The Economist has a very interesting set of articles on recent trends in western culture. The first one is entitled Aging disgracefully, and documents a major increase in promiscuous sex and drug use among the baby boom generation. (Yes, that’s my generation.) The second article notes a dramatic decease in this sort of behavior among the younger generation:
The trend towards youthful sobriety holds true for much of the rich world. In 2024 illicit drug use among adolescents dropped to historical lows in America, according to a nationwide survey published on December 17th by the University of Michigan. Drinking fell, too. The researchers found that even cannabis use is now declining fast among the young, despite weed having been made legal in almost half of states over the past decade. European surveys show continuing drops in drug and alcohol use too.
Why is youthful excess dying out? There is no single explanation. Children are more closely watched than in the past, and a higher share of young adults are from more abstemious immigrant cultures. Age id checks at bars are more common; Netflix and Fortnite are cheaper than cider; and dating apps are better than finding love on the sticky floors of a place called “Snobs”. The trend is clear and seems likely to last. It’s their parents who are the problem now.
If you live long enough you see all sorts of surprising trends, and this is certainly one that I never would have imagined. I had always thought of wild behavior as being a province of the young, whereas elderly people tended to be more conservative in their lifestyles.
I’m not in favor of drug prohibition, but if we must have restrictions on drug use then perhaps we should replace the minimum age for pot smoking with a maximum age.
Of course I’m joking, but these articles do raise a serious point. Over recent decades, many thousands of people have been imprisoned for selling marijuana. The drug warriors told us that we needed to do this, despite the huge cost in both dollars spent and lives ruined, because legal marijuana would be abused by young people that lack the maturity to make wise decisions. It now seems that the entire drug war was based on a fallacy. Legalizing marijuana has been associated with a big decease in pot use among the young. So much human misery, all caused by a misconception.
Here is Titian’s Allegory of Prudence:
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