First, I'll say that, as long as the words “illegal” and “criminal” are tied to substance use and addiction, we will always have stigma. It can never be removed.
We need to start educating our kids better about the harms of substance use and to start acknowledging that the gateway drug, alcohol, opens that path. As a recovering alcoholic, I never would have tried cocaine if I hadn't been drunk out of my mind. All of my friends who did hard drugs were drunk first. However, we don't acknowledge alcohol as the gateway drug.
Go ahead, sweetie.