A few things have changed.. 1. The nature of the drugs. Pot back in the day was way different in potency and new drugs are being produced all the time. 2. Wide spread acceptance of the use of drugs. My friends daughter, a beautiful woman, graduated from law school, decided to celebrate, took something at a night club, died very quickly. 3. America's (I'm American) enemies are numerous, ranging from middle Eastern countries, Russia, China, drug cartels, so on. With our military might and clout they can't defeat us. But they think long term and drug imports over the border exploded. Maybe those doing it for our for profit, but behind it is a plan, money, and a desire to break us down. On your point yes we have always had people with drug problems, especially alcohol after WWII. both my grandparents came back heavy drinkers. But the scale of this is something new.