This is the crazy thing about this whole issue. Some people can use drugs that are extremely harmful responsibly. It's a once-in-a-while excursion away from ordinary life. There's nothing wrong with having a scary drug, like heroin, a few times a year...except that for some people it leads to their entire life unraveling.

This idea that we're all the same and because drugs are physically addictive (i.e., sustained use leads to withdrawal of use ceases) means everyone would become addicts if they tried it is a D.A.R.E. style falsehood. It's true for some, but seemingly not most.

Even drugs/activities that don't seem physically very addictive, like pot and gambling, seem to have their addicts. I question what proportion of addiction is chemical and what is something deeper going on.

It's a pity though. I don't think I'm prone to addiction, but for the sake of my fellow humans and a functioning society I reluctantly accept that these things shouldn't be widely accessible. I've become much more of a prohibitionist as I've gotten older.

I appreciate the selflessness and pragmatism. Many responsible users are much more dismissive of prohibition.

It seems selfless but not pragmatic. Prohibition doesn't seem to make the opiate problem smaller, it just makes it more dangerous for users, the public, and the people selling it.