History of Drug Prohibition: From Worship to Prohibition

Drug prohibition has since its inception been based on an amalgam of arguments ranging from moral and religious concerns to public health and safety considerations. Few people today know that the existing rigid legislation was consolidated through the influence of ethico-religious movements, backed by the American press and political discourse.

As Antonio Escohotado demonstrated in his General History of Drugsthis has not always been the case, and over the centuries the perception and regulation of drugs has varied enormously, from their integration into religious and cultural practices in ancient times to the imposition of prohibitive laws in the modern era. This paradigm shift reflects the evolution of societies and different interpretations of the use of individual freedoms. In this context, exploring the motivations behind prohibition and its consequences is fundamental to understanding the complex web of drug policy today.

The repression of drug use has led to the criminalization of users and the emergence of drug trafficking as a global phenomenon. Prohibitionist legislation generates a black market that has only increased violence and organized crime in many countries. Today, the situation in certain areas such as the United States is alarming, the fentanyl crisis, derived from an irresponsible medical use as well as the adulteration with this substance of other narcotics in the black market, causes news like the following recovered from the BBC to be, unfortunately, a reality: ”The fentanyl crisis that leads a U.S. city to declare a state of emergency” (Matza, 2024).

Worship: drugs in antiquity

It must be remembered that in ancient times and until the beginning of the 20th century, illicit substances were not subject to the restrictions and prohibitions that are common to all of us today. In many ancient cultures, the consumption of psychoactive substances was part of religious and ceremonial practices, considered a way to connect with the divine or to explore consciousness with the help of shamans.

Greece

In ancient Greece, for example, wine played a fundamental role, it was exalted for its social and spiritual qualities, being considered a link with the divine, a tool to achieve euphoria and inspiration. It was associated with the celebration and worship of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility.

In the mysteries of Eleusis, the most famous of the ancient world, kykeon was used, a sacred drink that, contaminated with a precursor of LSD, provided a transcendental religious experience in honor of Demeter and Persephone, an experience reserved only for initiates, and that happened only once in a lifetime. Personalities of the stature of Socrates, Aristotle or Alexander the Great passed through this rite, which had to be kept strictly secret; “The aspirants to initiation swore by their life to keep the details of the experience in absolute secrecy, and they did so” (Escohotado, 1998).

India

In ancient India, the use of cannabis was framed in religious and medicinal contexts. The cannabis plant, known as “soma” in Vedic texts, was considered sacred and was used in religious rituals to induce altered states of consciousness.

Rome

Even in the Roman Empire, the use of drugs such as opium and cannabis was not subject to the same legal restrictions as it is today. These substances were used for medicinal and recreational purposes, forming an integral part of many people’s daily lives. It is known for certain that there were opium stores with free access for any citizen, moreover, it was one of the goods on which it was forbidden to speculate. It is curious, as Antonio Escohotado tells us in General History of Drugs (1998), that there is no Latin word for an opium addict.

In turn, it is interesting to note that, while opium was common, something as widely consumed today as alcohol was used in much smaller quantities in ancient Rome. The image of the Roman emperor with grapes and wine comes to mind, or that of the gladiators drinking before battle, but not everyone knows that the wine they drank was greatly reduced with water, which contrasts significantly with our current habits of drinking alcoholic beverages.

The Prohibition: Emergence of the Crusade

Legislation

The prohibitionist narrative begins, historically, with the emergence of moral and religious movements in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which advocated abstinence from alcohol and any other psychoactive substance. This movement, known as the Temperance Movement, gained strength and led to the Prohibition Act in 1919, which prohibited the manufacture, distribution and sale of alcohol in the United States.

This measure soon proved to be a failed experiment. Instead of reducing alcohol consumption, it fueled the creation of a black market controlled by criminal gangs and increased violence related to the illegal beverage trade. In addition, liquor prohibition had devastating economic effects, especially during the Great Depression.

As Prohibition came to an end in 1933, the prohibitionist focus shifted to other drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine and opium. Marijuana, in particular, was the object of a demonization campaign led by figures such as Harry Anslinger and Presidents Nixon and Reagan, who associated it with violence and crime, as well as racist stereotypes.

International concern about drug trafficking led to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, signed in New York, which established for the first time a global framework for international drug control. These conventions, driven in part by the United States, established the corpus of the prohibitionist crusade, focusing on supply reduction and criminalization of consumption, thus filling prisons with prisoners without blood crimes.

The counterculture of the 20th century

During the 20th century, movements emerged that challenged existing drug policies, especially in the 1960s and 1970s. This period witnessed a resurgence in the use of psychoactive substances that began to form part of counterculture and social protest movements. These substances became symbols of rebellion against established norms and vehicles for exploring consciousness and spirituality.

Opposition to the Vietnam War was an important catalyst for the hippie movement in the United States. The youth strongly opposed the war, seeing it as a manifestation of their government’s marked authoritarianism. Drugs, particularly LSD and marijuana, were adopted as tools for rebellion and civil disobedience, promoting a message of peace and love in contrast to violence and armed conflict.

The peace movement embraced an alternative lifestyle that rejected traditional values and advocated peace, individual freedom and connection with nature. Emblematic festivals such as Woodstock in 1969 became epicenters of this new culture, where music, art and psychedelic drugs merged to create unique and multitudinous lysergic experiences.

As psychoactive drugs became more prominent in popular culture, they also attracted the attention of legislators and authorities. U.S. government-funded LSD experiments, such as the CIA’s Project MK-Ultra – developed between 1950 and 1973 – were an attempt to understand and control the drug’s effects for military and intelligence purposes. These trials, which involved administering hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD or MDMA to individuals without their consent, were unsuccessful and led to the substance being unfairly stigmatized by the scientific community as having no medical value whatsoever.

In this context, the creation of the Drug Enforcement Administration ( DEA ) in 1973 under the presidency of Richard Nixon was no mere coincidence. The agency was a direct response to the growing influence of the counterculture and the increase in drug use that was challenging traditional prohibitionist policies.

History of Albert Hofmann

The end of the crusade: new regulations

Fortunately, as Antonio Escohotado predicted, the crusade seems to be over. One of the leading countries in the old continent, Germany, has just liberalized the recreational use of cannabis. In Latin America, Uruguay was the pioneer country in legalizing the production and sale of marijuana in 2014, in defiance of international agreements. As a contagion effect, other countries in the region, such as Chile and Argentina, have followed suit by authorizing the medicinal use of cannabis and lowering the pressure on the consumption and possession of other drugs. In the United States, although it is still illegal at the federal level, which generates inevitable tensions, several states have moved towards the legalization of recreational cannabis, contradicting federal policies and establishing their own regulations. States such as Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska have already legalized the sale and possession of cannabis for both medicinal and recreational use, which has generated a new revenue stream for state coffers.

New European drug legislation is allowing clinical trials of substances such as MDMA and psilocybin for the treatment of mental disorders such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, among other pathologies.

But more striking is the Canadian case, where a three-year pilot project has been launched in the province of British Columbia, where, while hard drugs will remain illegal, adults found in possession of less than 2.5 grams of any of the controlled substances will not be seized, charged or arrested.

These moves reflect a shift toward a more scientific and less punitive approach to drug policy. Despite progress towards more flexible and innovative policies, concerns persist about increased consumption in countries such as China and Russia, which continue to exert prohibitionist pressure at the international level.

Conclusion

In summary, the evolution of drug policies from ancient times to the present day reveals a drastic change in the perception and regulation of psychoactive substances. While in the past they were integrated into cultural and religious practices, the 20th century witnessed a prohibitionist boom that criminalized their use and fueled drug trafficking and violence.

Today, however, we are witnessing a paradigm shift, with several countries moving towards legalization and regulation, questioning the restrictive policies of the past and seeking a more balanced and humane approach for the future.

Jorge Melero and Jorge Escohotado (Los Emboscados)

For further information on the subject, we recommend reading Antonio Escohotado:

 

Bibliography

• Escohotado, A., (1998) Historia general de las drogas, Madrid: Espasa.
• Matza, M. (2024) The fentanyl crisis leading to a U.S. city. to declare state of emergency, Seattle: BBC