Mastodawn

And while some people #escape from it by turning to #psychoactive substances, others may simply ‘drop out of life,’ cutting off social ties and retreating painfully into other worlds.

Bodhi 心 Mar 7

I was inspired by this, Michael Pollan's review of Coffeeland:

https://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/review-capitalisms-favorite-drug/

Even as a #coffee drinker, I understand that this vastly profitable #psychoactive drug is a key ingredient in the fuel of industrial capitalism's #productivity engines ~ not to mention its engines of #exploitation and #colonialism, both of which are covered in the review. 1/3 🧵

#capitalism #dhamma #samadhi #insight #desire #suffering #cultural #revolution

Review: Capitalism’s Favorite Drug - Michael Pollan

Four hundred years ago, Coffea arabica, a tropical shrub bearing glossy green leaves and bright-red berries, was virtually unknown outside of the Arab world and the corner of Ethiopia where it had been discovered in the ninth century—by a goatherd who, legend has it, noticed that his animals would get frisky and stay up all night after nibbling its berries. In the years since people figured out that coffee could affect us in similar ways, the plant has done a great deal for our species, and our species in turn has done a great deal for the plant. We have given it more than 27 million acres of new habitat all around the world, assigned 25 million farming families to its care and feeding, and bid up its price until it became one of the most valuable globally traded crops. Not bad for a shrub that is neither edible nor particularly beautiful or easy to grow.

Michael Pollan

Nicolas "Shangri-l" Chartoire Feb 23

I'll never stress enough on the fact that the sheer existence of #psychoactive #drugs (that you cannot just cancel from the universe) requires toward people, drug #education, because

Educated people won't fry their life over a pill offered by a random hand somewhere

And I saw that now, the ultimate entry point to this education, the perfect tool that Venn Diagram for Drugs is, now people (#people are awesome) rent a domain name for it and…

Captions are Wikipedia links

https://drugvenn.org

Ed End Dec 30

Radio Pirate by ardleg in free download here https://archive.org/details/ardleg-radio-pirate #FREE #radio #experimental #avantgarde #pirates #copythief #copyleft #plunderphonics #cutup #underground #experiment #RadioPlay #symphony #postmusic #concrete #ConceptualArt #freemusic #ccmusic #creativecommons #psychoactive #harsh #noise #industrialmusic #postindustrial #antimusic

DoomsdaysCW Dec 3

The Drugs Used by the #AncientGreeks and #Romans

November 26th, 2021

"Many of us living in the parts of the world where marijuana has recently been legalized may regard ourselves as partaking of a highly modern pleasure. And given the ever-increasing sophistication of the growing and processing techniques that underlie what has become a formidable #cannabis industry, perhaps, on some level, we are. But as intellectually avid enthusiasts of #psychoactive substances won’t hesitate to tell you, their use stretches farther back in time than history itself. 'For as long as there has been civilization, there have been #MindAlteringDrugs,' writes Science’s Andrew Lawler. But was anyone using them in the predecessors to western civilization as we know it today?

"For quite some time, scholars believed that unlike, say, Mesoamerica or north Africa, 'the ancient Near East had seemed curiously drug-free.' But now, 'new techniques for analyzing residues in excavated jars and identifying tiny amounts of plant material suggest that ancient Near Easterners indulged in a range of #psychoactive substances.'

"The latest evidence suggests that, already three millennia ago, 'drugs like cannabis had arrived in #Mesopotamia, while people from #Turkey to #Egypt experimented with local substances such as blue water lily.' That these habits seem to have continued in ancient Greece and Rome is suggested by archaeological evidence summarized in the video above.

"In 2019, archaeologists unearthed a few precious artifacts from a fourth-century Scythian burial mound near Stavropol in Russia. There were 'golden armbands, golden cups, a heavy gold ring, and the greatest treasure of all, two spectacular golden vessels,' says narrator Garrett Ryan, who earned a PhD in Greek and Roman History from the University of Michigan. The interiors of those last
'were coated with a sticky black residue,' confirmed in the lab to be #opium with traces of #marijuana. 'The #Scythians, in other words, got high' — as did 'their Greek and Roman neighbors.' Ryan, author of Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants: Frequently Asked Questions about the Ancient Greeks and Romans, goes on to make intriguing connections between scattered but relevant pieces of archaeological and textual evidence. We know that some of our civilizational forebears got high; how many, and how high, are questions for future scholastic inquiry."

Source:
https://www.openculture.com/2021/11/the-drugs-used-by-the-ancient-greeks-and-romans.html

#MysteryCults #Rituals #RomanHistory #GreekHistory #AncientHistory #BlueLotus

The Drugs Used by the Ancient Greeks and Romans

Many of us living in the parts of the world where marijuana has recently been legalized may regard ourselves as partaking of a highly modern pleasure.

Open Culture

Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻‍💻🧬Oct 6

#Betel nuts have been giving people a buzz for over 4,000 years
Chewing #betelnuts is a cultural practice in parts of Southeast #Asia. When chewed, these reddish nuts, which are the fruit of the areca palm, release #psychoactive compounds that heighten alertness and energy, promote feelings of euphoria, and help with relaxation. They are usually wrapped in betel leaves with lime paste made from powdered shells or corals, depending on the region.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/08/ancient-teeth-show-people-were-getting-high-off-betel-nuts-4000-years-ago/

Betel nuts have been giving people a buzz for over 4,000 years

Ancient teeth reveal that a stimulant has been used since the Bronze Age.

Ars Technica

michael Aug 2, 2025

31-Jul-2025
4,000-year-old teeth record the earliest traces of people chewing #psychoactive #betelNuts
New methods make the ‘invisible visible’ to find evidence of deeply rooted cultural practice which otherwise might have been lost in the #archaeological record

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1092342

#science #humans #archaology #anthropology #drugs

4,000-year-old teeth record the earliest traces of people chewing psychoactive betel nuts

Humans have used psychoactive plants for their narcotic effects for thousands of years. Throughout Thailand, remains of betel nuts, plants used for their stimulant effects, have been discovered at burial sites. To learn more about the practice, an international team of researchers have examined 4,000-year-old teeth and found traces of compounds from betel nuts. This indicates that betel nut chewing has been practiced for thousands of years, if not more, in the country. The study is the first to detect ‘archaeologically invisible’ cues in dental plaque, revealing ancient behaviors and practices that otherwise could have been lost to time.

EurekAlert!

Ancient Origins Aug 1, 2025

𝟰,𝟬𝟬𝟬-𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿-𝗢𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵
Scientists discover 4,000-year-old evidence of betel nut chewing in ancient Thai teeth, revealing the earliest known human use of this psychoactive plant and opening new windows into prehistoric cultural practices.
#psychoactive #druguse #Thailand #Asia #psychedelics
https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/bronze-age-betel-use-0022311

michael May 23, 2025

23-May-2025
Earliest use of #psychoactive and medicinal plant ‘harmal’ identified in #IronAge #Arabia

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1084357 #science #plants #archaeology