"Sobriety and self-control are essential to a functioning society"
Are you saying you think sobriety and self-control at all times by everyone is essential to a functioning society?
If so, that's clearly false for virtually every functioning society. The widespread use of alcohol in many functioning societies is the most obvious counterexample.
On the other hand, if you are saying that you think sobriety and self-control sometimes and by some people is essential to a functioning society, then I don't think you'd find many people disagree.
Most societies where drug use is rampant (and that's pretty much every society) consists of some people who are sober some of the time, some who use drugs some of the time, and some (usually sick or dying) who use drugs all of the time, though the proportion varies widely depending on your definition of "drug" (ie. is chocolate, tea, and coffee to be drugs? do you consider legal, prescription or over the counter medications as drugs?)
On the issue of self-control: though widely considered to be essential in many western societies, in some other societies the loss of control is highly valued. I'm thinking primarily of some religious contexts. For example, glossalalia in some Christian sects, possession in Voodoo, etc. In all of these cases, self-control is deliberately relinquished to another -- usually to a god. This loss of self-control is not seen to be negative, but rather to be highly positive and desirable.
Drug use also has very deep roots in religion, from the role of alcohol in Judeo-Christian religions and the various "pagan cults" that preceded them, to an enormous variety of other drugs in various indigenous cultures around the world. Once again, the societies in which these drugs are used in religious contexts consider such drug use to be very positive, and the societies of which they're part tend to do quite well -- well, if you discount the destruction brought on to them by military, economic, and cultural invasion from other, more technologically advanced societies.
Are you saying you think sobriety and self-control at all times by everyone is essential to a functioning society?
If so, that's clearly false for virtually every functioning society. The widespread use of alcohol in many functioning societies is the most obvious counterexample.
On the other hand, if you are saying that you think sobriety and self-control sometimes and by some people is essential to a functioning society, then I don't think you'd find many people disagree.
Most societies where drug use is rampant (and that's pretty much every society) consists of some people who are sober some of the time, some who use drugs some of the time, and some (usually sick or dying) who use drugs all of the time, though the proportion varies widely depending on your definition of "drug" (ie. is chocolate, tea, and coffee to be drugs? do you consider legal, prescription or over the counter medications as drugs?)
On the issue of self-control: though widely considered to be essential in many western societies, in some other societies the loss of control is highly valued. I'm thinking primarily of some religious contexts. For example, glossalalia in some Christian sects, possession in Voodoo, etc. In all of these cases, self-control is deliberately relinquished to another -- usually to a god. This loss of self-control is not seen to be negative, but rather to be highly positive and desirable.
Drug use also has very deep roots in religion, from the role of alcohol in Judeo-Christian religions and the various "pagan cults" that preceded them, to an enormous variety of other drugs in various indigenous cultures around the world. Once again, the societies in which these drugs are used in religious contexts consider such drug use to be very positive, and the societies of which they're part tend to do quite well -- well, if you discount the destruction brought on to them by military, economic, and cultural invasion from other, more technologically advanced societies.