prohibition

last night i was thinking (euphomism for stoned ) and i was thinking about prohibition and suddenly i saw it from another perspective. i have always been up to this point totally against prohibition in all its forms i think that it causes far more problems that in prevents and is a waste of time and money for all concerned, not to mention a breach of basic civil rights, however i was thinking about it and i never thought of it this way before;

all drugs do have, shall we say side effects. they are all damaging, even if the damage is very very minimal, ie pot. basically doing that to yourself isnt gonna be good for you. if there was any other product on the market that had any of the side effects that you get from taking drugs, there would be a public outcry, like if there was a food that made you cough more than usual and wake up with a bit of a hazy head in the morning, watchdog would be all over it, and it would be forced out of shops... its the same with drugs, the authorities that ban things are appointed to look after the public interest and in the culture we live in where everyone is held publically accountable for their actions, its not worth allowing a product on to the market which carries with it health risks of any kind no matter how minimal. its just not worth it for the people in a position to make a difference as they could lose their job, their reputation, anything.

especially if they did legalise a drug, and then a few years down the line scientific studies showed severe health risks, they would be in a LOT of trouble.

while i was typing that i actually did realise that there are a lot of problems with that perspective, and it hasnt changed my view point at all, i am still totally in favour of legalisation of all drugs (i dont think all drugs should be widely available, i dont think id be comfortable if i could buy crack at tesco, but you know what i mean)

anyway..... any thoughts?