drugs. You sound like you're all for prohibition though, so I guess that did not occur to you.

spawning/enabling a generation of drug addicts whose lives are going to fall apart as a result.

Bullshit. Even out of hard drugs like heroin, only 25% or less of users become dependent. Cocaine is much much lower. Heroin is the highest one.

Meanwhile, 32% of tobacco users become dependent and that is perfectly legal.