Stuart Walton
Out Of It - A Cultural History of IntoxicationIn recent times of drugs seasons, exclusives and general moral panic, Stuart Walton delivers a thought-provoking and highly readable account of the use of intoxicants through the ages. His somewhat academic text draws upon the roles, laws and histories of intoxicants across the cultural board, examining the quest for altered states as something we are biologically pre-disposed to; part of a basic human appetite, a legitimate social practice rather than a dysfunction.
There are no reports of fully formed societies in history that didn't use psychoactive substances, bar the Inuit due to their environmental inability to grow anything. Since Ergot and Christianity's first victory over intoxicant use, the concept of prohibition for the good of society has been subject to scrutiny, debate and hypocrisy. The author warns that ideas about the usefulness of drugs have been muddied by criminalisation and the search for knowledge and self awareness in this way should not be considered a crime in the traditional sense of the word as the use of drugs do not victimise other people or groups.
As the text so lucidly points out, we are not trusted as individuals to make decisions about substance use, so the powers that be would rather keep it out of our hands altogether. Yet if criminalisation will stamp out illegal drug use altogether then why is it taking so long? Walton views the War On Drugs as scapegoating certain groups in society to draw attention away from institutional causes of disaffection. If drug abuse is brought on by the hopelessness of urban decay then why do rock stars and celebrities show such interest? Why should it be that the shamanistic DMT uses of the Yanomami Indians of Venezuela are considered heightened explorations of the soul and our own ingestion as debasing at best? Does anyone have the right to stop another from his own leisure pursuits simply because Western society is so intent on repressing our gustatory appetites? Could it be simply a sign of self-loathing at their own lack of adventurousness? Are we to adhere passively to rules administered to us by people who believed in Cake, the made-up drug?
Historical commentary, extensive research and above all the genuine aim to inform the modern-day media sponge about something he didn't already know. And not a word wasted.
There are no reports of fully formed societies in history that didn't use psychoactive substances, bar the Inuit due to their environmental inability to grow anything. Since Ergot and Christianity's first victory over intoxicant use, the concept of prohibition for the good of society has been subject to scrutiny, debate and hypocrisy. The author warns that ideas about the usefulness of drugs have been muddied by criminalisation and the search for knowledge and self awareness in this way should not be considered a crime in the traditional sense of the word as the use of drugs do not victimise other people or groups.
As the text so lucidly points out, we are not trusted as individuals to make decisions about substance use, so the powers that be would rather keep it out of our hands altogether. Yet if criminalisation will stamp out illegal drug use altogether then why is it taking so long? Walton views the War On Drugs as scapegoating certain groups in society to draw attention away from institutional causes of disaffection. If drug abuse is brought on by the hopelessness of urban decay then why do rock stars and celebrities show such interest? Why should it be that the shamanistic DMT uses of the Yanomami Indians of Venezuela are considered heightened explorations of the soul and our own ingestion as debasing at best? Does anyone have the right to stop another from his own leisure pursuits simply because Western society is so intent on repressing our gustatory appetites? Could it be simply a sign of self-loathing at their own lack of adventurousness? Are we to adhere passively to rules administered to us by people who believed in Cake, the made-up drug?
Historical commentary, extensive research and above all the genuine aim to inform the modern-day media sponge about something he didn't already know. And not a word wasted.
