Illegal drugs, common habit of many cultures

• April 24, 2024

The current view we have of drugs in Western countries is full of negative meanings and associations; the concept refers us to the so-called illegal drugs, substances of abuse and we usually relate it to addicted or criminal people.

Mike Jay, British writer and historian , specialist in the history of science and medicine, said that if you review the history of substances that alter the mind and different cultures, we can realize that illegal drugs did not always have this negative association.

In the University Cultural Center Casa del Lago of the UNAM, the author of the book High SocietyHe said that there are different concepts of drugs, from the most general, which means medicine or toxic substances that alter the mind, to the current idea of ​​the West where drugs are not a neutral word, but a negative concept.

When people think about drugs, they do not think about coffee, tea or beer, but about illegal drugs like cocaine or marijuana. In our mind there seems to be a very clear border between illegal drugs and legal drugs; however, he noted, if seen in a broader context it is obvious how weak this barrier is.

For example, alcohol, which is currently a legal drink, at the beginning of the 20th century was considered an illegal drug in America, even in many countries of the world it continues to be illegal. In contrast, substances that we now consider prohibited, such as cocaine and heroin, were once legal in Europe and could be bought at any pharmacy.

Another case is the opium fields of Turkey, which for millennia have been dedicated to its production. According to Mike Jay, after intense pressure from the United States, Turkey banned opium plantations, but this plant was illegally cultivated in the same fields and its production ended up becoming heroin sold in the streets.

Now, thanks to special programs of the United Nations Organization, the opium grown there is used for the production of morphine, used in hospitals around the world.

In response to the question of when humanity began to use drugs, the answer should be: always, even before the primates were human. Something that few people consider is that not only humans are stimulated with illegal drugs, but also animals.

A well-known case is the cats, which have particular taste for a plant scientifically called Nepeta cataria, better known as catnip. When the cats are exposed to the plant, they act as if they were crazy and run from one place to another, as if by the hallucinations that they produce.

Other animals like the same drugs as humans, such as monkeys, who in captivity quickly acquire the habit of smoking tobacco.

Elephants also like alcohol. In countries like India, where this drug is banned, elephants are able to smell many miles away where alcohol is illegally produced and walk there to consume it.

According to the historian, the taste to consume drugs could come even from our animal evolutionary inheritance, but the fact is that practically all the cultures of the humanity have produced or consumed substances that alter the mind and have used them in ceremonies or so recreational

Mike Jay considered that the totally negative idea of ​​illegal drugs, which emerged in the 20th century and that has accompanied us at the beginning of the 21st century, is again entering into conflict to give rise to a more complex concept.