High Society - Mind-Altering Drugs in History and Culture

*Every society is a high society.  Getting high has been a pursuit of civilisations throughout time.

 

*Every day, people drink coffee in European cafes, chew betel nut in Indonesian markets, nibble coca leaf on Andean mountainsides and smoke tobacco in every nation on earth.

 

*Mind-altering drugs have been part of virtually every human culture that has ever existed - from prehistory to the present day. They have shaped cultures, kick-started global trade, transformed our understanding of the mind, built empires and threatened the fabric of society.

 

*Cultural historian and writer on the psychoactive Mike Jay returned to the Bureau to tell us why

 

For more on Mike and his book High Society

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