Recreational Drugs

A few years ago I had a massive spaz when I found out 90% of my friends smoked weed. Maybe I did grow up in a stifling conservative environment, I don't know, but back then I thought recreational drugs were like... the materialization of sin itself. Now I've gotten to the point where I'm heavily surprised if a friend says they've never used drugs in their life. Honestly, I still find drug use heavily confronting (when it's from people I know), and I still feel kinda of disappointed when my friends do it....(why would you do that to yourself), but I think I've learnt to be slightly more mature about it.

Having the time to grow up at my own pace, I've seen more of the world, and I've come to understand why people become addicted (just a little better). It doesn't excuse the appalling habit, but sometimes I'm like, "yeah, I get it". When you look around, the people who take drugs are just people like you and I, and you'd never know unless they told you. Humans are more complex than their addictions, I've realised that everyone has a backstory- some of them are just a series of tragedies, but others find success in unlikely places. People are more than their addictions, and it's hard to see that when people behave erratically due to their substance use.

Anyway, I find it appalling that people would support the state-sanctioned murder of drug users. Like holy fuck just because someone's addicted doesn't mean they're useless to society. I know so many high-functioning alcoholics. You probably know some too. Alcohol is pretty fucking bad for you, and that's legal. The illegal substances are yeah, terrible for your health, but it doesn't mean you get the right to kill someone because they snort some cocaine.

Am I too naive to believe that people have inherent worth? It's not that I haven't seen the wreckage some people can bring, and truly, there are terrible people out there. Maybe they don't have much rehab potential. Perhaps I shouldn't be so quick to criticize if I can't offer an alternative solution, but I just... I just feel like it's so wrong. Deep down, a part of me likes to believe that life is sacred, that there is a reason for our existence, even if we have to find and define our reason for existence for ourselves. Reading the Bible, I find it dissatisfying enough that God should have the right of judgment, so now I find it incredulous that humans are able to shroud themselves in such moral superiority over another that they would take away another's life, because they deem it not-worth-living.

I need a while more to reconcile how I feel about this topic. Admist all the helplessness I feel, I can still hear the child in me scream, "I want to change this world".