Right now, we have access to many sources of information about narcotics, but no easy method to verify their truth or reliability. Like most children, I grew up hearing about the evils of drugs. For a time, I believed the government-sponsored campaigns implicitly, even though I had never tried any drugs myself.

But as I grew older, it became increasingly difficult to believe in the government’s perspective on drugs. Fallacies in logic and explanation became more and more obvious.

A good and recent example would be the latest government attempt to stamp out drugs by linking drug money to terrorists — while completely ignoring the fact that the gas people use in their sport utility vehicles is a much greater source of terrorist funding.

After looking through a number of sources with many different biases, I have come to the conclusion that drugs are not quite the end of the world, as the government would like you to believe.

When I speak of drugs from here on, I am focusing mostly on marijuana — which, despite legislation, remains widespread in the United States and has yet to cause the collapse of our civilization.

However, my argument applies to other, perhaps more dangerous substances as well. Even for something that is so recognized as irredeemably dangerous as crack cocaine, I believe that instead of making it illegal, the government should educate the public about it and regulate its use. As citizens within a democracy, we should be given a choice, even if it is a choice to do something stupid.

A distinction has to be made between use and abuse. Anything can be abused. You would probably feel like shit after a 36-hour cocaine binge. But if you were to binge on chocolate for 36 hours straight, you would also be in bad shape.

It is important to point out that all the horror stories we hear are about drug abuse and not drug use. And we know for a fact that drugs can be used responsibly, or at least for an extended period of time without harm.

The bans on cocaine, opium and marijuana did not occur until the early 20th century. For hundreds of years before that, these substances were in widespread use without any serious problems. Coca-Cola, for example, contained cocaine until public opinion (but not any actual health problems) caused the manufacturers to remove it.

In fact, I would venture to say that the current level of risk for the modern drug addict is probably increased by the government’s attitude. Automobile accidents kill thousands of Americans every year, but instead of banning driving outright, the government regulates it by imposing speed limits and traffic rules and licensing procedures. If the government outlawed driving, manic motor junkies racing in remote locations with no formal driving lessons or access to reliable vehicular maintenance would be at a far greater risk of death by crashing than your average soccer mom driving her SUV.

The risk involved with illegal drugs is not just from their illegal status. However, we see from the examples of two legal drugs that it is a controllable danger. Today, cigarettes and alcohol are recognized to have serious health consequences, and alcohol in particular is recognized as the culprit for drunken violence and careless driving. Despite this, the vast majority of the population using these substances does so without problems. The drunkards and the lung cancer victims are caused by abuse — by drinking too much or smoking too heavily.

Given the government’s interest in seeing drugs eliminated and given the addicts’ interest in supporting their drug of choice, it is very difficult to know with any certainty just how dangerous these drugs really are. I am not going to debate the safety of popular illegal drugs, or even question the severity of their negative effects. But we know for a fact that they do not kill you instantaneously, since we still have addicts running around all over the place.

There is a history of drug use before the bans that occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. Additionally, there is the modern example of countries such as Holland and Sweden, which have yet to descend into an anarchy of rape and murder despite having provided legal access to many drugs to their citizens for many years. However, society won’t disintegrate with widespread and harmless drug use.