> There's no reason that the majority of people would need or want drugs
Alcohol is far far more dangerous than a lot of the illegal drugs, and used by a majority of people.
That we've drawn a line where one of the worse drugs we have are on the "ok" side, while many of the milder, safer ones we know of are on the "horrible, illegal, immoral" side certainly does nothing to good.
Part of the problem of the education here is that if it was honest, then explaining current drug policy would be a big issue. How do you explain why drugs like marihuana or lsd that are near impossible to overdose on are illegal when a drug like alcohol that causes tons of death are not?
How do you explain why codeine sales is legal over the counter in many countries now, but can only be sold adulterated with paracetamol/acetaminophen or ibuprofen in doses that means abuse or accidents of them are now a leading cause of liver failure, to the extent where the illegal prescription opioids they can get hold of on the black market is now vastly safer than some of the non-prescription over-the-counter drugs they can by at their local pharmacy?
Current drug policy makes honest education impossible without admitting that the drug policy itself is not based on harm reduction or public safety. Nobody will accept drug education that explicitly admits that the policy is beyond broken.
E.g. you want to "guide future users towards safer choices"? Then one of the things drug policy should do would be to recommend cannabis over alcohol if you have first made the decision to take a drug. How many places do you think that would fly when many countries still insist on depicting cannabis pretty much as evil?
Alcohol is far far more dangerous than a lot of the illegal drugs, and used by a majority of people.
That we've drawn a line where one of the worse drugs we have are on the "ok" side, while many of the milder, safer ones we know of are on the "horrible, illegal, immoral" side certainly does nothing to good.
Part of the problem of the education here is that if it was honest, then explaining current drug policy would be a big issue. How do you explain why drugs like marihuana or lsd that are near impossible to overdose on are illegal when a drug like alcohol that causes tons of death are not?
How do you explain why codeine sales is legal over the counter in many countries now, but can only be sold adulterated with paracetamol/acetaminophen or ibuprofen in doses that means abuse or accidents of them are now a leading cause of liver failure, to the extent where the illegal prescription opioids they can get hold of on the black market is now vastly safer than some of the non-prescription over-the-counter drugs they can by at their local pharmacy?
Current drug policy makes honest education impossible without admitting that the drug policy itself is not based on harm reduction or public safety. Nobody will accept drug education that explicitly admits that the policy is beyond broken.
E.g. you want to "guide future users towards safer choices"? Then one of the things drug policy should do would be to recommend cannabis over alcohol if you have first made the decision to take a drug. How many places do you think that would fly when many countries still insist on depicting cannabis pretty much as evil?