We have laws against the use of opium, heroin and cocaine because we know that these drugs exact a devastating toll upon society. When a government exploits human weakness to enhance its economy, it has vitiated its providential purpose. Across the many years of American history, thousands adopted the use of alcohol and tobacco. Now we feel we've gone too far to turn back, and, realistically speaking, we probably have. Degenerating societies almost never turn themselves around.
Politicians are too weak to take such a position.
This view, it is alleged, is much too idealistic and impractical. Thousands of lives are destroyed annually because of alcohol, but no one wants to outlaw the manufacture and sale of booze. Finally came the legalized lottery, and now the gambling mania is rolling over the nation like a flood. And, as always, it is justified on the basis that it brings in income for society's needs. The very notion is absurd.