Changes

We think of recreational drugs as being a phenomenon that has emerged relatively recently. However, the use of drugs, other than medicinal purposes, has existed from antiquity. The purpose was sometimes not only for enjoyment but also integrated with religious practice. The mix of many pleasures with drug use has also been a consistent pattern across time.

====Early Use of Recreational Drugs====

The use of drugs such as opium likely originated from prehistoric periods, although direct evidence is limited. Remains from Central Asia and across parts of Eurasia suggest plant residues that resemble cannabis have been found on braziers. In fact, the origin of opium is that it comes from Central Asia and it liked reached the Near East and Europe in the Neolithic due to migrations of populations such as the Yamnaya. Some early evidence for recreational drug use come from ancient Mesopotamia (modern Syria and Iraq) and Egypt. At Ebla, in modern western Syria, a kitchen was found in a palace from the mid 3rd millennium BCE. When the ceramics found in the kitchen were analyzed they were found to contain traces of opium.

In China and India, evidence from the Bronze Age also suggests early use of opium; marijuana, particularly in India where the drug naturally occurs, was also likely used in the Bronze Age at about 5000 years ago. In these cases, both drugs could have been smoked and also used in drinks.<ref>For more on the earliest history of drugs in the Old World, see: Escohotado, Antonio. 1999. <i>A Brief History of Drugs: From the Stone Age to the Stoned Age</i>. Rochester, Vt: Park Street Press. </ref>

In Egypt, one popular drug was the blue water lotus. Blue water lotus has hallucinogenic qualities and was ofen been with wine (Figure 2). Paintings of drunken festivals with descriptions and depictions of likely orgies suggest that it was ingested for recreational use and not just for religious purposes. However, recreational use may have also been part of worship ritual in Egypt, as descriptions of the use of the blue lotus have been found at Karnak, the site of Egypt's most holy temple.