I don’t advocate the outlawing of tobacco, caffeine, or moderate alcohol BECAUSE those three items have centuries of history proving they are not a source of anti-social behaviors.
I don't think we interpret the phenomena the same way.
I don't see drugs as a source of any behavior, other than at the most basic level.
People decide to behave or not, this way or that, to pretend they don't have a choice, or to pretend that "the drug made me do it".
Where you see illegal drugs enslaving individuals, I see individuals pretending, often to themselves, that they are enslaved.
“I don’t see drugs as a source of any behavior, ‘
True, we have a different perspective.
First of all, I know that drugs lower inhibitions. While I don’t think they are an EXCUSE, since we do it to ourselves knowing the consequences, they change your perception of reality. They give you a high, “anything goes” attitude. And they make you irrational. This makes people around you very vulnerable, particularly dependents.
Secondly, they interfere with your basic motor skills. This makes people around you very vulnerable. Unless you are just sitting in your recliner.
Thirdly, they can make you unaware while awake or too deeply asleep when asleep. This makes those dependent upon you very vulnerable.
All of the above three points make you more dangerous to yourself, too, but of course that at least is just self-damage. While I don’t approve of it, it is sort of like suicide. You can’t really legislate against it. If someone wants to self-destruct badly enough, they will. I’d just make it illegal to help them along.
Fourthly, there is brain damage to varying degrees, depending on the drug, the intensity, the duration, etc. You may think, well, we get to damage our own brains if we want. However, brain damaged individuals need care. To suggest we leave them to rot in the compost of their own making is probably strictly libertarian, but not acceptable to me. I have a good friend who does genetic research on schizophrenia who has explained to me the nature of drug-induced psychosis. Most of the loonies who wander our big city streets were either drug abusers or were raised by drug abusers.
As to enslavement, I refer to addiction. Once you are physically or psychologically addicted to something, you are in slave status.