Janie, a lot of what you say seems likely "but" my belief that there's an increase (I belive there is, like you) is due in part/mostly (?) because our Government chooses to ignor the drug problems that exist. They know & admit to the problems (their 1st & really only step) but they refuse to take any meaningful action to prevent/cure the problems. They have, for the most part choose to treat the symptoms & not the causes!
Drug users of the 60's had far more resources available to them for help than those of today. The war against drugs was lost & has not been fought in the past 35+yrs. Drug education was a partial answer 30, 40 yrs ago. Today it's only a phrase without funding. During the 60's & 70's there where inhouse treatment programs that lasted up to 2 yrs with after care beyond that. Today a user is lucky to find a place with a waiting period shorter than 3 months (that can be life or daeth for someone whose's looking & needing it) & lasts usually 30 days sometimes maybe 6 months. Yrs ago if a user was sentenced or sent to prison they were screened to see if they needed to be repremaned to a drug treatment facility as part of the sentence before or after, weither or not the crime was drug related. Today, if the crime is not a drug violation they will not recieve any drug treatment weither they admit to being a drug user of if the admit to robbing a store for drug money, they will not get treatment, unless it is a drug crime, drug related doesn't do it. I have two kids, now both just into adulhood. I never heard of them or any other school aged kids recieving more than a slight lecture on drug education. Yrs ago the school systems had people passing through all the time & actuall classes onn the subject.
Until the government puts money back into pre-natal care, early child care, health care, drug education, until it deceides to wage war against poverty, sub standard & costly education there will be no stop to the increase.
During the hard times gambling, drug addiction, alcohol shyrockets & social relief programs suffer. Since the Reagan yrs when the republicans were so fond of cutting & slashing welfare programs & all other "help the poor" & "help the needy" programs we have never recoped from the mental disdain for these programs, that was created. The funding has all but dissappeared, the pay for those that work in these fields is next to nil so is the retention of these workers. One can't single out one social problem & try to attack it. They are all intertwined & related. We need to bring back a new era of social reforms & hopefully that's part of what Obama is trying to put forth. The republicans, if they smell this their blood will boil. But we can't even attempt to rehab drug users without attacking our poor educational & health systems nor can't we move ahead without shoring up our policy towards poverty & the poor. And if anyone thinks that some of the rich don't get dragged down with poor they're blind.
It needs to be an all out war not just a battle here & there about gangs or kids with guns today & drugs tomorrow. It'll take job creation for the poor & challenged. Accessable & affordable education for the masses, national health coverage for everyone.
Some one said that the make up of the prisons (I only speak for the US that I know about) is mostly drug users. Well you missed mentioning those that are challenged in other ways. One of the areas hard hit by the funding cuts from those Reagan yrs was mental health. They also make up a huge percentage of todays prison population & there's a huge overlap between that & the drug use prison population.
Governmet control has nothing to do with the problem but the lack of Government funding & it's willingness to do nothing does.

If anyone believes that the Government is putting it's best foot forth in this effort they not at all in touch with the life that's being lived out on the street by those tha abuse drugs.
We recovered from the Reagan yrs (barely, with some lously setbacks) & now fight AIDS, not enough but we have made improvments, we now need to start to focus on a few other areas too.
If the Government can start with the funding & a bit of guidence & direction we could see some improvement.

Barry