There is a large variety of recreational drugs available today and it is evident that they do not all have only detrimental effects. There are essentially two categories of drugs: mind expanding drugs and mind constricting drugs. It might also be useful to consider a category of drugs which are neither mind expanding or mind constricting, though, it would be difficult to find any recreational drugs which would fit in this category. The division of categories should be based on how the drug affects intellectual stimulation. The drugs in the mind expanding category should broaden the scope of perception and knowledge for t

9. Wilson, James Q. "Against the Legalization of Drugs." Reprinted in H. LaFollette. Ethics in Practice: An Anthology. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1997).

There are drug users who do not commit crimes, they take drugs recreationally, like alcohol, and go to clubs or parties or concerts during their free time. These users are feeling persecuted and discriminated against with the severe laws that exist in many countries today regarding drugs. They argue that the health risks of using many drugs are much lower than the risks of competitive and extreme sports. Legalizing mind expanding drugs would eliminate many of these pleads because most of the people who are taking drugs before they go out dancing and such are not taking mind constricting drugs. In the cases where they are though, it is fair to say that in most cases, their lack of contribution to society is inevitably going to cause criticism and it may not be so out of line. It is not the government's duty to take care of people who made themselves sick by using substances which are illegal and if it has been decided that mind constricting drugs should be illegal then that is a warning not to take it. If they don't like the consequences, then they shouldn't use drugs. There are more and more organizations being created to inform and educate people on drugs, especially in Europe. Users are not being ignored any longer. At Berlin's annual technofest, Love Parade, Eve & Rave staff tended dancers who had bad trips, and social workers dispensed legal advice and kits to check ecstasy tablets and amphetamines for purity. The German Health Ministry has even asked Eve & Rave to design a plan for pill-testing at parties. More and more of these types of organizations are springing up everywhere and hopefully, every country will eventually have groups like this.

The argument that drug use is a victimless crime and therefore should not be illegal is one of the stronger ones for legalizing all drugs, including mind constricting drugs. John Stuart Mill said that users who commit crimes should be punished for "real" crimes such as stealing or murdering, and not for using drugs. But what about the fact that, as Burroughs said, an addict will do anything to satisfy their need? It is not the users fault that s/he is committing the crime, it is the drug's fault and had the user not consumed the drug, s/he wouldn't have committed the crime. Furthermore, drug use is not a victimless crime except in the extreme case when a person consumes the drug in complete privacy and even then, the person's personality might be altered and this could victimize the person's friends, family and co-workers. In cases such as using angel dust, where the user becomes violent, the victim is obvious. In cases where a pregnant women uses mind constricting drugs, such as crack, she gives birth to crack babies (30,00-50,000 crack babies are born every year) and is statistically more likely to abuse her infants than mothers not using crack. Anyone using certain mind constricting drugs is more likely to abuse their children and less likely to fulfill their familial and social obligations . Mill said that "if he refrains from molesting others in what concerns them... he should be allowed, without molestation, to carry his opinions into practice at his own cost." Evidently, he, the user, is not "refraining from molesting others in what concerns them" in most cases. Furthermore, mind constricting drugs in themselves victimize users and therefore should not be legal.

Using mind constricting drugs leads to immoral outcomes and therefore, mind constricting drugs must be illegal in order to at least minimize the amount of such outcomes. Making mind constricting drugs illegal prevents people from using substances which can only lessen one's quality of life and inevitably, destroy many societies. The use of mind expanding drugs cannot produce direct or indirect immoral outcomes and in fact educates the user. Drugs that are mind expa

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