It is definitely habit forming, although psychologically rather than physically
I've smoked it more or less every day for ten years, and I go to pieces without it! I'm also not sure about this statistic that it's getting stronger; some studies seem to indicate it is, some not - but in the 60s I don't think any of it was grown hydroponically, and that certainly makes it stronger.

On the age thing No3L, surely that's another argument for legalisation though? Shops are much more likely to ask for ID (I get asked for ID for alcohol every bloody time I buy it!) than are drug dealers. It would perhaps make it harder for younger people to get hold of it.

I'm with Enzyme in that I think all drugs should be legalised, and the problems they may cause dealt with separately. It's a simple chain of logic in my mind:

Doing heroin - fine, you're not harming anyone but yourself, and it should be up to you to choose your leisure activities.

Robbing grannies to pay for said heroin - not cool, and obviously so. But why demonise the drug rather than the robbing?

Does anyone else remember a study into heroin that came out a few years ago? They found large amounts of professional people holding down well-paid white collar jobs who took heroin to unwind at the weekends. They all held down their jobs, turned up every day, and chose to spend some of their hard-earned on a mind-bending substance. Who's the victim in that scenario? The study caused a lot of controversy at the time for going against the generally accepted 'wisdom'.

The comparisons with alcohol are interesting - if alcohol was discovered/invented today it would definitely be a class A drug. The reasons behind it being legal are largely historical (i.e. everyone knows how to make it, so criminalising it would only lead to lost revenue. See America's failed experiment in the 1920s).
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Mon 26 Jan 2009, 11:18, Reply)