3 ms·

All of that applies equally to marijuana. Yet the public image of one is improving while the other is declining, for reasons other than your explanation.

• freehunter 8y ago
  To be socially unacceptable, society has to agree that it's unacceptable. But the process works both ways, and something that was socially unacceptable can also become socially acceptable over time. Right now it seems society is rejecting the notion that marijuana is unacceptable, which is leading to it become more socially acceptable and more legally accessible. The realities of the drug seem to have failed to live up to the picture painted by anti-marijuana marketing and so the marketing failed. For a long time being homosexual was illegal and socially unacceptable, but that has changed over the years after the expected social harm from homosexuality had not been realized. It's the same process, just in reverse. Society is attempting to minimize harm to itself, whether that's rejecting ideas that are socially harmful or demanding the decriminalization of activities that are not socially harmful.