Background
Recreational Drug Use
For thousands of years, humans have been aware that certain chemical substances can change people's behavior by influencing their mood, their sensations, or their muscular coordination. These mind-altering substances, called psychoactive drugs, were used in some cultures during religious rituals and in other cultures to control pain or boost energy during warfare. As more people became aware of these substances, a familiar pattern emerged: People began using these drugs simply to induce a pleasurable experience. Archaeologists tell us that the recreational use of alcohol in the form of brewed beer dates back at least ten thousand years!
Indian princess and musician smoking hashish (left), and Egyptian workers brewing beer (right).
Drug Abuse
Although excessive use of drugs was occasionally a problem in these earlier cultures, societal disapproval and a strong family network tended to keep drug abuse under control. More recently, greater affluence and the easy availability of recreational drugs have combined to produce a major social problem in most of the world's developed countries.To help us understand why psychoactive drugs hold such potential for abuse, we need to look at the basic principles of drug action.