I find a lot of the people I meet, though uninformed, do listen to arguments regarding the actual effects of drugs. Mostly because they've either forgotten what DARE told them and just remembered that it was bad, are in a stage where they're willing to challenge fact and experiment, or they haven't done it. If you make an effort to change the minds of a few people you know, and encourage them to research themselves if they have questions, more people will be informed on the real effects of drugs and do the same thing you did.
Most people don't care to research the facts of anything, however, once a book is opened they realize that what they were taught as a kid isn't correct. This works outside of the drug realm as well. The media, as mentioned before, generates most of America's education and is usually very biased. "Sharks are attacing!", "Your child will get SARS!", "Muslims are terrorists!", "Celebrities are important!". Turn on any news network for one hour and you'll see why Americans are so complacent with what they're fed. It's exciting, attractive, and frightening and that's good TV.