The term I use in the title is a loose one. What exactly is meant by drugs? Most people take drugs of some sort - painkillers, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine... but for the purposes of this entry, "drugs" can be taken to mean illegal substances.
There are a number of reasons why people take drugs, the most frequently cited one being for pleasure, to experiment and gain new experiences or to rebel against the system for making the substances illegal in the first place. Other reasons may include searching for mystical experiences (many hallucinogens such as LSD, magic mushrooms and DMT have been known to produce such effects) or to ease pain with, for instance, medical cannabis.
There are a number of reasons why people take drugs, the most frequently cited one being for pleasure, to experiment and gain new experiences or to rebel against the system for making the substances illegal in the first place. Other reasons may include searching for mystical experiences (many hallucinogens such as LSD, magic mushrooms and DMT have been known to produce such effects) or to ease pain with, for instance, medical cannabis.
Either way, there is a strong case for the legalisation of drugs. Apart from the fact that there are no real differences between illegal and legal intoxicants, except that the government make money from the latter but not the former, making something illegal isn't going to stop people from doing it. In fact, it might be one of the reasons some people do want to do it. If drugs were legal, this would also reduce the risk of people being harmed by impurities in the drugs and by unscrupulous dealers because they would be produced free from contamination and the sale of drugs would no longer be "underground".
It also seems that people have a tendency to ignore any possible benefits of substances purely on the grounds that they are illegal - cannabis is often used to reduce pain in conditions such as MS and can ease the effects of chemotherapy. Some people also assume that prescription medication, alcohol and cigarettes must be safer than illegal drugs, whereas this might not necessarily be true...
An article suggesting that ecstasy is safer than alcohol and cigarettes: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article1555582.ece
An article suggesting that ecstasy is safer than alcohol and cigarettes: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article1555582.ece
A report on magic mushrooms and mystical experiences: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/magic-mushrooms-can-induce-mystical-effects-study-finds-407475.html
The debate about medical cannabis: http://www.release.org.uk/campaigns/current-campaigns/medical-cannabis
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