Good question. Some drugs are illegal because they really are dangerous. Some are illegal because they are so easy to find and confiscate that they allow the illusion that a "war on drugs" is being won (I am thinking, of course, of marijuana, which aside from being a relatively benign recreational drug, is also possessed of many medicinal benefits). Cocaine and heroin and crack and crystal meth are far more serious problems in America yet for some reason people caught with a few joints or an ounce of pot get tehn years in prison.

I think there are plenty of drugs that are readily available with a doctor's prescription that are teribly addictive and harmful (like some of the narcotic pain relievers, oxycontin, demerol, oxycodone, etc.); and then drugs that are available over the counter which are overused and abused by consumers and over time can cause health problems (like laxatives, analgesics and cold medicines). And some items which are not manufactured or sold as drugs but which are very easy to obtain and are used to get a "high" and often cause illness and death (like inhalants).

Peg