[vladvasiliu]

I don't really have a horse in this race, but it seems to me that making something illegal doesn't always work as expected and stop people from consuming it. See: prohibition in the US.

So, if the actual goal is harm-reduction for the population at large (and not for what seems to be a small sample who wouldn't care either way since they're not into that), maybe instead of outlawing substances, we should make sure that people don't take random crap that will mess them up even worse than what they were originally looking for. Because it seems that people will continue taking drugs.

So maybe, as a society, we should finally accept reality instead of insisting that wishful thinking will somehow work after it has failed miserably for ages.

[koonsolo]

I think it starts with educating youth, with proper campaigns. Make it clear living as an addict is not something you want.

The legal aspect is a very difficult discussion, and it's more based on opinions than facts.

But at start we need to decide if we want these drugs in our society or not. And I'm always surprised at how the HN crowd is: taking drugs are awesome, we want it in our society.

[vladvasiliu]

I think the HN stance is a bit more nuanced: it may depend on the drug. It's pretty clear that not all drugs have the same health risks and addiction potential, so I'm not surprised people don't treat them all the same way.

As an easy example: I don't consider myself an alcoholic and even hate being drunk, yet I would be bummed to never be able to have a drink again.

> I think it starts with educating youth, with proper campaigns. Make it clear living as an addict is not something you want.

Indeed. But I'm not convinced that banning the substances in addition to this education is actually useful.

> But at start we need to decide if we want these drugs in our society or not.

That's a good question. But, like it or not, these drugs are in our society today. I don't see any practical means of getting rid of them. Outlawing them clearly not only doesn't work, but actually has some pretty terrible side-effects of its own: health-related (via adulterants) as well as social (drug-related gang crime).

[koonsolo]

I'm the same with alcohol. But I've also seen the worst in families where one is an alcoholic, and then you start wondering if it's all worth it.

After the discussion here, I wonder if there would be some middle ground. Make it legal to buy, but very controlled and individual. That way people who want to stop might get the help they need. Or the strict control would be able to prevent excesses. It's for sure a very complex problem, with lots of different opinions.