Should all recreational drugs (incl. cannabis, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines) be legalized for personal use?

Is this topic over-debated? Sure. Does that mean we shouldn't give it a try?

Should all recreational drugs be legal for an adult to buy and take?

Some starter arguments for:

• Removing criminal market, which is notoriously violent and resilliant
• Prohibition is futile
• Allows regulation, improving safety
• Encourages rehabilitaiton
• Encourages scientific study on substances of beneficial interest (e.g. cannabis, ketamine)

Some starter arguments against:

• Vulnerable people need to be protected against potentially harmful/addictive substances
• The current economic system encourages sellers to foster addiction (e.g. tobacco, alcohol)
• People affected by 'harder' drugs are inevitably antisocial and dangerous
• Illegality is an effective deterrent
• Legality normalizes drug use, which should be discouraged outside of medical purposes

::: spoiler spoiler My intuition is that Lemmy attracts a lot of both USA-libertarian and progressive socialist demographics which both tend to have more permissive views on this topic. Because of this, I chose a more extreme topic than merely 'safer' drugs. :::