[zeveb]

> Do you believe that heroin should be available for purchase, like e.g. cigarettes? Is this a matter of individual liberty, or some other reason?

I'm not the OP, but I think so, precisely out of a concern for individual liberty.

There are also prudential concerns, e.g. that criminalisation actually results in worse outcomes for addicts, dealers & society. But even were that not the case, I'd be in favour of legalisation.

[mLuby]

I'd argue that addiction (substances, behaviors) actually reduces individual liberty.

[YSFEJ4SWJUVU6]

It's at most a trade-off (as in e.g. you like to have a drink every now and then, or during some activities, and you do so even though you understand that while doing so, you strengthen your mental models and a kind of addiction).

Few if any substances actually automatically mean throwing one's life in the gutter; the issue of substance abuse is much more complicated (with many external variables that have nothing to do with the substances themselves) – and it may not be relevant to the majority of the population at all.