I have lived in Brooklyn and I have lived in Berkeley while my wife was in college before medical school.
Tel Aviv is not much different; perhaps less because there is drug testing in the military and the draft get essentially all at 18.
I strongly oppose drug use.
I am well aware of what harder drugs do to people and families.
But certain people (regardless of country) are morons and there is little we can do (as a government) to stop them.
Pretty much have to treat it like alcohol: regulate it, tax it, have laws related to dangerious behavior (e.g., driving), but banning just does not work -— it just creates a black market, a scary police force, and costs a bunch of money.
And mind you, I despise druggies (which is a distinction from many libertarians, who are really libertines).
I think drug users are weak and selfish people who are a drag on society and a danger to others.
I am just practical, and think the best solution to the drug abuse is a regulation model more like booze.
Having worked with and known personally literally hundreds of alcoholics & drug addicts, I can assure you that while the two types of addictions (while often rooted in the same causes) are very different. Speed of progression would be one such difference. Depth of "bottom" would be another. Not that this is society's problem, but it is also a heck of a lot easier to OD on the "dry goods." Now, in many ways pot would seem a lot closer to alcohol than the other narcotics. For one thing, it's "safer." This is misleading. The main reason we accept the bad with the good of alchohol in our society is its social tradition. Pot doesn't have that, and never will. Generally speaking, people who become habitual users of pot use it as a form of social withdrawl. Some people use alcohol for the same reason, but the percentages of users are far far fewer. Additionally, the percentage of people who tried pot then went on to hard drugs is much much higher than with alcohol. I not a doctor, but those are the facts and the rationale behind the status of drugs versus alcohol in this country.