If anybody who is encouraging others to use a drug wants to see the other side of the coin, try ordering a tea or water instead of a beer at a bar, and see how people react. Repeatedly I have been asked what I wanted to drink, answered tea or water, and a couple of minutes later a beer arrives. Don't be so boring, it's here now, drink it! Note that sometimes I do drink alcoholic beverages, so it's not even that they want me to experience something new. I never replace other people's drinks by tea, heck I've gladly helped people buy marijuana (legally).
P.S. my kid brother is addicted to cigarettes and it's certainly not because one day somebody suggested it to him as friendly advice and he thought "Wow, you're right, smoking cigarettes would be so beneficial for me".
I think that about sums it up.
I think it's unwise but not immoral. And a person who has taken a drug and is having a difficult experience shouldn't be thinking thoughts like, "this is wrong and I knew it is wrong and that's why I'm suffering" because that will enhance the bad-trip/panic-attack element but, instead, "I made a decision and now I'm having this experience and the only thing I can do is learn from it".
I like the Eastern approach to morality better than the Abrahamic one. Negative actions aren't "immoral" and don't make you a "dirty" person; they're unskillful and, given that we've been in samsara for a long time, we've all done a lot of extremely unskillful things.
I think you're right on about sugar. The amount of it that people are consuming is ridiculous. Obesity in the U.S. is a real problem. I've seen people ruin their lives with soda. One person I know is at least 300 pounds (135 kg) and most of it is from soda. He drinks, on average, 4 20-oz (590mL) bottles per day. That's 960 empty calories, or a pound of fat every 4 days (!).
Also, I know a couple people who are now dealing with the end stages of diabetes. Really ugly stuff.
"> Part of the reason why people want others to use the same drug is to feel less guilty about their using.
I think that about sums it up."
that is an extremely negative judgement.
So you think that anyone who recommends a drug to you is doing do for the selfish reason that this makes them feel "less guilty" about something they actually consider wrong?
Bizarre. Judgmental. And very wrong.
You might not know which people you know use drugs. Unfortunately, due to the illegality of many useful and helpful drugs, more harmful ones have become popular. Not all drugs are created equal.