ABSTRACT
For reasons which have very little to do with their pharmacology, potency or ‘dangerousness’, and a great deal to do with accidents of history, geography and politics, we find ourselves in a situation where legal sanctions are applied differentially to psychoactive substances. The first group of such substances may be legally used, legally sold, distributed and under certain conditions advertised, and Governments receive revenue from their sale. A second set of psychoactive substances, however, are illegal, manufactured under variable and frequently uncontrolled conditions, distributed and used clandestinely, and no government revenue is obtained.
