As a furre, I can say…no, no, it’s not the first furry-drug thread on the internet.
There’s 2 general takes on catnip-as-pot analogue. The ‘it’s pot, but we call it catnip because they’re cats, see?’ version, and the ‘it’s catnip’ version. In the latter, it’s treated as a mild drug young cats experiment with, but it’s used normally.
For a real anthrokitty, I have a feeling the latter would be more the case.