You’re looking at history through a very Western lens. In other cultures, some substances were ritualistic and culturally important.
Or a South Asian lens: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bangladesh-drugs/banglade... ("Bangladesh sets death penalty for drug offences in draft law")
Or an African lens: https://fileserver.idpc.net/library/Drug-laws-in-West-Africa... ("In Nigeria, the death penalty for drug-related offenses was replaced by life imprisonment in 1986.")
We can both come up with examples to suit our viewpoint. I didn’t say that person was wrong. I just said that person was being selective.