It's interesting that the children of the sixties revolution, who believed in the legalisation of drugs, have carried on with their granparents' belief that drugs are evil, and must be banned.
Not all drugs of course - nicotine and alcohol, firmly rooted in our culture, are acceptable, and regulated and taxed.
It's the 'evil' drugs like heroin and cocaine that are vilified, and feed a billion-pound criminal empire.
My view is that it is simply about perception.
If we can view heroin and cocaine in the same way as tobacco and alcohol, we can treat them the same way.
Drug health issues are down to the pollution of drugs to increase profits - diluting them with everything from baby powder to rat poison.
If the government licensed the production of these drugs, they could be made and sold safely to the people who wish to use them.
Overdoses will still occur, but currently, the overdoses on heroin and cocaine are a fraction of the drain on the health and police services caused by the abuse of alcohol.
The incalculable rise in tax revenue will allow the government to oversee the production and distribution of 'street' drugs, instantly cutting out the criminal gangs who take the billions in revenue that drugs produce, and the criminal activity caused by addicts stealing to feed their habit, which can be controlled medically by qualified doctors.
The absurd notion of a 'war on drugs' has long been a vote catcher because it makes politicians look responsible and caring, and determined to stamp out those nasty 'druggy types'.
But history demonstrates that the 'war on drugs' as been a billion-pound PR vote catcher, and a complete and utter waste of time.
We don't have a choice about whether we have drugs in our culture or not, that particular genie left the bottle decades ago.
The choice we have is whether or not we continue to let our governors kid us that a 'war on drugs' can ever be won, or they grow up and accept that drugs are here, and here to stay, and our choice is not to get rid of them, which we never will, but to control them, and use the money made to fund a proper health service for everyone.
It won't happen, because attitudes are entrenched, and no government ever wants to risk something today that will only bring benefit tomorrow, so we lurch on as we are.
Legalise drugs tomorrow, take control, get some revenue, get rid of criminals, be adult about what is going on around us.
Not in my lifetime, but maybe one day ...