Coffee, Cannabis (Marijuana), Coca, Poppies, Peyote / San Pedro, Kratom, Khat, Magic Mushrooms, Salvia Divinorum and many, many more. (There are 1000's of known plants that have a psychoactive effect)
Why would these be designed with these psychoactive compounds within them? One of the easiest to question is Cacti that uses Mescaline as a way of fending off insects. Yet many other plants use other compounds to do the exact same thing yet without the psychoactive effect! The simple practicality is also questionable, because mescaline isn't the most effective, wouldn't a god/designer use a more effective non psychoactive compound?
I see this as a problem for the advocates of Intelligent Design, because wouldn't God or a Designer, pick compounds that would have no effect on the mind or body? Unless there was a purpose for them being here in the first place?
I'm sure many chronic pain sufferers that use morphine or codeine on a daily basis would happily argue that Poppie plants which produce those two compounds have a purpose. To help them live a more functional life and enjoy the life God has given them.
I'm also sure advocates of Medicinal Marijuana would have a whole list of reasons why that plant would be here. I've heard the arguments many times before, but one statement made is that it's been perfectly designed for industrial production and has so many benefits not just medicinal, such as paper/cloth/soap/oil etc... This idea, although not the most common or popular, would seem as though it's in line with the idea of a designer for the plant against evolution. (I found this type of statement in books about Industrial Hemp)
Or is it all just a fluke? A lucky roll of the dice. Which is something the advocates of Evolution would argue, that it's mere coincidence.
So are these plants designed and put here for us to use and respect or mere coincidence they evolved that way?
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