> The government has aggressively banned all highs, which are clearly a pretty standard part of human behavior.
Amusingly, we keep inventing new drugs to "fix" the old ones, discovering that they're just as bad (if not worse), and rinse/repeating.
Believe it or not, heroin was originally sold by Bayer (yes, as in "aspirin") as a "safer, less addictive" alternative to morphine. Both drugs were very commonly used as cough medicine (as was morphine's predecessor, laudanum).
Now, of course, we know that heroin is actually rather addictive, and instead we treat heroin addiction with other opiates that have a similar effect[0]. And so the cycle continues.
[0] Usually which bind to the same receptors, to reduce issues of withdrawal.
Actually we've got a lot better since then, and know a lot more about the neuroscience of addiction. Longer acting opiates are better at treating addiction and helping people get free of it - see suboxone.
The belief that heroin or cocaine cause addiction has been seriously challenged for a while, you should read "The Myth of Drug-Induced Addiction", the speech to Senate of Canada by Bruce K. Alexander of rat park fame.
While rat park is fascinating, it's not the only part of the picture by a long way, and his views aren't exactly mainstream even amongst controversial and outspoken drug scientists like Prof Nutt.
I would be very hesitant to call addiction a myth when we can measure it, and measure the relative addictivity of various substances.
Bruce K Alexander has some interesting views and some unteresting data but AFAICT has failed to really prove his case or overthrow the current models.
Amusingly, we keep inventing new drugs to "fix" the old ones, discovering that they're just as bad (if not worse), and rinse/repeating.
Believe it or not, heroin was originally sold by Bayer (yes, as in "aspirin") as a "safer, less addictive" alternative to morphine. Both drugs were very commonly used as cough medicine (as was morphine's predecessor, laudanum).
Now, of course, we know that heroin is actually rather addictive, and instead we treat heroin addiction with other opiates that have a similar effect[0]. And so the cycle continues.
[0] Usually which bind to the same receptors, to reduce issues of withdrawal.