Especially substances like psychedelics which cause a paradigm shift in thought processes and and make you question things. Drugs by big pharma that keep people doing those 12 hour factory shifts on the other hand so that more shit can be made are exactly what the system wants.
I used to think opinions like this were wildly paranoid, but I've since become convinced that there is indeed a movement, even if not as conspiratorial as some claim, by those in power to keep the masses uninformed, uneducated, and closed minded. It can't be denied that those in power can only benefit by maintaining the status quo. Altered states of consciousness are innately subversive.
I don't think there is an overriding conspiracy. I think it largely stems from politicians and papers years ago creating an artificial enemy in our midst to justify electing them or buying their papers, and it has just spread like wild fire and spiralled out of control. The people believe the shit that was, and continues, to be fed to them, the politicans promise to do something, and the cycle repeats. The cat is out of the bag, and I think in a generation or two we will see the majority of the population knowing that it's bullshit.
I agree with everything up until your last sentence. Both intention and accident have led to the current state of affairs, which have now become a status quo that must be maintained. So many government workers, politicians and the media all depend on drugs being illegal. Not only do they have much to lose, but even if these sectors wanted to legalise drugs, it would be an upward battle with no clear beginning. Unfortunately, I think people who think like we do remain a tiny, essentially insignificant minority and I don't see that changing anytime soon if ever.
Drugs, in my mind, are essentially illegal because people with power said to themselves "I don't like this, and I don't like other people taking this, so I will make it illegal to do such things". Whether it's bad for you or not, doesn't matter. It comes down to principle, and the right to make you're own decisions and make you're own mistakes.
This is really what it boils down to. But I'm not sure if it's just people with power who have this controlling mindset or if people in general share it. In my personal experience, people who believe in the true civil rights of the individual are the exception not the rule. Sadly, it seems to me most people don't actually believe in fundamental freedom.
Because some people who really should avoid them go out and get fucked up causing a visible disturbance in society. Whether it is losing their shit on the tube, robbing houses to feed an addiction or just plain deciding not to go to work, they all contribute to the negative perception of drug use. If we could some how prevent just the 5% of drug users who ruin it for every one else, and the rest of us just keep it on the down low and trip quietly when surrounded by a
playground of "norms" there wouldn't be the need to try and enforce prohibition. Unfortunately the ones who would be banned are likely to piss and moan that it isn't fair so we are pretty much damned if we do so to speak.
I liked it better when drug use was more of an exclusive club of cool kids in the know. Now you have people taken psychs for example who have no right to be playing with their feeble brains.
Up until that last part I completely agree. Unavoidably, those who abuse privileges (in this case adult substance use) will always attract more attention than those who don't. Just like the news only reports negative incidents and never mentions the far more common lack of negative incidents. There's nothing newsworthy about functional normality.
You do, btw, realise that claiming some people 'have no right' to use a class of drugs is the same attitude shared by those who want to keep drugs illegal. Either you believe every person should be able to choose, or you don't. It's not about the consequences, but the right to choose in the first place. If every right depended on the possibility of a negative outcome as opposed to the principle, nothing would be legal.