Hard and soft drugs



Hard and soft drugs are loose categories of psychoactive drugs. This distinction is used in both official and casual discourse. The term hard drug generally refers to drugs illegal for nonmedical use that lead to profound and severe addiction, as opposed to soft drugs that are not addictive at all.

A large part of the distinction is a subjective, socially conceived notion of the consequences of usage for each drug. Depending on context, a particular drug can be categorized in many different ways for many different reasons. Even though there is a distinct difference between hard drugs and soft, many nations around the world continue to discourage soft drug use and refuse to recognize the clear distinction between the two. Surprisingly, some hard drugs are legal in most parts of the world (such as alcohol and nicotine) and soft drugs are illegal (such as cannabis and LSD) which has led to some controversy.

Hard drugs
Examples of hard drugs include heroin, morphine, cocaine, methamphetamine, alcohol, and nicotine (tobacco). Drugs in this group are generally described as being physically addictive, easier to overdose on, and/or posing serious health and social risks, including death. Most, if not all, of these drugs are stimulants or depressants. Curiously, some of these drugs (alcohol and tobacco) can be freely purchased by adults; some can be purchased only with a doctor's prescription, and two (heroin and cocaine) are generally illegal, although cocaine is sometimes used legally as a local anesthetic and heroin is legally used as an analgesic in some countries: most importantly, the United Kingdom. A few analgesics even stronger than heroin—notably, fentanyl—are widely used in the U.S., but are usually administered directly by doctors.

In between "hard drugs" and "soft drugs"
Not all drugs fit under the "hard drug" or "soft drug" label. Examples of these include MDMA, Ketamine and caffeine. MDMA shares some features with soft drugs in that it doesn't produce physical addiction. Some studies however say that it might be psychologically addictive, though such a claim is very controversial in the medical community. It is also easier to overdose on than many soft drugs, though not as much as many hard drugs. However detrimental physical effects are not usually reported on MDMA, except damage to serotonin receptors in the brain (though some studies show that serotonin receptors recover in time). MDMA alone also produces fewer than 10 deaths per year, which is far lower than most other drugs.

Caffeine, although legal and unregulated in nearly all jurisdictions, does have a mild addiction potential (both physical and psychological) that can lead to caffeinism. Its overdose potential is also higher than that of soft drugs, though nowhere near hard drugs. If used often, caffeine can also give rise to bodily stress, ulcers, and irregular heartbeat, which can sometimes lead to death, though more deaths occur from overdose. Despite this, caffeine is still safer than most hard drugs. Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world.

Soft drugs
Examples of soft drugs include cannabis, mescaline, psilocybin, and LSD. MDMA and caffeine are sometimes included as soft drugs, see above. The term soft drug is most usually applied to cannabis (marijuana or hashish) because it is not associated with deaths, crime, or violence amongst users, and is without evidence of physical addiction. Cannabis has been studied at the University of California, Los Angeles, and it was shown that a lung cancer link isn't evident in the studies. This distinction between soft drugs and hard drugs is important in the drug policy of the Netherlands, where cannabis production, retailing and use come under official tolerance, subject to certain conditions. Other drugs such as psilocybin mushrooms and LSD are also considered soft drugs by many because there is no evidence of physical addiction, and a toxic overdose on these substances requires in some cases, hundreds of times a normal dose. However, it is possible for one to take more than one is psychologically capable of handling which leads to dangerous situations and negative experiences.