How concerned should we be about the UK Psychoactive Bill?

I think there is a fine line between ignorance and malice in a lot of cases. I've experienced a lot of things over the years, and met a lot of people. Some encounters just flip your whole understanding of black/white on its head.

I was teaching a telecommunications class in Cairo Egypt a number of years back. This was just after their revolution, so the streets were chaos, and there were burnt out car everywhere. My students were educated technical professionals. They are the ones installing telecom systems for large companies in Egypt. They were middle class, not overtly religious (we never stopped for prayer time), and generally reasonably able to understand new technical concepts. Overall they were very nice and welcoming.

I went out to lunch with them a few times, and some discussion came up. I generally do not shy away from controversial topics, and like to engage people in discussions on things. For example: I asked my Russian students why they did not like missile shields in Poland, or my Iraqi students what they really thought of our occupation. So at lunch in Cairo the topic of Mecca came up, and I asked why I would not be allowed to go there to tour it. They plainly said that because I was not a follower of Islam, that I would not be allowed. I asked how they would know, and my students said my ID surely said my religion on it. When I showed them my ID, and it did not say my religion, they were dumbfounded. See every ID issued by Muslim countries has your religion printed on it. I told them that was asinine, as it did not matter. Then I asked them if governments should do something if one changes their religion. Every single one of them said that you should be put to death if you renounce the Islamic faith. Every single one... I was thrown back by it, and asked if I should be put to death because I am not Muslim. They laughed and said, "No, you never were. So it's fine. You can be Christian if you want (I'm not by the way, but I would never say that there). However, you cannot become Muslim then renounce it." These are educated professionals, that are wholeheartedly advocating the death penalty for changing religions. They are kind and friendly people, that would take you in to feed you if you needed. Yet they could not even grasp how evil their positions were. It just did not compute with them. Obviously I did not push it too far, but it was a very telling experience. Had they known I was atheist, they might not have been so forthcoming and friendly.

I guess my point is that the line between ignorance and evil is not so easy to see. Some people just are not capable of using logic to assess their own beliefs, and how those beliefs should affect other people. Their positions may be malicious, but they might just be dumb.