Here's what I had to say about drugs in another thread, a rather prominent issue although not discussed here as often as it should be, in my humble opinion.

Probably all of the above. Though, unless super harmful, I'm not puritanical, I think one definitely shouldn't kill themselves, or engage in self-destructive behavior, but the body likes stimulants, and drugs. Shiva was totes into weed.

Probably all of the above. Though, unless super harmful, I'm not puritanical, I think one definitely shouldn't kill themselves, or engage in self-destructive behavior, but the body likes stimulants, and drugs. Shiva was totes into weed. — Wosret

So, you do post under the influence! I knew it, lol.

Full disclosure, I haven't had any weed in a couple months, but I'll be getting some soon, I have periods of stress, and sleeplessness is my excuse, normally I just listen to music, get totally lost in thoughts, and lay around, so I don't tend to post very much when I have any anyway.

So you're wrong if you're thinking recently.

I'm sorry to have made the claim implicitly or explicitly without knowing all the details. My bad, man. :(

All good, I've done tons and tons of it, so I'm probably just perma-stoned is all.

Has there been a recent discussion on the justice of anti-drug laws?
I think Locke would be very clear on this and he is the foundation of American views on freedom and rights.

So, what's the deal with drugs?

I liked Russel Brand's answer:

So much wealth, too much power - where do we go from here?

Though, unless super harmful, I'm not puritanical, I think one definitely shouldn't kill themselves, or engage in self-destructive behavior, but the body likes stimulants, and drugs. Shiva was totes into weed. — Wosret

I don't understand why you'd expect substances which mess with your brain chemistry in unnatural ways to not be self-destructive. We weren't designed by evolution to be smoking weed, if you believe in evolution that is. Nor were we designed by God for that matter to be smoking weed, if you don't believe in evolution.

A) Bored with their own lives or want to escape from their mundane lives, — Posty McPostface

Yes.

B) On a more general level, people are hedonists, — Posty McPostface

No, not all are hedonists. But yes, hedonism does prevail in the Western cultural milieu at the moment.

C) It's in some sense a 'cool' thing to do, — Posty McPostface

Only for teenagers.

D) A form of self-medication that eventually leads to drug dependency and addiction? — Posty McPostface

Yes.

E) Is it just a matter of low self-esteem? — Posty McPostface

Yes.

F) We're experiencing a new era of a type of 'Brave New World', where everyone wants to (read 'feels a neurotic need to') function on a higher level and be on 'Soma'. — Posty McPostface

Maybe.

"Reality is for people who can't handle drugs."

We weren't designed by evolution to be smoking weed, if you believe in evolution that is. — Agustino

How do you know? Maybe the desire to smoke weed was caused by evolution. And, maybe smoking weed causes changes which could become evolutionary.

Maybe the desire to smoke weed was caused by evolution. — Metaphysician Undercover

Impossible, we haven't done it in our history.

And, maybe smoking weed causes changes which could become evolutionary. — Metaphysician Undercover

They could, but we have little reason to think they'd be beneficial. It wasn't an integral part of our environment that we were meant to adjust to over time.

Impossible, we haven't done it in our history. — Agustino

People are smoking weed right now, today. Something must have caused that desire within people to smoke it. How is this not a product of evolution?

It wasn't an integral part of our environment that we were meant to adjust to over time. — Agustino

It is a self-created part of our environment, cultured, just like milk, beef, and wheat. What distinguishes one of these over the other as beneficial or harmful?

People are smoking weed right now, today. Something must have caused that desire within people to smoke it. How is this not a product of evolution? — Metaphysician Undercover

Yeah just like some beetle in Australia is swarming beer bottles thinking they are the perfect females (and going extinct). We just found a product that deceives our senses, that our senses weren't prepared to handle. Much like porn for that matter.

We just found a product that deceives our senses, that our senses weren't prepared to handle. — Agustino

But people quickly become tolerant, then the deception does not continue. Developing ways to overcome deception is good for the human being, is it not?

But people quickly become tolerant, then the deception does not continue. — Metaphysician Undercover

It is addictive, I see no reason to suppose it would be beneficial, but many reasons to expect that it wouldn't be.

We weren't designed by evolution to be smoking weed, — Agustino

Our brains have cannabinoid receptors. Why do you think that is?

Why do you think that is? — fishfry

You mean they have structures which happen to be affected by certain drugs? Why am I not surprised...

Why am I not surprised... — Agustino

Why aren't you surprised? You wrote:

We weren't designed by evolution to be smoking weed, — Agustino

I pointed out that our brains have receptors for cannabinoid molecules. Therefore you should be surprised. Why ARE you not surprised? Am I being too literal in some way?

It is addictive, I see no reason to suppose it would be beneficial, but many reasons to expect that it wouldn't be. — Agustino

We, every breathing human and animal, have an endocannabinoid system in all of us a reason. We are discovering daily that Cannabinoids work just as effectively with the body as do Opiates for pain, without the physical addiction of Opiates. Now I will agree with you that a person can become 'habitual' in their use of Cannabis but you cannot become Physically addicted to Cannabis.
Knowing that, might make it is easier to see the benefits, especially in the face of the Opioid Crisis that we have here in the USA. Cannabis has always been considered the "Gateway Drug to harder drugs" when in all reality it is Cannabis that is being proven to be the gateway to get off of hard drugs.

It is addictive, I see no reason to suppose it would be beneficial, but many reasons to expect that it wouldn't be. — Agustino

OK, I call it becoming tolerant, you call it becoming addicted, two different ways of saying the same thing.

We live in a drug culture, that's, I think, intuitively obvious. — Posty McPostface

I don't live in a drug culture, and most of the people I know don't live in one either. (Drugs here meaning recreational drugs, and some pharmaceutical products which are psychoactive and potentially addicting or likely to develop dependence).

Sugar by itself is highly rewarding to the brain. — Posty McPostface

Sugar (glucose) is what the brain runs on. It's not just rewarding, it's essential.

Even caffeine or alcohol classify as drugs to some extent, although not as addictive as the more sinister of the bunch. — Posty McPostface

Caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, opiates, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, etc. are all addictive substances. How easily one becomes addicted, and how much difficulty one will have overcoming addiction depends on the individual. Most people (like... 80%) do not readily become addicted to most drugs, and if addicted, are generally able to withdraw from the drug use on their own. Some people (maybe 20%) however, are much more prone to become addicted (because of their biology) with less exposure than the 80%, and will have a lot of difficulty withdrawing from drug use.

So it isn't just the drugs -- it's also the users the produce the difficulties of addiction.

A) Bored with their own lives or want to escape from their mundane lives — Posty McPostface

Most people probably become seriously bored at times, but don't resort to drugs Why do you think that is?

B) On a more general level, people are hedonists

A hedonist is a person who believes that the pursuit of pleasure is the most important thing in life, I don't think we are, in general, hedonists. Some people are, but being a hedonist doesn't mean they are all going to smoke, snort, swallow, or inject every drug they can get their hands on.

C) It's in some sense a 'cool' thing to do,

Everyone doesn't think it is cool. Many people think it is stupid, unhealthy, or immoral.

D) A form of self-medication that eventually leads to drug dependency and addiction?

Maybe, self medication. Alcohol is actually a very poor drug for most problems. I don't know what problem methamphetamine helps with. Some drugs do seem to deaden pain (physical and psychic) so self medication with benzodiazepines, opiates, or pot makes sense.

E) Is it just a matter of low self-esteem?

Maybe, but people with medium to high self-esteem get addicted too.

F) We're experiencing a new era of a type of 'Brave New World', where everyone wants to (read 'feels a neurotic need to') function on a higher level and be on 'Soma'.

Soma wasn't intended to help people "function on a higher level"; it was a freely available tranquilizer designed to quell feelings of discontent.

How about drinking wine, smoking cigars, pipes and cigarettes (not to mention chewin' tobacca) and knocking back caffeine-rich beverages?

Sugar (glucose) is what the brain runs on. It's not just rewarding, it's essential. — Bitter Crank

Ditto caffeine :-)

ps -- On a more serious note, the question is not whether any given drug is a net good for society. The question is, it is less harmful than prohibition? Prohibition inevitably gives power to gangs of violent criminals; causes people to get sick from adulterated product as it did when the US tried outlawing alcohol; and ruins the lives of casual users branded as criminals.

Our culture thrives on addictive personalities. It continually pushes us to consume, but the pleasure in consumption is not enough. We want more & more intense pleasures because we have conflated pleasure with happiness. Many become depressed because they are not happy in spite of their best consumer efforts. People work hard to achieve what they have but for many the objectification of life does not satisfy. We are consumers addicted to consumption because we think pleasure will make us happy.

Mother's little helper has been around for a long time. This from 1965.

Kids are different today, I hear every mother say
Mother needs something today to calm her down
And though she's not really ill, there's a little yellow pill
She goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day

Actually I think that Big Pharma holds a lot of responsibility for the opioid epidemic.

Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, but some fentanyl analogues, which are designed to mimic the pharmacological effects of the original drug, may be as much as 10,000 times more potent than morphine.

To date, more than 12 different analogues of fentanyl have been produced clandestinely and identified in the U.S. drug traffic. The biological effects of the fentanyl analogues are similar to those of heroin, with the exception that many use
rs report a noticeably less euphoric high associated with the drug and stronger sedative and analgesic effects.[citation needed]

Mother's little helper

And if you take more of those
you will get an overdose
No more running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
They just helped you on your way
through your busy dying day.

Yeah fentanyl. A few years ago I read about it in the context of it being the drug of choice for medical professionals in hospitals. Doctors and nurses couldn't get enough of the stuff. At least some of them. Of course the vast majority of hospital professionals are not abusing the ambient pharmaceuticals. I hope.

Now suddenly it's this huge drug of abuse.

The owner of a place I used to eat breakfast at died of a fentanyl overdose. I had no idea people in my community are flipping pancakes in the morning and doing that after work. If it touched my sheltered life then it's a lot more prevalent than I thought.

I don't buy the Chinese angle that this is something they're pushing on us. Americans are the world's hugest consumers of illicit drugs by far. The entire world labors to supply the American consumer with drugs. That 's the truth and everything else is the hypocrisy around it. If Americans ever stopped using drugs, the entire global economy would collapse; from the peasant farmers who pick the drug crops to the industrial plants that make the precursor chemicals to the banks who launder the money The DEA, the CIA, and whatever local warlord we want to support that week are the drug business. A lot of mouths to feed. Nobody wants this to stop.

We never ask: What is the sickness in the American soul that needs so desperately to be numbed?

And by the way, why is there a renewed demand for opiates these days? Couldn't have anything to do with our war in Afghanistan, could it? In 2002 the Taliban had virtually eradicated the opium trade. They're against it. The US came in and got it going again. We're for it. The US Army guards the poppy fields over there. True. In the 1980's Reagan ran secret wars in south America and we had a huge coke epidemic, while Nancy Reagan told us to "Just say no" to the drugs her husband's CIA was flying in by the planeload.