# Why should we keep popular recreational use drugs illegal?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-keep-popular-recreational-use-drugs-illegal/825987>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 12, 2018, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-keep-popular-recreational-use-drugs-illegal/825987 "2018-12-12T07:52:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 7

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2019, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-keep-popular-recreational-use-drugs-illegal/825987/123 "2019-01-02T18:00:10Z")

</div>

> [@UltraVires](#):
>
> But heroin (and nicotine) are the opposite. Something like 90 plus percent of people become addicted to those substances after they begin using them. It is the rare person, probably 1 in 10, who can take or leave cigarettes, just smoking one here and there on occasion (cigars are a bit different because a smoker typically does not inhale).
> 
> try.

That’s funny, every cite I found put it closer to 25% than 90%. What was your source for that number?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2019, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-keep-popular-recreational-use-drugs-illegal/825987/124 "2019-01-03T04:15:22Z")

</div>

[This is an interesting first-hand account](http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1306-5-unexpected-things-i-learned-from-being-heroin-addict.html) of heroin use and dependency. I know, _Cracked_, but they do not seem to be devoted to satire, and they have been known to put out some seriously good material.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2019, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-keep-popular-recreational-use-drugs-illegal/825987/125 "2019-01-03T04:32:03Z")

</div>

Thank you for posting that link! I remember being astonished and grateful for it at the time, and I hope more people read and grok it.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-keep-popular-recreational-use-drugs-illegal/825987.md?page=6)