Marlene Dobkin de Rios is an anthropology scholar who specialized in the relationship between primitive societies—essentially from the american continent—and mind-altering substances. In her book Hallucinogens: Cross Cultural Perspectives, 11 traditional societies are examined, some of them long-gone and some still active. [ read more ]

Did you know that heroin was once legally sold as a cough syrup, that lithium (the same thing I put in my watch?) is the magical drug for bi-polar disorders though no one can explain how it works? That cocaine, after being advocated by Freud, was as popular then in the pharmacies as Valium is today? That the ... [ read more ]