On Drug Use

[aperson]

Originally Posted by Cavernio

Purposefully making yourself unhealthy and insane harms society because you will then stop being a functional part of it, and harming society can be seen as harming others; all this besides the direct harm of violent crime associated with drug trade.

Now you're having to climb a slippery slope to get to your point. I could use the same argument to show that junk food should be removed from society because it is unhealthy and in large quantities keeps us from being functioning members of society. Additionally, the direct harm of violent crime associated with the drug trade is all because they are illegal. The same thing happened with alcohol when it was legal, and the crime associated with alcohol disappeared when it was legalized.

The government, although far from perfect, does not legalize a drug without first testing it scientifically for fairly immediate detrimental effects. I believe the guidelines for FDA approval are fairly stringent. Having a smoke doesn't make you not able to to do your job that day.

FDA guidelines are incredibly stringent, that's why large pharmaceutical companies get sole distribution rights on a drug for a set time after it is approved; recouping the costs from testing a drug is a nontrivial affair. However, they also seem to have the ability to demonize drugs that have no detrimental effects. Isn't it quite hilarious that marijuana has no medical value (schedule I) when study after study (I could go on for awhile, but I'll stop at two) show that marijuana has useful medical benefits.

Additionally, you're implying that psychedelics incapacitate you for a day. Did you know that Crick was on LSD when he discovered the double helix structure of DNA. Beyond that, who is to say people don't have a choice to do what they want in their leisure time.