What is the first recorded recreation drug?
The recreational use of drugs has been popular throughout human history. The most widespread recreationally used drug used to be alcohol . Beer and wine were produced in Persia and in the Mediterranean before recorded history. Popular theory seems to agree that people first consumed and enjoyed the effect of rotten fruit, which would contain some alcohol. Modern research in the jungle has shown this to be the case with animals. Nicotine , the psychoactive constituent of tobacco , was first used by Europeans in the sixteenth century, but was used ritually in the Americas centuries prior. Caffeine has a long history of human consumption as well, and may have overtaken alcohol as the most popular recreational drug. Despite relatively recent proscription as an illegal drug in much of the world, cannabis retains its historical popularity. Cannabis, like alcohol, has been used by virtually every culture in recorded history. Recreational use of opium (extracted from the immature seed pods of
I don’t have any references to cite but from what I studied the first known drug used recreationally was opium in Asia and it was made into a drink that was not potent at all and barely had an effect. It was not until recent times that people from Europe taught them how to smoke opium and from there they were off to the races and all the behavior associated with dope fiends escalated. I doubt people were smoking weed in 4,000 BC. They could have eaten it to get high, but would have to have knowledge of the curing process and to make bud butter or otherwise they would have to have eaten quantities that would have been very improbable for one person to consume..
