By Raghav Prabhakaran
The first definition of the word ‘drugs’ in the Oxford Dictionary is: an illegal substance that some people smoke, inject, etc. for the physical and mental effect it has. This definition precedes that of its medicinal use in the dictionary. While the word is perceived with a negative connotation today, it is important to note that historically, things were different. It is only in recent times that pop-culture, largely that of America, has created this picture of this range of substances called drugs. While there are undeniable negative effects of these substances that are illegal in most places, it is imperative to understand why they are legal in other places and what they previously meant in society.
Consider marijuana as an example. Marijuana, also known as cannabis, hemp or more colloquially weed is a substance that is completely illegal in almost 75% of the world. In the other 25% (54 countries), it is either illegal but unenforced, illegal but decriminalized, legal with restrictions or completely legal in the cases of Canada, Georgia, South Africa, Uruguay and some states of the USA. The substance stems from a plant called cannabis and is a psychoactive drug used for both medical and recreational purposes.
This substance amongst others, has an extremely complicated history. Asians began to grow it around 500BC, more than 2500 years ago, as a herbal medicine. There is also some evidence that it was used for religious purposes, as is still done in countries including India. In addition to this, it was used for making paper, ropes and cloth and its seeds were often used as food. While marijuana grew widely over this period of time for those uses, it only became a recreational drug in the west around 120 years back when Mexican migrants brought it to USA. During the great depression, extensive resentment towards Mexicans led to more than half of USA banning it for political aceeptance. However, its use for recreation still expanded throughout the century in America. Towards the late 1900s and early 2000s, with a revolution in American pop-culture, weed became a commonly used substance in the entertainment industry, particularly by hip-hop artists. Many artists like Dr. Dre who previously spoke against drugs like cocaine during the crack epidemic, turned around suddenly. Many movies and television shows showed the use of the substance. For example, the popular sit-com ‘That 70s Show’ which first aired in 1998 showed high school children smoking marijuana every night.
It was indeed during the course of this century that the perception of drugs like marijuana changed significantly. While their use was largely limited to marginalized parts of the society or rich groups, this revolution that glorified drugs and caused a drastic change in its perception of drugs worldwide. Despite its history of seemingly ordinary and trivial uses, the contemporary era of pop culture produced an environment that perceives drugs as highly harmful and undesirable. As media and technological advances made these mediums of entertainment all the more accessible and widespread, an unintended repercussion was the increased adversity towards drug usage.
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