Culture on Drugs

And now to something completely different. Recreational drugs. Recreational drugs are weird. Specifically, the way we as a society deal with drugs is inconsistent. Also, there might be an interesting change going on in the kinds of drugs which are generally preferred.

A huge amount of substances is not only forbidden by law, it’s also socially stigmatized. Concepts like addiction, crime and different illnesses are a well established part of how people think about drugs. The irony is that other drugs like caffeine, nicotine and especially alcohol have technically the same effects, yet they are socially completely acceptable. I even got into situation where grown people mocked me for refusing to drink alcohol. One of them was a teacher, the other one was a priest. Go figure.

Alcohol has such deep roots in all cultures, we have become almost blind it’s effects. On the recent BBC documentary about the top 20 list of the most dangerous drugs, alcohol scored place 5 – above LSD, Ecstasy, Canabis, Steroids and Speed.

But this might be changing. I have noticed that the generation of my parents consumes alcohol casually and on a regular basis. Especially shows like Mad Men make it blatantly obvious that just 50 years ago, even hard alcoholic beverages were consumed much more casually.

It’s different today. The most widely used legal drug of the geek generation is caffeine. And caffeine in it’s original form – black coffee – is not cutting it anymore. We now have a much richer coffee culture with hundreds of variations – espressos, cappuccinos, lattes, frappuccinos and whatnot. Going beyond that, we have a wide selection on energy drinks – cocktails of caffeine and other stimulants mixed with a high dose of sugar for those long nights. And if that isn’t enough, you can still just go balls out and order pure caffeine and create your own recipes. Caffeine Jello Shots anyone?

Wait! Does that mean that people will be binge drinking frappuchinos and red bulls in the future?

Why is there a shift from alcohol to caffeine? Well, there are different ways to categorize the effect of drugs. One interesting dichotomy is between Depressants and Stimulants. Most people may be familiar with the slang synonyms – “Downers” and “Uppers”. Generally, depressants inhibit brain activity and have a calming, relaxing effect. Stimulants increase brain activity, increasing awareness and the ability to concentrate. And here is the thing. Alcohol is a Depressant. Caffeine and Nicotine are Stimulants. That’s why Coffee and Cigarettes work so well together.

Depressants were a good choice in the industrial and pre-industrual ages. These were the times of hard manual labor. The people needed a way to relax in the evenings after a day of hard work. The go-to place was the pub – a place specifically designed to consume alcohol in the evenings. But now, we are moving into the information age where work is usually of mental nature. The modern worker doesn’t need depressants, they need stimulants to overcome the fatigue caused by their work. The Stimulant counterpart of the pub is the coffee house. Coffee houses are already said to be associated with the increase of literacy and spread of literature in the 18th century. It only makes sense that they are nowadays places where you can slip in bits of work. You can check your E-Mails, write that blog post while enjoying your double latte.

That doesn’t mean that alcohol will disappear immediately. It’s a gradual shift and the changes are subtle. I have noticed that while my father preferred a beer in the evenings. I enjoy a nice cool energy drink to squeeze that few extra hours out of my day.