##What is a drug?

A drug is a substance which affects you in some way. Most drugs are used for medicinal purposes and prescribed by a registered physician. This isn’t all drugs are used for. Many affect the mental state of the person taking them. This could be that they relax the person in some way, depending on what we mean by “relax”; or they could cause hallucinations of some description.

##What drugs are prohibited?

Currently, in the U.K., we do prohibit most drugs, but is this the right policy? Alcohol and tobacco are legal and regulated. That is to say you require a licence to sell them and you have to be over 18 years of age to buy them. Then there are a whole class of pharmaceutical drugs which you can only obtain with a prescription from a doctor, further we have some so-called over-the-counter drugs. Such as paracetamol, basic pain-killers which aren’t particularly addictive so it has been deemed safe enough to allow people easy access without the hassle of visiting the doctor. The idea is then that everything else is illegal. There are however substances not covered by the relevant laws and thus legal to take. They are used for the same purpose as more well known drugs such as cocaine or cannabis. These are often referred to as legal-highs.

Most people take drugs, particularly alcohol and tobacco, because they enjoy the altered state that the drug produces. It seems to me the current policy is geared to this idea that drugs users are addicts who can't control themselves and are thus a danger to society. The UN, in a report (page 7), suggest that globally roughly only 10% of drug users are “problem” users. As I said, most users are normal people, like you and me, going about their daily lives and enjoy the occasional responsible experience of drugs.

##Why are we prohibiting most drugs?

People put forward several arguments for the prohibition of drugs.

• That the drugs are bad you your health.
• That the drugs are cause you to act in an uninhibited and antisocial way, thus harming society.
• And also a concern with the link between drugs and organised crime, the concern being causing an increase in crime and gang activity.

These are potentially valid reasons to prohibit drugs, but let's look closer. Particularly, I want to note society’s acceptance alcohol and tobacco. We have the idea that drugs are bad for you. This does seem reasonable, we discovered that asbestos is a carcinogen and so banned its use as an insulator in construction. We stop lead being used in paints to stop heavy metal poisoning. But shouldn’t we be rational and consistent about this? Alcohol and cigarettes are also damaging for your health. Alcoholism is a real problem that has taken many lives over the years. Worse we have cigarettes which are a known carcinogen. These are still legal. Perhaps then it should be a question of severity, after all everything gives you cancer.

I feel this question of severity is the right one to ask. Absolutely there are highly dangerous drugs like heroin. There are also drugs that most people can enjoy in a responsible fashion, like alcohol. A sliding scale where only the genuinely dangerous drugs are prohibited is something I feel we should move toward. Some people more liberal than I will say even this is wrong and who is the government to say what I can or cannot do with my body. That all drugs should be legal. The thought is a nice one, if perhaps a little too naïve for the real world.

##Where should we stand on the slippery slope?

Given the position that there are some drugs that reasonably cannot be taken responsibly, they are simply too addictive or dangerous, or any other criteria we may have. The question must then become the clichéd “where do we draw the line?”

Emotion nor tradition should be allowed to determine the answer to this question. This is an ethical question that we must try to answer rationally through reasonable discourse. Taking into account the actual affects that drugs have, both on individuals and society as a whole. People don't seem willing to do this. Though things appear to be turning in this regard.

Prof. David Nutt is someone who’s opinion I respect on the matter. He voices a view similar to mine, that policy that is detached from the reality of drug use isn’t going to be an effective policy. If we want our policy to genuinely reduce the harm and suffering that drugs can and do cause then we need to take am honest look at drug usage.