Well, the logic goes thusly...

The drugs are illegal, only criminals sell them, buying them supports the criminal underworld. This is, of course, true. It is also massively unfortunate. And you also know this.

The vast majority of politicians will never suggest legalising cannabis (especially) because the vast majority of the voters believe that it's addictive and will ruin society or something, so it remains illegal. Same goes for E.

Yes, it would be hugely beneficial to legalise these things, tax 'em, remove the criminal's paycheck and possibly reduce reliance on more harmful substances like nicotine and alcohol, but in the short term that simply isn't going to happen.

Ok, I'm still telling you things you know. I think I'll just agree with you and stop now. Sorry for taking so long to say that.

That's quite alright. Discussing politics is so much more comfortable when we agree, isn't it :-)

I find it ridiculous that more deaths in the UK occur due 'legal' drugs such as alcohol and cigarettes than 'illegal ones'. Yet, there is more of a taboo concerning 'illegal' drugs - like another poster commented this is probably due to issues of taxation than any moral issue.

And perception.

I wonder how much of that is due to greater numbers of people using alcohol and cigarettes? Would they be absolute numbers or per x users.

We were given the following stats in a Sociology lecture:

Between 1997-2001 6, 406 drug related death occured in England and Wales.

Between 1997-2001 25, 000-200, 000 deaths were caused by alcohol while 500, 000 deaths were caused by tobacco."

I haven't got it in my notes but I remember the lecturer saying that the alcohol stats took factors such as deaths caused by drink driving etc. were taken into consideration which is why the estimated gap is so large.

So one or two orders of magnitude in the absolute numbers. Wow.

And I presume that's all illegal drugs, so the legal ones would add up to 525,000-700,000. 100 times the amount.

I don't suppose you know how many people use illegal drugs, tobacco & alcohol?

Sorry, I'm afraid not :-( I'm sure those number would be through the roof as I'm sure there are people who use all three.

I suppose the numbers for alcohol would be pretty close to the adult population.

Hmm. I used to be pro-drug legalisation, particularly the softer stuff. But I have to admit, I've seen a good few people utterly feck up their lives with no more help than hash.
As it stands, if you take drugs, you are supporting an industry that causes widespread misery. You don't have a choice of good or bad dealers, you're just lumping your cash into the pot, I'm afraid.
I feel musing coming on...

I'm not sure whether soft drugs should be legalised, but I do think it should be seriously debated.

I know they're not entirely harmless, but you don't get accused of bearing moral responsibility for a wanton disregard of human life for having a drink. Unless you drink when drunk, you don't get blamed for drink driving accidents. I don't think he'd tell a smoker they were supporting an industry that encourages people to slowly kill themselves (which sounds like wanton disregard of human life to me).

Yes, drinking when drunk is all too common in this country (Ireland).
Also frighteningly common is debating when drunk, followed closely by posing, and less commonly by origami.

I said drive! Of course I said drive! You've absolutely no proof I said drink! (Lemme see, there must be some way to edit comments...)

Drunken origami... must try that. I could probably make a passable imitation of something meant for recycling.