Drugs and Narcotics in History

Abstract

This collection of essays explores the complex and contested histories of drugs and narcotics in societies from ancient Greece to the present day. The Greek term pharmakon means both medicament and poison. The book shows how this verbal ambivalence encapsulates the ambiguity of man's use of chemically-active substances over the centuries to diminish pain, fight disease, and correct behaviour. It shows that the major substances so used, from herbs of the field to laboratory-produced synthetic medicines, have a healing potential, and have been widely employed both within and outside the medical profession. The boundary lines between use and abuse in society have been powerfully contested, while 'alternative' medicine has often sought to develop milder, purer, or more natural drugs. Clearly, these issues remain unresolved today: some highly addictive and dangerous substances such as cigarettes remain freely available, others are available only on prescription, while others are illegal and the objects of international contraband trade and the targets of 'drugs wars'.

Use of modern and traditional products to self-treat symptoms of sexually transmitted infections in South African women

“…20 Other products are not marketed directly for their healing properties, although they are often cited as having health benefits. Snuff, for example, was historically believed to have curative properties, 21 and is a widely available and inexpensive form of tobacco used in South Africa today. Other products such as onions and garlic are commonly used as home remedies for healing blisters and sores and are believed to have antiinflammatory properties.…”

A History of Opium Commodity Chains in Mexico, 1900–1950

“…Works on the long history of opium stick to production in the Middle East or South East Asia (Booth 1999;Dormandy 2012;Inglis 2019). General histories of narcotics ignore the country or focus exclusively on its production of marijuana and its trafficking of cocaine (Davenport-Hines 2002;Porter & Teich 1995). And even the plethora of works on US drug use skirt around opium manufacture south of the border (Courtwright 2001;Jonnes 1996;Musto 2010;Schneider 2011).…”

Cannabis and Its Permissibility Status

“…In medicine, a narcotic is a drug which induces narcosis-like symptoms such as stupor, insensibility, drowsiness and pain relief. 14 In the Islamic "Figh" not all narcotic is necessarily forbidden especially if its primary effect is analgesia. A huge number of medications such as opioid analgesics, stimulants, sleeping tablets, anti-depressants, anxiolytics, and antipsychotics, etc.…”