My favorite podcaster was talking about this issue in one of his recent podcasts. He pointed out that the inconsistencies regarding the legality and illegality of different drugs today voids any moral high ground authorities have when it comes to drug laws and drug law enforcement. He suggested a litmus test that all drugs—those currently legal and illegal—should be subjected to. Everything from addictive qualities to likelihood and severity of overdose. Once all drugs have been scrutinized under this test, there should be a line demarcating which drugs are dangerous enough to remain (or become) illegal. All drugs scoring a certain score or worse would be illegal. All others would be legal.
The other thing he suggested is that legislators address the real issue—people want to get high. For whatever reason, there is a huge market for consciousness-altering substances. The problem, and the reason they are often so deadly, is that because most mind-altering drugs are illegal, medical science can offer no research that may lessen the dangerous side-effects of these drugs. If scientists developed a drug with the desired effect of getting people high, with no side-effects, non habit-forming, and completely safe, it would be outlawed tomorrow.
If lawmakers were brave enough to acknowledge that this market exists, they might be able to do something about it. Since they are more worried about the next election cycle, we probably won’t see any real change anytime soon.