 Have you ever wondered why some drugs are illegal and others are not? Because illegal drugs are more dangerous, you may think, but you are wrong. It is important to understand that the legal status of a drug has nothing to do with the risk it carries. Although mind-altering substances are as old as human civilization and they are known to virtually all cultures in the world, the attitudes to drugs and drug users have been changing throughout history. Today a few people know that when coffee arrived to Europe, it was banned by many European countries. For example, in 1623, Murat de Force, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, banned coffee drinking and established a system to punish its users. Gustav III, the king of Sweden, also banned the drinking of coffee and tea because of excesses and misuse of drinking of coffee and tea. When Tobacco, a plant native to America, arrived to Europe in the 16th century, it was also banned in most European countries. Pipe smoking was not only punishable by deaths, but it was declared an evil custom by the Pope himself. After a brief period of prohibition, Tobacco was completely liberalized. It even reached to a point in the mid-20th century that Tobacco products were advertised with a picture of babies and with doctors who were telling you how good is it for your health. It took another half century to convince people that Tobacco is actually harmful for your health. And now governments increasingly control its use and distribution. Alcohol, one of the most popular drugs in the western world, was brought under federal prohibition in the United States in 1919. When President Roosevelt decided to legalize it in 1933, it was not because he realized it's not a dangerous substance, but because prohibition created a huge black market feeding violent criminals such as Al Caponi. Not so long time ago, in the early 20th century, currently illegal drugs such as Opium and Cannabis were legal. You could walk into a drugstore and buy them. Soft drinks such as Coca-Cola or Vinc Mariani contained cocaine. But by the second half of the 20th century, most countries outlawed the non-medical and non-scientific use of these substances. Why some drugs became illegal was not because of science. It was more because of racial prejudices. For example, the first Opium ban in San Francisco was introduced because of the fear of Chinese migrant workers. The first Cannabis ban because of the fear of Mexican migrant workers. And the first Cocaine ban because of the myths of black people raping white women under the influence of cocaine. The United States of America played an important role in exporting prohibition and framing the international drug control system, marked by three United Nations drug conventions that made the non-scientific and non-medical use of certain substances illegal. Those drugs that were used by Europeans, such as alcohol and tobacco, remained legal, while drugs used by non-European cultures such as cocalif were declared illegal and to be eradicated. But drug prohibition is not a successful system. Watch the next episode of the Just Say No series and you will learn why. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and share this video with your friends.