Drug Use

This is the practice of introducing psychoactive substances into the body, which alter consciousness, perception, mood, and behavior, and may take on recreational, ritualistic, medicinal, or addictive forms. Drug use has ancient origins and dates back to prehistoric times: shamans employed hallucinogenic plants to communicate with spirits; in ancient civilizations, opiates and alcohol-based tinctures were used; in Indian and Chinese traditions, cannabis and opium played central roles. In the 19th and 20th centuries, drugs such as cocaine, morphine, and heroin were widely used in medicine as anesthetics and analgesics before their high potential for addiction was fully understood. Contemporary drug use encompasses a wide range of purposes and forms—from strictly regulated therapy (e.g., microdosing psychedelics or medical marijuana) to spontaneous recreational consumption of substances like MDMA, cannabis, LSD, ketamine, or psilocybin mushrooms. In some countries, specific substances have been legalized or decriminalized, allowing for their controlled and safer use, as seen in the Netherlands, Canada, Portugal, or certain US states. On the other hand, this practice can lead to severe addiction, personal degradation, criminalization, and deteriorating physical and mental health, particularly with the regular use of heroin, methamphetamine, or synthetic drugs. Addiction is recognized as a global public health issue, addressed through rehabilitation programs, prevention strategies, therapy, and social reintegration. Drug use has also significantly influenced culture, spawning unique subcultures, music, fashion, artistic movements, and philosophical ideas, such as the psychedelic art of the 1960s or the consciousness-expansion movement. Thus, this practice is highly controversial: it simultaneously opens pathways to explore inner experience and spiritual states but also poses great risks to health and life when uncontrolled.