Quote Originally Posted by Bill View Post

However, the social and political climate makes it non-pc to say that alcohol is more dangerous than illegal drugs.
No, it would actually be that the above statement, as already discussed, is not supported by the facts that makes it non-PC to say it.

The biggest danger from illegal drugs is caused by their being illegal - so there's no quality control, there's a dangerous criminal economy, and people behave fearfully and covertly, and can't legitimately seek medical help without risking their freedom and security.
This statement is simply not supported by the facts, and in this case the data is voluminous, from unimpeachable sources, and consistent over almost 100 years of data collection.

If your statement were correct, then why, after the lengthy experiment with legalization by both the Netherlands and Switzerland did both countries opt to re-criminalize?

Simple. In Switzerland, addiction rates skyrocketed, public health resources were strained, and crime increased due to the inability of the new addicts to pay for their addictions.

Opiates were legal in the US until the early 1900s, when the addictive nature of the drugs and the societal damages caused as a result became clear. Other countries followed suit.

If this were simply a political problem, then more socially liberal countries would have legalized the use of recreational drugs. But none have done so, and the ones that have legalized or decriminalized have, pretty much without exception, moved back toward recriminalization because legalization simply doesn't work and creates greater public health and safety problems.

But, I recognize that this isn't a conversation that can be held rationally.
Well, I think what you actually mean is conversations can't be held rationally when one party is presenting unsupported opinions as fact and the other side persists in interfering with the "rational" conversations by providing pesky facts that contradict the opinions.

I'm not arguing in favor of or against legalization or criminalization of drugs, nor am I in any way trying to defend alcohol as "better" than drugs. Both are dangerous, both can have severe side effects. But the data is clear on which substances pose the greater risks as far as addiction and health risks.