Debate Night: Soft Drugs

Humanity and intoxicating substances have a long and storied history together. From ancient brewing practices and the "spiritual" use of plants to modern synthetic drugs made in the lab and distributed through the dark web, we've come a long way with how we help ourselves get into an altered state of being. Societal attitudes towards intoxicants have been diverse; some consider indulgence a natural desire while others want to avoid it altogether. To what extent have they changed throughout the years?

Many people split drugs into two categories: hard drugs and soft drugs. Which drug falls in which category is a topic discussion, but some drugs (e.g. cannabis) are consistently put in the soft category while others (e.g. heroin) are consistently put in the hard category. Considering drugs like alcohol, which is a difficult one to categorize, is legal in the majority of countries, the question has been extended to the legalization of other drugs, most prominently cannabis. While the heroin legalization movement isn't getting any traction, a larger amount of places than before have liberalized their drug policy. Cannabis is currently legal in multiple countries on multiple continents, ranging from Canada to Uruguay to Germany to Thailand. Psychedelic mushrooms are available in the Netherlands and some US states. Some countries, such as Portugal, have decriminalized personal drug use.

However, many countries are holding out on legalization. The described benefits, such as reduced crime or reduced exposure to other drugs, haven't always proven true. The known drawbacks such as drug tourism remain an issue. New problems, such as increasingly stronger varieties of drugs coming onto the markets, have also complexified the discussion.

Long story short, the drug discussion is far from over. Join us at Brussels Debaters for what should be an interesting discussion on soft drugs and our relationship with them.