Editor’s Note: At the 2017 American Historical Association in Denver, several historians with relevant research interests participated in a roundtable discussion, “What Historians Wish People Knew about Licit and Illicit Drugs.” Keeping with the spirit of the title, Points is delighted to publish some of the panelists’ opening remarks in a temporary new series over the coming weeks. Our second installment is brought to you by Isaac Campos, associate professor at the University of Cincinnati. Also be sure to check out last week’s series premier by Miriam Kingsberg Kadia and part III by William Rorabaugh.
I’d just like to make five quick points with respect to what I wish all people knew about drug history.
First, humans have been taking psychoactive drugs since humans discovered psychoactive drugs. There seems to be a fundamental human attraction to altered states of consciousness if not a fundamental human need for it. This is old news to drug historians, but it is likely a novel idea to the average person. Thus it’s worth mentioning because it means that we are never going to live in a “drug-free world,” so we need to learn to deal intelligently with people take psychoactive drugs.