That may be one component, but I think it's more that the idea of 'treatment instead of punishment' has gotten more widespread in recent years. That and the fa

That may be one component, but I think it's more that the idea of 'treatment instead of punishment' has gotten more widespread in recent years. That and the fact that the drug war has been waged for over 40 years now and it hasn't really reduced usage. I think minority complaints about certain issues did fall on deaf ears in the past (police brutality being chief among these) but America is a different, more tolerant place now that it was in the early 80's.