There are, of course, two kinds of drugs: pharmaceutical products, intended to make people healthier, and those drugs people use to feel good. The second category includes opiates, cocaine, marihuana, ecstasy, and amphetamines.
They are sometimes called "narcotics", but the term is inaccurate because it suggests that the drugs would induce a sleep-related state, which many of them precisely do not.
The second category is also sometimes referred to as "recreational drugs", which is also not appropriate, because recreational activities are shallow. But drugs that change one's perception of the world have too profound an effect on the user to be classified as just recreational.
In most countries, all drugs of the non-pharmaceutical kind are more or less prohibited. In many countries in which the US has had a strong cultural influence, the laws against these drugs are very strict indeed. These countries include much of Southeast Asia where I live.
I do not use any drugs that are commonly used to change one's perception of the world. I don't, for two reasons.
First, because I live in countries where drug use, even just of marihuana, is strongly criminalized. Just two or three grams of marihuana can land anybody in prison for several years. If I were interested in the use of this kind of drugs, I would settle in Europe, or in South Asia where laws are not as bad.
Second, because I find the happiness I need from sexual relationships. All drugs that are used to induce happiness (even those that are pharmaceutical products) have a negative effect on sexual function and the sexual experience. But in order to be in an optimal condition, sexually, I avoid anything that has a negative impact, not just prohibited drugs. I also do not drink alcohol, and I do not smoke. I even don't drink coffee or tea.
But I am not against drugs in principle. In principle, I am in favor of drugs (and mind you: I am talking about the kind of drugs that make people feel good). For any person who cannot realistically expect happiness from sexual satisfaction, drugs are a reasonable option.
This includes people whose sexual function is severely impaired; others who are physically handicapped; those who are terminally ill; or those who are incarcerated without much prospect to regain their freedom.
Actually, people often take drugs as a substitute for satisfying sexual relationships, even when they aren't verbally conscious of the connection. Which is why drug use is a common occurrence in young people who do not have sufficient sexual outlets, or may not even pursue sexual relationships (because they were brainwashed not to give in to sexual urges).
Those who think that overall, drug use has a negative impact on their societies, should blame their governments and other institutions that fail to propagate a proper perspective of human life.
Because they haven't been taught that sexual satisfaction is not only the most elementary happiness we can experience, but also the most basic value, or meaning, of life, many young people are disoriented. This is when they become willing to try drugs.
It has long been fashionable for governments of old men and their law enforcement agencies, to blame drug dealers for the drugs use of their countries' youth.
But drug use is not the fault of drug dealers. I, and many other people with a well-established view of life, cannot be enticed to use drugs as long as we are in normal circumstances... even not if drugs were free, and even not if they were entirely legal. I cannot be enticed to try them because I am aware that they will impair, now or later, my capacity to experience optimal orgasms.
Not only that: they will also impair my mental faculties, and thereby my ability to compete successfully for the most attractive sex partners. And using drugs would disturb my professional effectiveness, and the amount of income I can generate. But financial independence, and the prospect of a material windfall for the female sexual partner, are important factors in the charming game.
The point is: if a society doesn't let its youth know that pursuing sexual satisfaction is the essence of life, and instead tries to steer its youth towards religions, or traditional family values, or a petty bourgeois future, then dissatisfied youngsters will always try drugs.
The drugs problems of the US and other countries, won't be solved by drying out the supply of heroin, cocaine, or marihuana. If the supply of these traditional and natural drugs will be suppressed totally, then people will develop and use synthetic drugs.
And when the supply even of these alternatives would be completely suppressed, then people would turn to pharmaceuticals with psychotropic effects, or to local mushrooms, or to whatever allows them to escape their boring and unsatisfying everyday lives. Whether these options are any less dangerous, or any less unhealthy, hasn't been scientifically decided yet.
But one can turn the issue any way one wants. The drug "problem" will only be solved when societies and states support their youths in seeking happiness and satisfaction in accordance with their biological determination, and this means: satisfaction in sexual relationships, from an earlier age, in a higher frequency, and of greater variety.
Possibly the most important knowledge one can hold is to be aware of the most promising strategies for sexual relationships and sexual satisfaction. Such knowledge, taught in school, could be a strong anti-dote to the drug use of young people.
