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> Until the mid-20th century, alcohol was it. Not really. Cannabis, opium, mushrooms, etc. have been around forever and have been marginalized to a greater or
by robotresearcher 11y ago
> Until the mid-20th century, alcohol was it.
Not really. Cannabis, opium, mushrooms, etc. have been around forever and have been marginalized to a greater or lesser extent over time, and often much less than they were in the 20th century.
I've enjoyed some Coupland work, but I didn't get this piece at all.
- hunterjrj 11y agoI'm with you - this is a noted (at least in Canada) author, who appears to be ignorant of history and especially of markers in his own craft. Sherlock Holmes/snuff, etc.
- thorin 11y agoI remember reading this in uni too - lots of examples in the 1800s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_English_Opium-Eater https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_English_Opiu...
- coldtea 11y ago>Sherlock Holmes/snuff, etc. Sherlock Holmes or Freyd etc, is not indicative of any trends in the general population. Might as well have used Mescalito indians as an example to rampant psychedelics use in the USA in the 19th century...
- hunterjrj 11y ago"It originated in the Americas and was in common use in Europe by the 17th century" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snuff_%28tobacco%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snuff_%28tobacco%29
- coldtea 11y agoIn the same Wikipedia articles it mentions several times that it mostly spread among the elites.
- coldtea 11y ago>Not really. Cannabis, opium, mushrooms, etc. have been around forever Not really. He's talking for the general population, and that didn't do opium or mushrooms, nor cannabis that much. And stories of heroine and opium in the 19th century or so are mostly exaggerated, the majority didn't touch those substances (not even in China). Thomas De Quincey or Coleridge etc were not representative of what was going on for the average person (nor was the luben underclass -- in the same way crack and meth addicts in existance today doesn't mean crack use is something people just do). He's not talking what the 1% did. He talks about what the 30% - 70% did. Besides, he also says just a little further down: >Until Prozac came out in 1987, the only mood-altering options were mid-century: booze, pot and whatever MGM fed Judy Garland to keep her vibrating for three decades.
- robotresearcher 11y agoThe majority (or the 30-70%) don't take Prozac either.