3 billion populate this world of which at least half would have used drugs to stay alive, relieve pain, cure sickness ect. Picture a world without drugs, hospitals failing miserably or worse no hospitals at all, people catching diseases and passing them on. Society would be in ruins and chaos. In fact you wouldn't need to have any imagination at all, just read about the middle ages and you will find that cities were wiped out because of plagues. If it hadn't been for drugs, we would have been in the same situation or probably in a worse situation. Drugs are beneficial to society in a whole range of ways, they"re used as cures, life savers, pain relievers and more. People may argue about illegal drugs, but common sense tells us legal drugs can be used effectively against illegal drugs and the benefits of drugs strongly outweigh the bad effects. This can be proven by the fact that drugs are not a major cause of death but the majority of lives are saved by drugs.
The main way drugs are a benefit to society is in the form of medicine. In western society, you can be assured that 99% of households have a cupboard full of drugs. Many people may have to use drugs daily, people with problems such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes would fit into the "daily drug intake" category. Without drugs, these people would most likely be unable to survive. Occasional colds, coughs, headaches etc. would also need the use of medicine.
If you think about it, medicine is just that important. Drugs are essential in many ways. Athletes may need to use pain killers to prolong their careers. Injections are a must before surgeries and the like to lessen pain. Operations would not be able to be performed without drugs as the pain would be overwhelming. Vaccinations are also essential to society, in that they help stop you from catching a spreading disease. An example of how important drugs are is SARS.
