The war on drugs has created a few problems since it’s creation.
Certainly the organized crime and unregulated market has been responsible for many casualties.
The prohibition of alcohol was the perfect example except alcohol is more socially accepted.
First let me say I am not saying all drugs are good or ok to use. I am stating that because they are illegal it makes them more dangerous as they are in the hands of less then honest people adding whatever to them. The illegal nature also funds organized crime leading for the demand for illegal firearms and often leads to violent acts.
But let’s look at legal drugs.
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics
Certainly you can see that it’s pretty harmful. Not to mention the violent crime like physical and sexual assaults.
It’s also addictive and very dangerous to stop cold turkey.
I can understand why people would want it illegal as it falls under the schedule 1 category by definition.
(Wikipedia)
But should we make it illegal?
The prohibition of alcohol in the past has shown us that by doing so, it leads to a massive underground market making dangerous products that makes people sick, blind, and even leads to death in some cases. It also caused the rise of organized crime with massive amounts of money allowing less then honest people to purchase weapons to “out gun” the governing forces.
Now let’s look at another legal killer.
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/index.htm
Certainly there is nothing good about tobacco. It’s extremely addictive and extremely bad for you and the people around you. Imagine what would happen if they banned tobacco. I imagine a rough and violent couple of weeks. At least a lot of grumpy people to say the least.
These two drugs people would probably agree are drugs. But by definition other things you might not think of as drugs are in fact drugs.
“According to researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QUT), excessive sugar consumption increases the dopamine levels in a similar way to other drugs such as cocaine.
The study found that long-term consumption of sugar will eventually cause a reduction in dopamine levels. That means, they say, people need to consume higher and higher levels of sugar in order to reach the same reward levels and avoid mild states of depression.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/sugar-has-similar-effect-on-brain-as-cocaine-a6980336.html
Sugar also leads to things like obesity and diabetes. It’s socially accepted and perfectly normal for people to give sugar to their children.
These are socially acceptable drugs and as we have witnessed they have their downside.
But what about the illegal drugs?
First I will say that I believe there are safe illegal drugs and there are harmful illegal drugs.
The harmful ones like cocaine, meth, and heroin certainly are very addictive and cause the user a whole host of problems.
But because they are illegal the risk and harm increases.
The demand for these drugs cause an underground market where cartels and gangs earn huge amounts of profits(trillions of dollars). The organized crime leads to the need for illegal firearms and deadly violence. Not to mention anything can be added to these drugs making them even more dangerous like the fentanyl epidemic sweeping the nation. It also leaves a door open to a less talked about danger. An engineerd substance could easily spread via the black market which could not only effect the user but the rest of the population in the area.
Things like OxyContin or other opiates are basically the same as heroin just a little different.
Adderall (commonly given to children for A.D.D) is almost exactly the same molecule as meth.
https://me.me/i/today-ilearned-meth-adderall-is-one-methyl-group-from-being-10660805
Other drugs like Psychedelics (magic mushrooms,LSD, Cannabis) I view as safe illegal drugs. They are not physically addictive and wrongful scheduled.
These drugs are not typically sold by the violent gangs but some problems arise form them being illegal. The market for these substances produces research chemicals trying to get through the legal loophole. This was seen during the synthetic Cannabis boom. These research chemicals do not have the same effect and can often be harmful or deadly. People have bought “what they thought was LSD” but was actually a research chemical. The problem is that LSD has a high LD50 which means you can take a lot without it becoming physically dangerous, but with some research chemicals it can be fatal at higher doses.
These drugs also offer some great medical benefits.
Magic mushrooms have been shown to successfully treat addiction, anxiety, PTSD, cluster headaches and some great research in being a possible cure to Alzheimer’s due to it’s causing neurogenisis in the hippocampus.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23727882
People that use these substances are not typically bad people and I don’t think they should be locked in cages for doing what people have been doing for thousands of years.
These substances have great potential for advancements in society as demonstrated by the lsd microdoseing trend in Silicon Valley.
Not many people know but psychedelics are being used legally in the USA through the freedom of religion act with no problems.
I think instead of spend trillions fighting a losing battle we should invest 1/10000 of that in simple harm reduction and education on these substances. Countries that have legalized all drugs have seen amazing results and I think it’s time we discuss this.
Let me know what you think in the comments and if you have any questions or concerns I will be more then happy to provide information.
