As tragic and sad as many cautionary drug tales are, they're often overly simplistic. Usually, the drugs in the story are illicit ones, and we're supposed to forget that:
1. Most illicit drugs are
far less dangerous than the most commonly-abused legal drugs (alcohol, nicotine, oxycodone, valium, etc.)
2. Most illicit drugs are dangerous
because of the law, not because of the drug.
For example - do you know why marijuana is so dangerous in many places? Because if you get caught with it, you'll go to jail, you'll lose your job, you'll lose your eligibility for student loans, etc...
Another example - you know how sometimes you hear about people getting "bad pills" at raves, clubs, etc.? Well, MDMA (ecstasy) is a really, really safe drug. But it's also really expensive, so people cut it (or replace it entirely) with a lot of cheap shit that isn't very safe at all.
Anyway, most tragic drug stories I hear are about people falling victim to the prohibition regime, not the drugs themselves.
I mean, if having orange juice was a capital crime, do you know how dangerous it would be?
Lots of shit - legal and illegal - is dangerous when abused. Educate yourself, moderate, and be careful. When in doubt, don't.