Wasn't crime a factor too?
Here's my problem with our drug policy. When the puritans and Temperance League types wanted to ban alcohol, at least they had the decency to pass a Constitutional Amendment.
However, we allow our government to ban a whole host of substances by fiat (including rather harmless intoxicants like weed), without going through the proper legal motions.
We need to start our substance policy over from scratch and say to the Prohibitionists, "You want pot to be illegal? Fine. Go get a Constitutional Amendment."
Another industry would be born. Farmers would have new crops to grow and sell. New packaging and distribution companies would be born. Retail outlets would be created and the government would reap tax revenues at all levels of this.
There was a HUGE increase in home-growing when California legalized “medical” marijuana. Back in my smoking days, we had no less than five sources for the stuff, all licensed growers with state issued cards (for various bogus ailments, like headaches). The genie’s already out of the bottle.
Besides, growing for personal use is undetectable and any laws against it would be unenforceable. If the government’s aim is to tax the hell out of it to increase revenues, personal growing will become even more commonplace.