Why are mood-altering substances always controlled substances, even if they aren't addictive,

[raccoon]

cause no provable harm, etc? (At least in our society they are.)

Please explain this to me as you would to a fifth-grader (or younger). I have an idea but I'd like to hear what others have to say.

[ThomWV]

1. Possibly because if your mood is altered you can not fully appreciate the sweet baby Jesus

Or you may become crazed and begin raping blond haired boys and girls.

[skepticscott]

2. They aren't always controlled

Are caffeine, alcohol and nicotine controlled? Is chocolate controlled?

Now what was your question again?

[EstimatedProphet]

3. Good point

Only specific mood-altering substances are controlled.

[madokie]

6. Caffeine and nicotine are mood altering substances?

Chocolate too?

[Fumesucker]

9. What, you've never dealt with someone trying to quit cigarettes?

Or someone who is worthless before their second cup of coffee?

Edited for speling.

[madokie]

12. Neither seemed to be mind altering

i quit the cigarettes on 8/14/77 but still drink coffee but I don't have to have it and its not a mood altering drug for me. sometimes I drink coffee sometimes not, most time do but when I don't I don't feel a difference. color me 'cornfused'

[Fumesucker]

20. People don't *have* to have lots of mood altering substances..

Nicotine is about as addictive as heroin and yet you quit in '77.

Alcohol is strongly mood altering but people who are not addicted don't *have* to have it either.

Cannabis is strongly mood altering but most people can quit even regular use without any great effort, certainly far from the anguish that many people have quitting a tobacco habit.

Caffeine is an alkaloid that's chemically similar to cocaine and it is indeed mood altering for many people, like I said, you don't know anyone who changes their mood after a couple of cups of coffee?

[skepticscott]

11. In a word, yes

[eShirl]

24. Yes.

[eShirl]

23. alcohol and nicotine are controlled in the sense they are regulated

even if they aren't classified under "Controlled Substances"

[skepticscott]

25. Well, everything we eat, drink

and take as medicine is regulated in some way or other, so if that's what the original poster meant by "controlled" then their statement wouldn't make any sense. Presumably they meant "controlled" in the more limited sense of scheduled drugs.

[ejpoeta]

4. because then how will the pharma companies make money

[dkf]

5. Yup

[raccoon]

7. I think #1 and #4 are good points. I think it's because the powerful

perceive people who are high as being more difficult to control and possibly disruptive to the social order.

[RKP5637]

8. It's all about money. There's money made by pharmaceutical companies, money made by

law enforcement and money made by building prisons, lawyers, the whole bit.

Keeping things that are harmless illegal and then lots of punitive measures makes lots of money for all involved. Anything that happens in this country is about money. In the US it's the only thing that counts and it sucks, but just follow the money trail, as usual, in the US and you'll see why.

Also we have all of the god-stuff in this country. A good christian doesn't do anything evil and all of that crap. It's a sick place in many respects.

[TexasObserver]

10. So prescription drug companies can overcharge for them.

So you have to get a permission slip from a doctor, enabling our for-profit health care system to be bought off by Big Pharm.

So the for-profit prison system can have new residents in their private prisons.

So the police will have one more reason to arrest you.

[Lint Head]

13. So we can be controlled. So we will not get the idea

that the corporate theocrats running everything are liars and thieves.

[bluedave]

14. slaves

It had something to do with the lack of enthusiasm of the slaves while using pot and coke--rich bastards weren't happy unless they were working like dogs.

[librechik]

15. because govt is stupid, authoritarian and controlled by pharmaceutical cartels

among other, who profit handsomely from the situation (and those criminal elements who like to keep certain drugs illegal for their own profit) And once govt has decided something it is very very very difficult to make it change.

[w8liftinglady]

16. OK..humor me a sec.

first-let me say I am totally for legalization of marijuana.
That being said,I have seen what happens when patients become addicted due to careless prescribing...especially diet pills and barbituates.
This is a list of restricted medications..and it's long...some are stupid,but they have been used as a basis to convert to meth or other schedule 1 drugs.I used anabolic steroids in the late 90's,as did every other powerlifter and bodybuilder I know...but they were abused and had some deadly side effects.I've cared for an infinite amount of patients on almost every drug listed here...so feel free to ask,and let me know the specific drugs you are talking about...

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/scheduling.html

[raccoon]

17. I was mainly thinking of marijuana. Also, I got to thinking the other day, what if some

other everyday plant, that grows all over the place...was found to make you high? Say kudzu. It would be made illegal very quickly and the government would launch an all-out war to eliminate it.

Now, in this hypothetical case, we wouldn't know about long term effects of the use.

But of course marijuana has been around for centuries.

I think TPTB just don't want people to get high. And there are other factors involved, which other posters have pointed out.

[w8liftinglady]

18. In the case of marijuana...you're right-they haven't figured out

how to get rich off it.They did create marinol...but it was very weak and ineffective as compared to marijuana.In Texas,it used to be fairly easy to get pot,and a lot of docs would look the other way-especially with cancer patients,as it is effective in many ways as far as helping patients.

[Fumesucker]

21. Alcohol will get you *higher* than cannabis..

The alcohol buzz is different but really even more powerful than pot..

So it's not that TPTB don't want you getting high, you just have to get high on the drug(s) they approve of.

Nicotine is also strongly mind altering when you first start using it, acclimation happens very rapidly though, that's one of the reasos it's so addictive.

[kctim]

19. As to a fifth-grader?

Because they impair you're judgement and make you act like an idiot.

[Juche]

22. Not all are illegal

However once one becomes popular enough that government finds out about it it tends to become illegal.


As a WAG I would say because we have a mind-body division in our society and the concept that our minds can be so deeply affected by physical chemicals is something people are uncomfortable with because people want to believe the mind is ether-like and separate from the brain. So mental illness is ridiculed and drugs are banned.

I wonder if more humanist societies have more tolerant attitudes on these things.