The enhanced potency, combined with wide availability and decreased social disapproval, caused use of alcohol to spread throughout Europe during the 17th century. During the Middle Ages, the discovery of distillation yielded drinks that were as much as 50 percent alcohol (today’s beer and wine range up to 15 percent alcohol). From Medicine to Disease to Jailįirst, though, it is worth looking more closely at how addictive substances and their use have made their way into virtually every culture, from the simplest agrarian society to the most advanced technological one, and have provoked rules and sanctions when their power and appeal seemed threatening.įermenting alcohol probably began with agriculture itself, and, by Biblical times, there were prohibitions against misuse of alcohol. Yet one need not be an expert to understand how people become addicted, and the benefits of understanding are considerable- not least because to understand addiction is to understand the biological systems that govern our search for pleasure. Most people who are not addiction scientists or treatment professionals fail to understand what happens in the brain as addiction takes hold and how those brain changes may affect us. For example, people often confuse a strong habit with an addiction, asserting that we can be addicted to chocolate, movies, or sports. The ability to find new ways to become addicted has raced ahead of public understanding of the addiction process. Now, modern chemistry has enabled us to synthesize potent, highly addictive chemicals, such as amphetamines, that were never available naturally. Then we invented even more effective ways of getting drugs to the brain, especially the hypodermic syringe and needle. When people realized that smoking plant products worked better, that became a favored method of delivery. Swallowing drugs often produces only a slow rise in brain concentrations because plants must be digested and absorbed and the active ingredients must escape destruction in the liver. Until then, methods of delivering the active ingredients to the brain were relatively unsophisticated: swallowing and smoking. Things began to change in the 19th century.
These are products humans have known and used for millennia. Nicotine, cocaine, and many narcotics come from plants, and alcohol is produced by fermentation of many grains and fruits. Many well known, problematic drugs have followed this pattern because they are derived from readily available and common plant products.
Society then seeks to control use of the chemical. Repeated use, however, leads to compulsive use and destructive consequences. The history of addiction stretches over thousands of years and reveals a persistent pattern: A chemical, often one with medicinal benefits, is discovered and found to be appealing for recreational use.