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Asked by Emily B to Alex on 17 Mar 2015.
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Alexander Henderson answered on 17 Mar 2015:
Legal drugs – like medicines available in a chemists – have undergone significant testing and much is known about how they operate, when you need to take them and if a doctor needs to prescribe them. Consider paracetamol – we know how much to take and that it’s a mild pain killer, maybe helpful for when you have a headache. Medicines / drugs tend be illegal when they have harmful consequences and serve no real purpose for a healthy person, and unfortunately they tend to be addictive too. Generally little is understood about their long term effects as they have not been tested. Additionally, because they are illegal, they are unregulated and you could be taking unknown harmful chemicals.
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Comments
Peter commented on :
drugs are usually made illegal when it is believed people may abuse them. drugs such as morphine (which are used medicinally) are illegal to possess and to sell unless you have a prescription or licence as people may abuse it. so medicines may be made “illegal”