[dogscoff]

My thoughts/ opinions/ experiences spewed out below in random order.

I've answered yes to all three questions, but only because I drink and have known hangovers.

I think the use of chemical substances to enhance/altar our perception and/or enjoyment is a fundamental part of human nature, and like anything else that can be bad for your health, is fine as long as you can keep it under control.

Unfortunately our society has no idea of moderation: The accepted reasoning is that if something is good, then more of it must be better. This isn't always true: A glass of wine a day is a good thing. Two bottles a day will get you involved in a traffic accident/ beaten up in a gutter/ liver failure. A burger every now and then is OK, but eating twenty burgers a week will kill you as sure as smoking forty cigarettes a day. The odd bit of puff isn't a bad thing, but excessive pot will turn you into a vegetable. This attitude of excess is mostly a by-product of the rampant capitalism that dominates our culture and that turns many positive or neutral things in our society into negative things. Added to that a culture which celebrates ignorance and irresponsible behaviour and you've got a recipe for disaster. If we could break our culture of excess then many of the world's problems (not just substance-related ones) would be vastly improved overnight.

Another part of the problem is the addictive nature of many drugs (cigarettes, heroin etc) which is quite often an artificial property introduced by the people who profit from addiction (ie the people selling the stuff.)

Personally I've never tried pot, but I'm interested to give it a go. The one opportunity I had I happened to be the designated driver, so had to reluctantly decline for safety reasons. I could probably be persuaded to try ecstasy (I don't dance, but I've heard it's worth taking some before sex) but I wouldn't ever try LSD, cocaine, heroin or anything else along those lines. As for more exotic things like toad-licking and whatnot, I'd have to inform myself more of the risks and effects before deciding. I'm always very wary of taking things like painkillers, even if there's a valid medical reason.

Pot should definitely be legal. In fact I'd go further and say that all drugs should be legal. Why? Several reasons:
1- It's none of the government's business what i choose to put into my body
2- Of course, it is the government's business if I get messed up on speed and then run over a little old lady. however, bringing such substances into the mainstream would make it easier to prevent and control such antisocial behaviour.
3- It's hypocritical to allow fags and booze but prohibit other substances.
4- Much of the medical harm and addiction from hard drugs comes from dealers mixing it up with brick dust/ rat poison/ whatever else they can get their hands on. If the industry was legalised and regulated this kind of crap wouldn't happen. (When was the Last time you bought a bottle of wine that had been padded out with bleach by an unscrupulous supplier?)
5- Another of the main dangers of drug use is that safe dosages aren't very well understood. This problem is compounded by number 4 above. If the substances were controlled and regulated and forced to compply to certain standards of content and labelling, drug use would be much safer.
6- If legalised and regulated, the long-term effects of drugs and the best treatments for them would be much easier to study and understand. This information could be used to inform and educate people about the risks they are taking, safe dosages, and maybe to produce less addictive/ harmful types of the substances.
7- Bringing drugs into the mainstream would kill off all the organised crime associated with it. Just look at alcohol prohibition in the US in the twenties.
8- People with addictions and other problems linked to drugs would be more likely to seek and find help if they weren't branded as criminals by their drug use.
9- The money saved in hunting, arresting and detaining drug criminals could be used to help the people suffering from their effects, with cash left over for a tax cut or improvement in other public services. Not to mention the money the government could make from taxing drugs.

That's what I think, annyway. It's not a perfect system, but neither is the system we have now and at least the one above is consistent and fair. I firmly believe that legalising drugs wouldn't increase their usage. People who want drugs now have no trouble finding them. Making them legitimate might even reduce some of their appeal to rebellious types, and encourage moderate (rather than excessive) usage. Legalising drug use doesn't necessarily mean encouraging it- I would hope for the exact opposite: If legalised, education as to the negative effects of substances should be used to discourage their use (just as kids are now warned off smoking) and there should be laws and social pressure about times and places where drug use is innappropriate. For people who consistently abuse their freedoms (ie driving under the influence or otherwise endangering ppl, or seriously jeopardising their own health through excessive use) the courts could make them go into rehab and get any psychiatric help/ counselling to deal with the causes of their addictions.

That's my 0.02 anyway, but it'll never happen.