To many people, drug use carries with it a stigma of immoral and otherwise unsavory behavior. Drug users are looked down upon in society, imprisoned, and outcast for the most part if they don't seek the help they need. But why is drug use seen as immoral?
The most immoral thing ( when you forget about the laws ) when it comes to drug use is, at least by my thoughts, self-harm. Substances such as alcohol, opiates, and benzodiazepines like Valium all carry with them the risk for physical addiction and with continued use, physiological damage as well as psychological dependance. Other substances like stimulants, including meth-amphetamine and cocaine cause intense psychological dependance which, although it lacks the disturbing and sometimes deadly consequences of physical withdrawal symptoms, can be almost as dangerous. Other substances, namely psychedelics such as THC, LSD, and salvia have little if any physically addictive characteristics, but smoking marijuana or salvia could damage the lungs, and kill brain cells. Also, the powerful psychedelic effects of LSD (which has been proven to be less toxic than asprin) or salvia could bring on manic episodes or possibly bring out underlying mental health issues such as schizophrenia. Clearly, drugs do cause harm when they are used and therefore it could be seen as immoral to take them, from a personal point of view, or perhaps from someone close to a user.
But by that logic, it could be immoral to eat fast food, take OTC medicines, smoke cigarettes, and many other things that are not viewed as harshly, or punished as brutally as illicit drug use. This is why the self-harm argument is flawed. People do things that are unhealthy all the time, with little consequence but the physical ones that manifest because of their activity. Should we imprison everyone on the grounds that they are being destructive to themselves? Who are we to determine what one does with their own body?
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