It’s becoming impossible to count all the options we have these days for altering our consciousness with chemicals and plants. You can buy ketamine

Opinion | As Drug Culture Becomes Mainstream, Our Language Needs To Evolve. - The New York Times

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2024-12-23 18:00:04

It’s becoming impossible to count all the options we have these days for altering our consciousness with chemicals and plants. You can buy ketamine from club drug dealers on your phone, or by mail from online medical clinics to treat depression. Alongside vapes and gummies, C.B.D. dispensaries sell kratom, an herbal stimulant that some people use to boost work productivity and others to detox from opioids. Cannabis sellers may or may not be legally licensed, and may also sell psychedelic mushrooms. Some people source their Xanax or Adderall from sites on the dark web, others from a physician. Those seeking an alternative to coffee can head to a kava bar to sip an herbal narcotic long used in traditional Polynesian medicine.

The old distinction between medical and recreational drugs is breaking down. It’s no longer clear what even counts as a drug anymore.

During the 20th century, people generally knew that drugs meant illegal substances, purchased clandestinely with cash and clearly distinguished from medications, which might also be psychoactive, but required a doctor’s prescription. In today’s chaotic marketplace, the idea of drugs as a social evil and the belief that only doctors define what is medical is being challenged. We are in a new reality, and we need a new way to make sense of it.