Caffeine and alcohol are the most commonly consumed psychoactive drugs in the world. They are most often consumed as beverages, which has a few benefits:

  • dosing: It’s easy to judge how much you have consumed.
  • moderation: It’s physically difficult to consume a lethal dose.
  • hydration: Users consume water alongside the drugs.

I’d argue that American society would have a healthier relationship with most recreational drugs if they were legal but could only be sold diluted in drinks. This approach could work for popular but currently scheduled drugs like MDMA, LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, ketamine, cocaine, amphetamine, heroin1, and morphine1, and could be an alternative delivery route for legal drugs like nicotine and THC.2

If legalized in this fashion, I’d propose the “beer standard” for intoxicating drugs. Drugs like LSD and psilocybin would be required to be diluted such that one 12 oz drink produces a subjectively similar level of intoxication for the average user as one 12 oz 5% ABV beer. For stimulant drugs like cocaine and amphetamine the standard would be similar to weak coffee.

Dosing is tricky for many recreational drugs because milligram/microgram-scale effective doses can’t be accurately measured without special tools. Illicit drugs generally aren’t sold in standard packaging listing the drug(s) and dosage. This contributes to the over 100,000 US drug overdose deaths per year.

Coca tea, poppy tea, mushroom tea, and cannabis drinks are existing incarnations of this idea.

  1. As a salt. ↩ ↩2

  2. When emulsified. ↩