The acts themselves aren't; introducing external, man-made chemicals to invoke those are usually unnatural though - as in, the body doesn't make them themselves in such quantities. You know what I mean.
Recreational drugs shouldn't be a problem though, as long as the user is aware of its effects and doesn't go overboard. Heavier stuff like heroin should remain illegal though.
Many people who get on heroin got there because of an initial self-medication for some underlying issue. Heroin usage was rampant in Vietnam. Once the troops came back, the heroin use went away. Opioids aren't simple drugs.
For the "addicts", the primary problem is not the drug - it's the prohibitive acrobatics to mental health care, medication, and ongoing maintenance. No wonder why most people on methadone (mu-opioid maintenance) are below the poverty line - they didn't get adequate help early enough.
The minuscule percentage of psychiatric practitioners who accept the government health plans place them on separate low-priority waiting lists.
Street drugs are more accessible and affordable because we are just that stunningly bad at providing effective on-going psychiatry to the poor.
We've chosen to criminalize the victims of this catastrophic failure and claim they are at fault for not succeeding with a system they can't afford, don't have access to, and doesn't want them.
Why should heroin remain illegal? People consume heroin like crazy in hospitals and very few become addicted.
Why keep it illegal? Why not heavily control it. Do something along the lines of; if you want to use heroin recreationally you must also attend 10 counselling sessions at your own cost to reduce the possibility of addiction.
> People consume heroin like crazy in hospitals and very few become addicted.
That's a poor argument. People consume heroin and opiate medication like crazy outside hospital, and quite. Few of them become addicted.
The problem here is with inappropriate prescribing of increasing amounts of opiates for long term pain instead of better access to pain management clinics.
The problem here is with heroin doses that cost about a nickel to produce (barring government interference) being marked up 100x, forcing a life for addicts consumed entirely with a degrading pursuit of cash. A heavy heroin addict who has easy, cheap access to heroin is like anyone else with a mild chronic disease.
Heroin is one of the most harmful drugs to the user[1]. Its usage should not be encouraged by anybody, but heroin should absolutely be legal, heavily regulated, but legal. The VAST majority of heroin related deaths are just that, related to heroin but not caused by it.
Heroin is actually a remarkably safe drug in a clinical context, it does almost no long term damage. The main problems with it are that it is highly addictive, users rapidly develop a very high tolerance and it is fatal in overdose. Heroin overdose is very easy to treat, there is a antidote to heroin called Naloxone. If administered in time, it will almost certainly save the life of somebody who is overdosing on heroin.
People who use heroin die because they share needles and contract diseases such as HIV/AIDS. People who use heroin die because they do not use clean needles and get sepsis when they inject. People who use heroin die because they do not have pure heroin.
Heroin can be cut with both active and inactive substances. Some of the inactive substances used are toxic, they make accurate dosing, which is critical to using a drug with such a low ratio between fatal dose and active dose safely. Active cuts such as Fentanyl are equally dangerous[2], they make it impossible for the user to accurately dose.
I am not calling for heroin to be sold in super markets or off licences. What I am suggesting however is that for anybody who wants it, they can go to some sort of health center, be lectured about the harms, taught how to inject properly and how to administer Naloxone in an overdose situation and then be given a licence to buy heroin. The heroin would then be dispensed by pharmacies, it would come with an adequate supply of needles, Naloxone. Most importantly the heroin would be pure and unadulterated, in solution already.
There is now a much lower risk of overdose as it is far easier for a user to dose themselves. The heroin does not come with dangerous cuts. They will have an adequate supply of needles so there will be less needle sharing and less infectious disease[3].
The obvious argument against this radical approach is that it would increase heroin usage. There is no precedent for this kind of program so I cannot refute that claim with any certainty. From intuition however, I do not think there are many people where the only thing holding them back from using the drug is the current prohibition. I have not met a single person who has said "If heroin was legal I might start doing it". What I do know is under our current system of prohibition heroin usage has increased, deaths associated from it our sky-rocketing in recent years and the politicians current answer to the crises is harsher punishment for users and dealers despite that in the past, heavier punishments do not correlate with either lower use or less deaths. It is time to try something radically different, I would love to see a trial of this sort of system somewhere in the world.
Despite Queensland being rather draconian when it comes to drug laws, they have recently introduced naloxone available to anyone who does a one hour usage course and pays $5, at the same centre where you can get any amount of needles for free (and micron filters for very cheap). They also offer opiate replacement therapy (and benzodiazepine replacement and amphetamine replacement, though those are not well publicised). That centre is the reason why despite being a heroin addict for six years since I was 16, I've been clean for three and have zero health issues due to it. Why reuse needles when you can take 100 home? Anyway, good comment.
People act like losing consciousness to hours of vivid hallucinations is unnatural.
We have rooms and furniture dedicated to it. "This lovely house has 2 bathrooms and 3 hallucinations chambers - to prepare you for work!"
Make sure to get 8 hours of delirium in darkness every day to promote a healthy lifestyle.