There is a big difference between drugs like alcohol and nicotine, which are extremely addicting and something like MDMA, which isn’t.
MDMA is much too intense of an experience to integrate into the daily life of most people and there isn’t really a craving to take more once it has worn off.
You try it first and feel that "MDMA magic". You try it again and yes, you still feel something pleasant but the magic is lost. Most probably forever.
I heard it many times and experienced myself.
In my late 20s MDMA did something wonderful for me. It was like going from BW interlaced 320p to TrueColor 4K.
But it was 3-5 times most. Every 2-3 years I tried again but no luck
If a drug intoxicates you, then it is bad.
Permanent reduction of brain cells? Accidents? Disproductivity?
Of course you would try to stretch that effect on to lots of causes. And then argue for the same treatment to those elements. But you got to know that is a logical fallacy.
I would argue the opposite, in many cases
And who wants to be productive 24/7? That just sounds miserable.
with drug use, harm reduction in the modern era is essential. pushing it away from the legal sphere means that people will not manage to reduce their harm as much.
all of this authoritarian shit doesn't stop people from doing things, it just stops them from doing it safely and getting help without being arrested.
diet sodas have aspartame which contains phenylalanine which can increase dopamine levels in the brain.
in this argument, tea, alcohol, diet soda, everything like that gets illegalized.
there's nothing wrong with intoxication, just being irresponsible with it and not reducing the harm you cause or suffer yourself through intoxication.
furthermore, amphetamine does the opposite of "lost productivity". so we should make that OTC by this merit? :p
everything meaningful is going to contain chemicals including those of a psychoactive nature or a nature that changes biochemistry, nothing will stop being chemicals.