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With many substances the legal risks are incomparably higher than the health risks. But it's not even the point. The illegality simply makes safer/more predictable substances much harder to obtain.

You've never been extremely depressed, I take it? Most people pursuing altered stars of consciousness are deeply unhappy and don't feel like they are risking anything.

You shouldn't have been downvoted - your comment is pertinent.

The problem is that drug control started with banning rather harmless drugs - marijuana, peyote, shrooms. And these are still the gateway drugs for most people. So the first thing one learns is that drugs aren't really risky (and much less than alcohol that everyone is tasting!), and that media is lying. From there it is a slippery-slope. Only some users feel confident enough to try riskier drugs.

Also, as MarkPNeyer said, a lot of drug users are rather depressed.

Drink driving laws? Plenty of people seem very happy to take the risk that they are still a "good driver" after a few drinks, but many are deterred by the legal consequences.