Hard drug

Categories: Drugs | Medicine stubs

The term Hard drugs is only loosely defined but generally refers to illegal drugs that lead to physical addiction, as opposed to soft drugs, such as cannabis (marijuana / hashish), that are generally viewed as only psychologically addictive. The terms 'soft' and 'hard' drugs are mostly used by the media and in public debate and do not generally feature in legislation (with the exception of the Netherlands - see below) or medical literature.

The effects of a drug and the harms it may cause to an individual are mediated by the physiology and mental state of the user, the dose taken and the method of administration (smoked, eaten, snorted, injected). As such many in the drugs field acknowledge that any drugs can be harmful if misused, and it is the nature of the user and the nature of the use that defines the level of harm. In this context the hard/soft distinction becomes largely meaningless, and may even confuse public health messages and hold back evidence based policy development.

Cocaine (in powder form or in smokable form as 'crack'), the amphetamines, and the opiates such as heroin and morphine, are most commonly referred to as hard drugs. According to many, alcohol and nicotine, while freely available for sale, should be described as hard drugs because they are both addictive and associated with high mortality rates. In most popular discourse, however, 'hard drugs' refers to illegal drugs associated with highly visible problematic users, namely heroin and cocaine.

The term 'soft drugs' generally refers to cannabis (marijuana / hashish) because it has not historically been associated with deaths, crime or violence amongst users and is not seen as addictive (although this is disputed by some). This difference between soft drugs and hard drugs is important in the drug policy of the Netherlands, where cannabis production, retailing and use is tolerated by the authorities under certain conditions.

Some consider a few of the hallucinogens to be hard drugs, but as most hallucinogens are non-addictive such drugs generally occupy a middle ground - neither hard nor soft. The possible exceptions are PCP, DXM and the phenethylamine based Empathogen/Entactogens such as MDMA, many of which are closely related to amphetamines; being realtively new to the drug culture more research is needed to ascertain the addictive potential and potential harms of these drugs.

This line is further blurred by the drug policy of the Netherlands which classifies synthetic hallucinogens (such as LSD) as hard drugs, even if they have very similar action to naturally occurring drugs such as mescaline, which is considered a soft drug in its natural form of peyote, or psylocybin in its natural form as magic mushrooms. Both are sold legally in the Netherlands in their unprocessed natural form.

It is worth noting that the line between physical and psychological addiction has often been hotly debated, and neither amphetamines nor cocaine are considered physically addictive in the classical sense.nl:Harddrug