Your question is bit of a non-sequitur, but any answer would have to depend on the drug in question. If we're talking about alcohol, then the rise in consumpti

Your question is bit of a non-sequitur, but any answer would have to depend on the drug in question. If we're talking about alcohol, then the rise in consumption is absolutely acceptable because 1.) those who abuse are now treated as addicts instead of imprisoned by default, and 2.) those who don't abuse it are now free from the horrors of capricious and arbitrary criminal persecution. Same goes for marijuana and tobacco (which is, in my meager experience, the most addictive drug of all). Now, if we're talking about meth or narcotics, then obviously any rise in consumption has to be taken very seriously, and then addressed by treating addicts medically as they should be, instead of sending them deeper underground by making them criminals.