maybe we could even take a step back and ask the more fundamental question: why is drug use even a problem in the first place?

why not just shrug the issue away? their lives belong to them. they can do what they want.

a christian might find that appalling. but, you see, i don't actually disagree at all - in theory, that is actually my perspective on the thing: people ought to be able to do what they want to their own bodies. sure. so, then, legalize it, right?

the problem arises when people do what they want to their own bodies, and then show up at a hospital asking for help. at that point, it's no longer about what they're doing to their own bodies, it's about what they're costing society. and, for me, that is what the problem with drug use actually is: the wasted resources that it costs society. and, with opiates particularly, there's not a way to use them that doesn't end up with the user in the hospital, wasting society's resources. we don't have to do this experiment over and over again. we know what the result is - and should consequently ban the use of the substances.

you'll notice that things like the sanctity of life, or the soul of the individual do not enter my reasoning at any step. i don't even reject them, in my reasoning. i just don't even consider them.

do you see how the difference really is religion?