A police officer sued to challenge the legislation, at the behest of the governor, whose lawyers are helping the challenge (at a cost to the public). And it was heard by a judge appointed by the same governor. We do love our representative democracy, don't we folks.
I've often had these same thoughts myself. It sounds like you're talking from experience, and if so, I can very much relate. I wasn't often addicted to any one drug in particular, but I definitely developed some polysubstance issues after discovering how much I'd been lied to about drugs in general. And even still, weed wasn't my "gateway" ... that was the hydrocodone my dentist subscribed me.