Changes

A drug is a is a substance which has an effect on the body or mind.  This may be a positive effect in the case of medicines or negative as is the case with most illegal drugs.

A drug is a is a substance which has an effect on the body or mind.  This may be a positive effect in the case of medicines or negative as is the case with most illegal drugs.

==Illegal drugs==

==Illegal drugs==

Illegal drugs are drugs that the government has declared to be illegal. This is often based on a perception, true or otherwise, that such substances can potentially cause damage to a person's [[brain]] and other organs. Equally there is concern about the fact that most drugs cause [[addiction]]. There is much debate over the legalisation of drugs, people on both ends of the political spectrum are advocating for some drugs to be legalized while others on both ends are advocating for tougher penalties for possession of drugs. Some new age [[hippies]] believe drugs can separate one's body from one's soul, and native Americans believe drugs allow one to talk to trees; these are generally believed to be delusions caused by drugs' interference with neuro-activities in the brain.

Illegal drugs are drugs that the government has declared to be illegal. This is often based on a perception, true or otherwise, that such substances can potentially cause damage to a person's [[brain]] and other organs. Equally there is concern about the fact that most drugs cause [[addiction]]. There is much debate over the legalization of drugs, people on both ends of the political spectrum are advocating for some drugs to be legalized while others on both ends are advocating for tougher penalties for possession of drugs. Some new age [[hippies]] believe drugs can separate one's body from one's soul, and native Americans believe drugs allow one to talk to trees; current research <ref>http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~bhidalgo/litreview.htm</ref> in neuroscience has shown that psychedelic drugs can be used to induce religious experiences <ref>http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article1171389.ece</ref>.  

Those in favour of legalising drugs often argue that the negative social consequences, including gang warfare and the permiation of dangerously impure substances, are more to do with their prohibition than the drugs themselves.  Indeed, before the criminalisation of heroin in the UK it was no more than a trivial medical problem <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4647018.stm</ref>. Opponents of criminalisation also point to the [[Prohibition]] experiment in the USA, where  the illegality of alchohol caused problems of gang warfare and unsupervised distilleries that made worse the very problem that prohibition was intended to solve.

Those in favor of legalizing drugs often argue that the negative social consequences, including gang warfare and the permeation of dangerously impure substances, are more to do with their prohibition than the drugs themselves.  Indeed, before the criminalization of heroin in the UK it was no more than a trivial medical problem <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4647018.stm</ref>. Opponents of criminalization also point to the [[Prohibition]] experiment in the USA, where  the illegality of alcohol caused problems of gang warfare and unsupervised distilleries that made worse the very problem that prohibition was intended to solve.  

 

==Legal recreational drugs==

==Legal recreational drugs==

A small number of gateway drugs are legally tolerated in Western democracies.  These include [[alcohol]], [[nicotine]] and [[caffeine]], whereas other drugs which have less adverse affect on the body, such as [[ecstacy]], are banned due to their social stigma.

A small number of drugs are legally tolerated in Western democracies.  These include [[alcohol]], [[nicotine]] and [[caffeine]], whereas other drugs which have less adverse affect on the body, such as [[ecstacy]], are banned due to their social stigma.

==References==

==References==

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