I’d say cocaine is the upper class drug of choice. Regardless, alcohol is every classes drug of choice. The debate over whether the government is hypocritical or not kind of ignores the reality that British voters don’t want alcohol banned. So the government isn’t going to ban it. Which is broadly what you’d want a government to do!

Alcohol is the deadliest and has the biggest social costs of any drug. Nicotine is second, heroin is a distant third.

Drugs that are largely harmless, like MDMA, are illegal with heavy penalties.

Drug policy is largely nonsense and rampantly hypocritical.

MDMA is a lot more acutely dangerous than nicotine, and somewhat moreso than alcohol. If you drink too much, you'll vomit, and for the most part be fine. Obviously that not always true (I'm sure everyone knows at least one person who had to have their stomach pumped in college), but for the vast majority of users, their body's natural defense against being poisoned works fine.

An MDMA overdose, however, needs active, external cooling to ride out. We don't really have a natural safety valve for overconsumption.

That's not to say it should remain banned (I'm quite pro-legalization myself), but it's not entirely arbitrary to have MDMA banned versus other, less acutely dangerous drugs. Better examples of unjustifiably banned drugs are psychedelics such as LSD.

Mdma is 100% proven to be neurotoxic... Ie it kills braincells.

As the US found out, alcohol is very very hard to ban because it is very very easy to make.

Also popular and part of the culture. Jesus turned water into wine but didn't pop out for 20 Marlboro.

Weed and tobacco are also very easy to make. They literally grow on trees[1].

[1] Technically, herbaceous plants.

Really in the case of tobacco, (almost) no one is going to grow it. It's a massive pain in the ass when most people are addicted to the nicotine. Synthetic nicotine in vapes are what would be black marketed these days.

It's way easier to ship as well discreetly, borderline impossible to seize in reality, which is probably one of the reason in SEA they are about to ban vaping, it's really a huge gateway to transport anything, very rarely LE is opening open and testing what the vape contains, so transporting large amount of any substances has never been easier.

Weed and tobacco smoking are also easy to detect by people who don't want secondhand smoke. And if it were illegal, they could report it.

> Upper classes drug of choice

You're joking me. It costs more in Australia for a pack of cigarettes than it does for multiple beers or even a bottle of decent wine.

Alcohol is not the upper classes drug of choice, its all classes drug of choice.

At least alcohol produces side effects that people enjoy. Smoking pretty much only has negative side effects once you get hooked.

Have you ever smoked? I feel like I only hear this sentiment from people that have never tried nicotine.

Nicotine absolutely produces effects that people enjoy. Smokers don't just do it because they want to smell bad and look cool.

Is there proof that the positive effects are still there after you're hooked? Or are the "positive effects" at that point just a cessation of the negative effects of withdrawal?

Yes, absolutely. It's a stimulant, similar to caffeine. Just like how nearly everyone adjusts their caffeine consumption based on the situation (got to buckle down, drink an extra cup of coffee), people do the same with nicotine. It also still works as an appetite suppressant.

Now, the euphoric effects that you get at first, those very rapidly go away with tolerance. With habitual use, you probably only experience a tiny shadow of that with the first hit of the day, or a respectable replay if for whatever reason you go a couple days without (which is heightened by the cessation of withdrawal). The nausea and disorientation also go away, which is nice since otherwise it would be a problem.

We need objective research into subjective effects to really say either way, but such things to me are worth knowing

Yes, I smoked for a decade. The only noticeable effect it produces after a while is providing relief from nicotine withdrawal symptoms. It does feel similar to regaining focus or calming your nerves, so smokers trick themselves into thinking that's what it actually does. Nicotine is also way, way more addictive than alcohol. I've gone months without alcohol with almost no mental effort but day 3 of quitting smoking was probably one of the most miserable and challenging of my life.

Just ban smoking indoors then