History of drugs

[Azed]

I'm curious as to others thoughts on this subject. Do you folks believe that drug culture is in decline, rising, or stagnate? Like in the 60s there was an an obvious explosion, but unfortunately I was not able to experience this first hand and can only get a perspective through others eyes. I am interested in other peoples perceptions on the popularity of drug culture over time. I know that drugs, in general, have been used in one way or another since the beginnings of humankind. The internet has allowed for all new cultures to form and I want your thoughts on this.

For me I believe that the drug culture flows in waves, with crests and dips in varying amplitudes.


Best wishes!
Azed

 

[plumbus-nine]

Afaik was the golden age if drugs long ago, before the war on drugs and opium law, when drugs were available off the pharmacy for cheap and in good quality. Read that in other times a gram of cocaine was around the same price as a bottle of fucking red wine ! Imagine that. And many nice OTC drugs like katovit (prolintane), amphetamine, even meth and opium. Just that the people either didn't know it had other things to worry about like pressure to stay alive. The 60s must have been a good time as well. Would love to go there with a time machine.

In recent times there was an explosion in novel substances, research chemicals and bath saltks etc but mostly limited to and . Produced in China but I doubt that there's much use of RCs. But RC people make a different crows than traditional users, just the internet connects both worlds with pages like bluelight. Once I saw a good book about recent drug culture including the history of RCs but not limited to that at the library but unfortunately forgot the name and author. Maybe somebody knows it?

Also general knowledge should be that war on drugs, opium law etc were never about personal health, it was political reasons from the beginning and while some high profile people recognize that the policy was a big failure with huge collateral damage, most of the countries continue outlawing substances just because they have recreational potential and not based on harm reduction.

My hunch is that drug use is stagnating on a higher level than most people would assume, with many users which never get into problems unless somebody makes some mistake and they get into the focus of law enforcement. But I wonder about the real numbers for both street drug and research chemical users. Think these shops will make millions by selling RCs.

 

[CFC]

I'm focusing on the trends behind those earlier and more vibrant drug cultures here. The various pieces of controlled substances and drug offences legislation introduced worldwide in the late 60s and early 70s killed off many of the legit research and funding channels for psychoactives discovery and development. However, it must be pointed out that that shifting legal landscape reflected broader societal trends.

Post-war there was this cultural idea that became embedded across much of the booming West that technology, science and research was leading us to an age of limitless new ideas, technologies, chemicals, drugs etc across all sectors and industries and that would take humanity into the futuristic flying-car based utopian uplands of progress and advancement that were only just around the corner (ie the Jetson age).

It only slowly dawned on government institutions, health authorities, and people in societies more broadly (many that were dealing on the front line with things like addiction, drugs overdoses, depression etc) that this appeared to not actually be the case, and that many discoveries and drugs actually had horrific side-effects and addictive potentials or did not work as anticipated - some of which often only showed up in statistics many years later.

But when it did all finally hit home, and the lawyers and their expensive suits came along, it helped thoroughly discredit the progressivist state-driven and funded post-war cultural ideal that had previously opened up science to so many new discoveries. And I think as that began to die, so did the belief that the next best drug that would cure 'x' was only just around the corner, and much idealism with it.

Now, the pharm sector is far more cynical and risk-averse, prefers incremental R&D and repurposing with comparatively high profit-potential (ie low development and drug trial costs) over bold ideas with the kinds of potentially expensive tangents that may lead to an amazingly profitable and effective drug, but will definitely be costly and thus financially risky to develop.

Meanwhile much state-sponsored funding that, in the past, could be used to plug those holes or investigate drugs with limited financial potential but nevertheless high potential utility, has dried up everywhere under the ascendent pro-corporatist neoliberal regimes that dominate most capitalist states today.

 

[crazyhairman]

Last I heard on the subject was the addiction rate in America has stayed the same in 60 years or so. 4% . Before that there was limited data on those stats in the country anyway.

 

[foodcrisis]

i wasn't really around before the early 2000's, but from what i understand there is a lot of people buying online, which is kind of weird.

i think the grateful dead were around in the 60's-80's and raves were pretty popular in the 90's.. i heard phish shows aren't really good like old fashioned dead concerts, and even the grateful dead concert i went to in the early 2000's i got ripped off by three seperate people. i don't know if it was always like that. i might have "rip me off" written on my face or something though... i think there is a lot of new psychedelic music and the bands mostly play small clubs where drugs really aren't permitted or it's not really easy to deal, so i don't think drugs are really the same as they used to be..

plus fentanyl now'a'days. definitely makes me not want to buy anything that can be tampered with, which like even adderall can be bad today... definitely confuses me.

i wouldn't be surprised if weed becomes more legal every where and people have a harder time finding street drugs. idk.

 

[Azed]

I also wonder how the trend towards urbanization over time has effected the drug culture. I guess as health science progressed more and more of the society became skeptical of trying new substances. I think it's silly to think that the society was ignorant of addiction prior to scientific studies. I think that addiction has been known prior to the prohibition era.

I do believe that the move towards protecting public health is in good faith. And I do believe that regulation overall is a good thing when it comes to ensuring the integrity of food, drugs, and cosmetics. However, I think that overregulation is definitely having a negative impact on innovation in the field of pharmaceuticals.

I do believe that at least currently many Americans are in favor of regulation over prohibition. Americans in most circumstances will choose freedom unless there are known risks that outweigh the benefits. I think that the governments prohibition of many substances without proper scientific studies has deceived many Americans about the true nature of many of these prohibited substances.

Substances that are are currently deemed "dangerous" should be vigorously researched to determine if there is actual evidence to support their prohibited status.

Ultimately, I believe in personal freedom and believe that if someone is properly informed of the risks and consequences of a substance and still wish to partake they should be permitted to do so.

A non-drug example would be skydiving or going to an amusement park. There are inherent risks and dangers present here. Those that participate in these activities are aware of those risks and do so anyway. A contract or waiver is signed and your off to the races. I think a similar system should exist for potentially harmful substances.


Curious as to y'all's thoughts!
Best wishes!

 

[brokedownpalace10]

Things are getting wide open again, at least with pot and psychedelics. The double 20's are the 70's all over.

As the 70's segued into the 80's we suddenly got the War On Drugs, drug testing at work, and other fun stuff. Reagan invoked the hovering ships act and used the military to board ships cruising outside the 20 mile limit carrying metric tons of Columbian.

Always remember, never forget. Drug users can also be a convenient scapegoat to scare up votes, just like trans folks, immigrants, etc., etc..