Even the most oppressive tyrants in history understood the concept of bread and circuses. Most people will stay complacent when their fundamental rights are being taken away as long as they have their distractions. Taking away the distractions is something you only do after you’ve fully consolidated your power. They’re so obsessed with projecting an aura of oppressiveness that they’ve forgotten how to hold power.

That’s a bit of a false dilemma though. The two options aren’t “it’s a magical elixir with absolutely no downsides” and “people deserve to be locked in a cage and have their life ruined for possessing it”. Plenty of legal things can cause harm. 35% of people are lactose intolerant, do we ban dairy?