History Main / HighTimesFuture

** Bender smokes and drinks constantly. The alcohol is {{justified|Trope}} in that robots use it as fuel, and Bender will act "drunk" if he hasn't had a drink in a while. As for the cigars, "[[SmokingIsCool they make me look cool]]", and don't seem to do anything health-wise.
** There are multiple references to cocaine being sold legally. In "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E7MyThreeSuns My Three Suns]]", a junkie tries to buy crack from a vending machine that sells "Refreshing Crack" (but the bottle catches on the spring). "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E16ThreeHundredBigBoys Three Hundred Big Boys]]" has the same junkie say "No more cheap crack-houses for me!", and head for a huge building with a large sign reading "CRACK MANSION".

** Red Sand and Hallex are both illegal narcotics of some kind (the former sounds like cocaine and the latter like ecstasy), and there's a substance called Minagen X3 encountered in a mission that makes your biotics unstable if you come in contact with it. Red Sand is related to minagen since they are both biotic inducing agents; red sand also melts your brain like minagen. Hallex isn't really illegal... what with it being Omega and all. You can also legally purchase Red Sand on Illium from a licensed provider.
** Stims are mentioned several times as legal, and are common among military types. One mission has you getting some kind of stimulant for a human trade negotiator (who seems addicted). The product is legal, but he already used his monthly dose and isn't allowed any more. You can get him the stim or trick him by switching it for a tranquilizer.

* And even then, conventional drugs are relatively legal. You can get cocaine and mescaline (well, novacoke and red mesc, the drug trade has seen a few twists and turns) with the right prescription, and cops carry around inhalers of combat drugs that give them the speed to deal with wired-up criminals. The only drugs that are truly illegal are the incredibly potent combat drugs, the ones that might give you brain damage after making you a hacking god for 5 minutes, and date-rape drugs.

* In the pilot of ''Series/MinorityReport2015''; the world of 2065 shows that not only will marijuana be legal, it will be advertised on the subway in a similar manner to alcohol or tobacco. Specifically, the ad is for a brand of "[[JustForPun Totally Baked Goods]]" edibles.

** "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E15TheFarnsworthParabox The Farnsworth Parabox]]" shows that there exists an AlternateUniverse called "Universe 420". It is only glimpsed for a few seconds, but from the glimpsed imagery (stoners dressed like it's TheSeventies), the universe's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin name]], and the context of the rest of the episode, we can infer that this universe is a PlanetOfHats where everyone is TheStoner; and that it is just as real as the "Universe A" where the primary characters live, and has a [[InSpiteOfANail similar history to the primary universe]], containing stoner equivalents of Farnsworth, Amy, and presumably all of the characters from Universe A.

* In ''Literature/ParableOfTheSower'', widespread drug use is presented as part of the social breakdown of the United States. This ranges from marijuana being widely grown and sold, considered not a problem, to the fictional drugs "pyro" (which makes people really enjoy burning things) and "parateco" (which people are socially pressured to take in school despite adverse effects). The last two read as commentary on cocaine use in the United States at the time Butler was writing.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has "stims", an [[FantasticDrug unspecified stimulant drug]], in fairly wide use despite their legal status being unclear. Addiction is a social problem; mostly seen in the series among medical personnel.

* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'', which leans heavily on the science fiction of this era for inspiration and setting, runs on this trope. It seems like everyone does drugs all the time. It helps that they can fix any potential health effect. They're still illegal; it's just that almost nobody cares. They're still not good for you either, if certain descriptions of Spider's really bad days are to be taken at face value.
* Paul Pope's ''100%'' which is set in the near future, where marijuana cigarettes are legal.
* Vaughan & Martin's Private Eye features an analog, privacy obsessed future where Marijuana is a brand of commercially available cigarette.
* ''You Look Like Death: Tales From ComicBook/TheUmbrellaAcademy'' implies drugs are legal in this universe as Klaus buys his from a kiosk with a neon sign saying "Drugs".

* In Creator/OctaviaButler's ''Literature/ParableOfTheSower'' and ''Literature/ParableOfTheTalents'', widespread drug use is presented as part of the social breakdown of the United States. This ranges from marijuana being widely grown and sold, considered not a problem, to the fictional drugs "pyro" (which makes people really enjoy burning things) and "parateco" (which people are socially pressured to take in school despite adverse effects). The last two read as commentary on cocaine use in the United States at the time Butler was writing.

* The titular Culture of Literature/TheCulture novels. "Drug glands" are in-built in most Culture biological citizens, and other ways of shooting for the rainbow exist, and are completely legal.
* Often subverted, averted, or stomped upon in any CyberPunk setting. And they usually do have more than one drug.
* ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr'' series by David Gerrold, who goes to some trouble to portray a society that's changed both technology-wise and socially. Legal marijuana farms and over-the-counter recreational drugs are mentioned. Notably, entire industries have sprung up around drug use, to the point where medicine cabinets contain drugs which rapidly neutralize the effects of ''other'' drugs right between the painkillers and the antibiotic ointment.
* Several Creator/PhilipKDick stories have the characters smoking brand-name marijuana cigarettes.
* ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' pops whatever pill he needs to get the job done, and although he's a criminal there's no mention of any of them being illegal.
* On Nulapeiron, the setting for John Meaney's books ''Paradox'', ''Context'' and ''Resolution'', there doesn't seem to be any substance controls, and many different recreational chemicals are commercially available including many sophisticated materials that act upon the mind to induce dream states and the like. Marijuana and alcohol seem to be the most common, and no-one appears to smoke tobacco.
* Humorously played with in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures novel ''Alien Bodies'': Sam Jones, in the near future and surrounded by aliens, focuses on a cigarette packet as a "normal" thing. Then she notices it says "CLOUD NINE -- The original cannabis cigarette". As smoked by UNISYC troopers. When she mentions the one time she got stoned, the future soldier the cigarettes belong to replies, "One time? Are you ''sure'' you're human?"
* Inverted in Creator/JohnVarley's ''Literature/GaeaTrilogy'', in which a member of a NASA expedition to Saturn grumbles when he's cut off from his pipe tobacco. If the notion of NASA letting an astronaut contaminate a space vessel's limited air supply with secondhand smoke doesn't make this seem ridiculous, consider that the same spaceship's captain gripes about losing her own recreational supply of ''cocaine''.
* In Gabrielle Zevin's ''Literature/AllTheThingsIveDone'', this is played with. Teens can drink all the alcohol they want, it's chocolate and other caffeine products that are banned.
* In the ''Literature/MaridAudran'' series by George Alec Effinger, it's never made clear whether the drugs are actually ''legal'', or if the cops simply don't care what people do to themselves in the Budayeen. Nevertheless, drugs flow like water in the series. Audran is constantly taking speed ("tri-phets") or opiates ("sunnies"), which don't always mix well with his heavy alcohol consumption. At one point, when he's given a ride in a police car back from the station, he buys some pills off the cop who is driving.
* In ''Literature/VariableStar'' marijuana is openly grown on the ''Sheffield's'' farm deck as well as some genetically engineered drugs. Opium is still illegal though.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has "stims", an unspecified stimulant drug, in fairly wide use despite their legal status being unclear. Addiction is a social problem; mostly seen in the series among medical personnel.
* ''Series/{{Caprica}}'' mentions a recent passing revelation that drugs have been legalized so as to quash any criminal market that may exist for them. Presumably that was a hook for a future plotline about the [[GenericEthnicCrimeGang Ha'la'tha]] losing income and getting desperate (or going legitimate, leaving [[ProfessionalKiller Sam]] [[{{Gayngster}} Adama]] out of a job), but obviously we'll never know because [[ScrewedByTheNetwork the show was unceremoniously cancelled]].
* In the second season of ''Series/{{War of the Worlds|1988}}'', set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: narcotics have been recently legalized, but this is presented as a symptom of the societal collapse that is in progress.
* In the pilot of the ''Series/{{Minority Report|2015}}'' TV series; the world of 2065 shows that not only will marijuana be legal, it will be advertised on the subway in a similar manner to alcohol or tobacco. Specifically, the ad is for a brand of "[[JustForPun Totally Baked Goods]]" edibles.

* Legality varies greatly by habitat but drugs are very much a part of life in ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase''. The only "modern" drug featured is orbital hash but post-singularity narcotics range from bananas that decrease radiation damage to nanite-laced flowers that put you in a very trippy virtual reality.
* ''TabletopGame/OverTheEdge'' - Not only are drugs legal in Al Amarja, but there are some gloriously weird examples of {{Fantastic Drug}}s too.

-->'''[[MessageBoard MesaStim]]''': ''Yeah, sure. You got five bucks In your pocket from a trick or mugging some wretch poorer than you are in the slums and you just about got enough for a quick crack fix. You don't even think about chips--how do you play 'em? Rent the chipreader from the library? Coke may not be the drug of choice for the overaffluent, neurologically compromised American middle classes anymore, but down on the streets it's the same killer it always was. And Aztechnology makes money off of it, whatever they say in public.''
* Common throughout the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' setting. The game itself occasionally has units that can take drugs to gain some effects, although obviously general usage and legality aren't entirely relevant in a battle situation. The literature contains a huge variety of drugs of all stages of legality though.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', drugs are mentioned regularly. Red Sand and Hallex are both illegal narcotics of some kind (the former sounds like cocaine and the latter like ecstasy), and there's a substance called Minagen X3 encountered in a mission that makes your biotics unstable if you come in contact with it. Red Sand is related to minagen since they are both biotic inducing agents; red sand also melts your brain like minagen. Hallex isn't really illegal... what with it being Omega and all. You can also legally purchase Red Sand on Illium from a licensed provider.\\
\\
Stims are mentioned several times as legal, and are common among military types. One mission has you getting some kind of stimulant for a human trade negotiator (who seems addicted). The product is legal, but he already used his monthly dose and isn't allowed any more. You can get him the stim or trick him by switching it for a tranquilizer.

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' swings back and forth on the issue of drug legality in its future setting, depending on [[RuleOfFunny which is funnier.]]
** Bender smokes and drinks constantly. The alcohol is [[Main/JustifiedTrope justified]] in that robots use it as fuel, and Bender will act "drunk" if he hasn't had a drink in a while. As for the cigars, "[[SmokingIsCool they make me look cool]].", and don't seem to do anything health-wise.
** There are multiple references to cocaine being sold legally: In "My Three Suns", a junkie tries to buy crack from a vending machine that sells "Refreshing Crack" (but the bottle catches on the spring). The episode "Three Hundred Big Boys" has the same junkie say "No more cheap crack-houses for me!", and head for a huge building with a large sign reading "CRACK MANSION".
** Bizarrely given the last point, [[EternalProhibition marijuana seems to be still illegal]], as Hermes makes frequent references to "flushing things", and "that's not a cigar...and it's not mine"; in the election episode, there's also a lobby for the legalization of hemp.
** One episode shows that there exists an AlternateUniverse called "Universe 420." It is only glimpsed for a few seconds, but from the glimpsed imagery (stoners dressed like it's TheSeventies), the universe's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin name]], and the context of the rest of the episode, we can infer that this universe is a PlanetOfHats where everyone is TheStoner; and that it is just as real as the "Universe A" where the primary characters live, and has a [[InSpiteOfANail similar history to the primary universe]], containing stoner equivalents of Farnsworth, Amy, and presumably all of the characters from Universe A.
* In the {{Narm}}-tastic PSA ''WesternAnimation/TheDrugAvengers'' the main reason humans are kept out of TheFederation is because people still use drugs on Earth.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E17BartToTheFuture Bart To The Future]]", President Lisa asks Bart how she can repay him for saving America from foreign debt collectors. He asks her to legalize "it" and she says to consider it done.

* In ''Creator/OctaviaButler'''s ''Literature/ParableOfTheSower'' and ''Literature/ParableOfTheTalents'', widespread drug use is presented as part of the social breakdown of the United States. This ranges from marijuana being widely grown and sold, considered not a problem, to the fictional drugs "pyro" (which makes people really enjoy burning things) and "parateco" (which people are socially pressured to take in school despite adverse effects). The last two read as commentary on cocaine use in the United States at the time Butler was writing.

RealLife has wavered on this. On one hand, the '80s and '90s marked the height of UsefulNotes/TheWarOnDrugs, which led to this trope being {{discredited|Trope}} and {{forgotten|Trope}} for a long time. During this time, DrugsAreBad became the official line of the government, the MoralGuardians, and any non-underground writers who didn't want to face protest from both. Backlash against the War on Drugs in the '10s, which resulted in marijuana legalization becoming a subject of serious, mainstream political discussion, could see it make a comeback, though this has also gone hand-in-hand with a growing push against tobacco use (see above re: the ironic use of this trope). It will always remain the occasional AuthorAppeal topic, of course, the most common argument being, "if drugs were legal, they'd be too cheap to commit crimes over."

* ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'' - due to the titular city not really having any laws. There's even a monster, [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/jitter.htm Jitter]], specifically made for dispensing narcotics.