CHAPTER 1

I.

History of Psychoactive Drugs

A.
Definition of a psychoactive drug is any substance that directly
alters the normal functioning of the central nervous system.
B.

More than 4,000 plants contain psychoactive substances

II. Ancient Civilizations

A.

Alcohol can be traced to the earliest civilizations.

Ancient Egypt: reward for pyramid workers

B.
Opium use is recorded as far back as 6000 years ago
1. Medicinally as a pain killer and to control diarrhea
2. Also employed as a euphoriant and as a sedative
C.
Cannabis (marijuana) was used in ancient China, India, and throughout
Eastern Europe and the Middle East as a medicine and euphoriant.
D.
Psychedelic mushrooms were used in India, Siberia, and Central America
in religious ceremonies.
III. Middle Ages
A.
Psychedelics plants of the nightshade family such as henbane,
belladonna, and the mandrake root were used as poisons, pain-killers, and
hallucinogens (often by witches and medicine men).
B.
Psychedelic mold (ergot), which grows on rye and wheat plants, caused
outbreaks of mass hallucination when people ate bread made from
contaminated grain.
C.
Islamic substitutes for alcohol, which was forbidden by Koran, included
opium, coffee, and tobacco and khat, a plant stimulant.
D.
Alcohol, especially wine, was produced in medieval monasteries, often for
sacraments. The process of distillation was also developed.
E.
Coca leaf (cocaine) chewing was reserved for the upper classes of the
Incan empire in South America.

F.
Hallucinogenic mushrooms (containing psilocybin), peyote cactus
(containing mescaline) and ololiuqui vines (containing DMT) were used by
Indian tribes of Central America.
IV. Renaissance and Enlightenment
A.

Coffee drinking spread from Turkey and Arabia.

B.
Tobacco was introduced to Europe by Columbus. It became an important
revenue source for Spain and later for England.
C.
1.
2.

Opium was a central ingredient in medicinal concoctions.

Theriac: a mixture of opium and more than 70 different natural substances.

Laudanum: a tincture of opium in alcohol.
D.

Distilled Liquors (alcohol).

Gin, a juniper berry flavored drink, was first made in Holland. The
London gin epidemic (1710 - 1750) caused great devastation.
E.
Cannabis (marijuana, hemp) was cultivated for textiles and rope in
Colonial America, including George Washington's Mount Vernon plantation.
Until the Civil War it was the nation's second largest crop behind cotton.
V. Nineteenth Century
A.
Nitrous oxide, chloroform, and ether were first used as anesthetics and
sedatives.
B.
Opium spread though China as a result of British trade and the Opium
Wars (1839-1842 and 1856-1860). The refinement of morphine from opium led
to a surge in addiction throughout the U.S. after the Civil War.
C.

Drug refinement.
1. Cocaine was isolated from the leaf of the coca bush in the 1860s.

2. In 1874 heroin was refined from morphine and in 1898 the German
Bayer Company marketed heroin.
D.

The invention of the automatic cigarette rolling machine spread cigarette

use.
E.

Heroin and cocaine were in tonics and patent medicines.

1. Thomas Edison and President William McKinley endorsed the use of

Vin Mariani (a red wine laced with cocaine).
2. From 1886 to 1903 a bottle of Coca-Cola contained 5 milligrams of
cocaine.
VI. Twentieth Century
A.

Cigarette smoking spread rapidly for a number reasons:

1. Milder tobacco strains allowed for deeper smoke

inhalation.

2. In the 1920's the "Camel" brand was marketed to women, young

people, and to dieters.
B.

Regulations banned over-the counter sale of opiates and cocaine.

1. Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

2. Opium Exclusion Act (1909)
3. Harrison Narcotic Act (1914)
C.

Alcohol Prohibition.

1. Eighteenth Amendment (1920) prohibits manufacture and sale of

alcohol.
2. In 1933 prohibition is repealed.
D.
Ban on marijuana (1937) prohibits the use of the cannabis sativa plant
products in textiles and medicines.
E.
Amphetamines used heavily in WWII by American, British, German, and
Japanese soldiers.
F.

Sedative-Hypnotics.

Barbiturates and new tranquilizers such as Miltown are prescribed

indiscriminately in the 1950s.

G.

LSD use is encouraged by Dr. Timothy Leary in the 1960s.

H.
Legal and medical responses to abuse of psychoactive drugs focus on
supply reduction (stricter laws) and demand reduction (prevention and
treatment).
I.
Methadone, a legal narcotic, was substituted for heroin and given to
addicts, beginning in the 60's in order to control addiction.
J.
Opium supply from the Golden Triangle (Burma, Laos, and Thailand)
boosts heroin use during Vietnam War.
K.

Smokable forms of cocaine and amphetamine appear on the drug scene.

VII. Today and tomorrow

A.

Psychedelics: resurgence in the use of LSD, MDMA ("ecstasy")

B.
Inhalants: use of spray-can solvents and their propellants becomes a
trend.
C.
Heroin: predicted resurgence in the use of heroin (particularly smokable
heroin).
Classification of Psychoactive Drugs
A.
Uppers (stimulants) such as cocaine, amphetamine, nicotine, and caffeine
are central nervous system stimulants.
Physical effects: increased heart rate, increased
insomnia, decreased appetite, dilated pupils.

blood pressure,

Mental/Emotional effects: confidence, euphoria, anxiety, paranoia.

B.
Downers are central nervous system depressants and are divided into
four main categories.
1.

Opiates & opioids such as opium, heroin, Percodan, morphine, and Demerol.

2.

Sedative-hypnotics include the benzodiazepines such as Valium and Xanax and

the barbiturates such as Seconal.

3.

Alcohol
4.
relaxants.

Other downers include antihistamines and skeletal muscle

Physical effects: slow heart rate and respiration, decrease coordination,

induce sleep, dull the senses.
Mental/Emotional effects: reduce anxiety, lower inhibitions, euphoria
C.
All arounders are psychedelics which can distort perceptions of reality
and induce hallucinations, illusions, delusions. They include LSD, PCP,
psilocybin mushrooms, peyote (mescaline) and marijuana.
D.

Other psychoactive fall into three main categories:

1. Inhalants are gasses or liquids that are inhaled, usually producing

dizziness, excitement, or irritability.
2. Anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs.
3. Psychiatric medications such as antidepressant, antianxiety, and
antipsychotic drugs.