[annesingleton]

I haven't looked at this thread before, it seems like it's caused some controversy!
My own experience from a professional standpoint is that amongst certain groups of young people there is a culture of substance misuse, mainly in the form of cannabis (skunk), alcohol and more recently 'bubble' or mephedrone which was initially sold under the guise of a plant food and only recently made illegal.
I won't talk about alcohol which is legal to use, but with regard to the two illegal substances I've mentioned, there appear to be no positive effects. In my experience they cause people to become demotivated, paranoid, violent, unable to think clearly or function properly on a day to day basis and have a negative and destructive influence on family life. Additionally there is a link to criminality because their need to access substances leads them to burgle properties both domestic and non domestic, to act impulsively which can lead to breaking into cars and stealing property from them or 'joyriding', and to respond with violence when under the influence of substances.
I know that alcohol can have similar effects but as I said previously it is not illegal to consume.
In my experience there are no positives to using drugs and it would be a very foolish move to legalise them.