Why weren’t psychoactive substances more widely consumed in the Old World? I know there are species of mushrooms native to Europe that have interesting effects and can be cultivated easily, not to mention the ergot that grew on wheat. And we all know that hashish was known, at least in the Mediterranean regions. So, why does it seem to be only alcohol until tobacco was imported?
It wasn’t just alcohol.
The only thing is, if anyone mentioned being out of their heads, they generally ended up the stake and burnt for being in league with the devil.
There are many references in old records and tales of people thinking they could fly, seeing weird creatures and so on. Many people chewed on various herbs for meditative reasons, thus showing that many other drugs were about.
Just a drive-by post before I log off and get busy but, “seem to be alcohol” is the subjective part of your question. If you read and study the subject you would probably unearth a lot more references to “psychoactive” substances being used in the “Old World”. Opium was widely used in medicine.
A big problem would have been the domination of the Christian church in everyday lives in historical Europe. People were arrested and tortured for putting on clean underwear on Sunday during the Spanish inquisition. Recreational drug use would have been seen as terribly sinful and blatant witchcraft. Any recreational drug abusers would have been deeply closeted.
I have read about Siberian shamans holding religious ceremonies where they got zonked out of their gourds on mushrooms and urinated into birchbark cups for their followers to drink and also get intoxicated. Try that in old Europe and you’d be the center of attention in the village square when they burned you at the stake. In parts of Europe they were still burning witches into the 1700s. Mushrooms are interesting because there’s a blurry line between getting stoned and getting poisoned. There was experimentation with poison mushrooms, taking gradually increasing doses to build up a tolerance and experience a mystical near-death experience. Not the sort of thing your average peasant would take time out of his hard-working life to enjoy.
Once the church lightened up a little you can probably find 18th and 19th century references to aristocrats and intellectuals taking drugs recreationally or for philosophical exploration, but one of the cold facts of history is that, for the vast majority of Europeans, right up to the early 20th century, life was nasty, brutal, and short. Drinking was sort of OK, locally produced and taxed, a generally positive social activity good for briefly easing the burdens of life, morally acceptable to the church because over-indulgence was immediately punished by a painful hangover, but other forms of recreational drug abuse would have been seen as (a) unproductive waste of time and money, and, most important (b) an unChristian, anti-social, mystical activity that smacked too much of witchcraft.
Just my humble opinion based on what I’ve learned reading books.
Actually, Derleth might be on to something (although I’m not sure what just yet.) I can think of lots of hallucigens used in the New World (peyote, datura, mushrooms, various plants in Amazonia) along with non- hallucigens or stimulants such as coca and tobacco (plus alchohol in the form of beers and other brews.) Aside from Europe, I don’t recall real hallucigens being nearly as prevalent in Africa, Asia, or Oceania. (If we include all sorts of drugs, besides alchohol, marijuana, opium and caffeine in Africa and Asia - and some magic mushrooms no doubt - there’s also khat in Africa, betel nut in Asia, and kava in Oceania). But I have at least the initial impression that use of real hallucigens may have been much more widespread in the Americas than in the New World. I could be wrong as I know much less about African and Asian cultures
Derleth, are you more interested in hallucigens, or do you want to know about all drugs in general? And by Old World, do you mean Africa and Asia in addition to Europe?