Charges involved for hard drugs are usually, but not always, harsher than for soft drugs. Opioid trading and trafficking are treated seriously by the law in many countries due to the potential harm. In the United States, marijuana, or cannabis, is classified as a abusable and highly addictive chemical and is heavily charged on the federal level, even if it goes against scientific evidence or laws varying by state. This is reversed for alcohol, which can cause major dependence and addiction but is normally charged with minimal or no penalty and is sold widely in the western world.