For Hoberman the manic fury of the drug war is rooted in the belief that drug use is a dire challenge to the productivity and efficiency that are essential to America’s prosperity and survival, with marijuana the signature threat to “the morale of a society that must produce and consume to survive.” However, he notes that, given this emphasis on productivity, it is “only a deeply irrational view of drug abuse” that makes alcohol and nicotine acceptable while “recreational drugs that do far less damage to health and workplace productivity” are demonized.

Sports, Sex and Eternal Youth