Hard Drugs vs. Soft Drugs

Cannabis isn't injected.

Q: What the difference between hard drugs and soft drugs? 

The answer is relative for recreational drugs. At the very least, soft drugs tend to be things we don't even consider a drug. On a daily basis, most every American uses some type of recreational, psychoactive drug to help them get by, perhaps starting with caffeine (world's most popular drug) and ending with a glass of wine.

 Legal drugs verses illegal drugs isn't a fair comparison between soft and hard drugs. Consider that alcohol wasn't merely illegal, it was, literally, unconstitutional due to the 18th Amendment (repelled by the 21st Amendment). An average of six people die from alcohol poisoning each day; compare that to cannabis (marijuana) where there hasn't ever been a recorded death from cannabis, alone, in an adult (I still find that statistic hard to believe).

 My point is that a drug's legal status, which changes over time, isn't a good litmus test for hard drugs vs. soft drugs.

A: Needles

Needles is my answer to the question of what's the difference between hard drugs and soft drugs (with the exception of LSD and pills, since most any drug could be ground up and put into a capsule). 'Needles' isn't the perfect answer, but it's a good rule of thumb.

 I am unaware of caffeine, cannabis, alcohol, or nicotine being injected intravenously. While it might be possible, it's not popular. However, with heroin, cocaine (freebasing), and crystal meth, needles are very common ways to administer these hard drugs.

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