The Cultural Definition Of Drugs

In our society of the United of America, we have made various drugs a norm of our country. However, little do we know that cultures of other countries have defined drugs in our country. While many of the drugs in the United States of America are illegal to use, other countries view various drugs as acceptable. I will provide three different examples of this truth. The first example is the opposing views of drugs are the Europeans and the Native Americans.


Over a thousand years in their lives, the Europeans have used the consumption of alcohol as a past-time which they have consumed. However, when Native Americans consumed the various types of liquor and wine, they has no guidance in their consumption. Therefore, the end result was that tribal leaders classified alcohol as dangerous. However, when Europeans discovered that Native Americans used a drug known as "peyote" for multiple centuries during their rituals, the Europeans were offended by how startling the hallucinated experiences were. Therefore, Europeans stated that peyote was a hazardous drug. The second example is the opposing viewpoints of cocaine from South America to the United States Of America.


A plant used to make cocaine known a "Coca" has been planted for over a thousand years in various South American nations. In the nations of Bolivia, Peru and Columbia, multiple farmers locally either chew on or apply it as an ingredient to their tea in order for them to make it through the day. In the United States of America, however, the production, selling and owning cocaine is illegal. The reason why this drug is illegal in the United States of America is because many people portray the drug as a result of crime. The third and last opinion is the opposing opinions between the Chinese and The United States of America. During the 1850's, multiple Chinese people who immigrated to California enjoyed smoking a drug known as "opium". However, people who showed prejudice towards the Chinese immigrants resulted in having eleven western states making the smoking of opium illegal.


In conclusion, these are the various opposing views on drugs from culture-to-culture. Therefore, we must manage ourselves by learning about the dangerous effects of drugs.