ABSTRACT
Mass media have made drugs a common theme in everyday news. However, in the mid 1990's the story of an 'autochthonous Slovenian hallucinogenic drug' broke out of the usual media routine and became an especially popular topic of conversation among youth in Slovenia. For youth immersed in various forms of popular culture, drugs are part of the everyday, at least as a narrative. To the national heritage of peasant alcohol distillation was thus added an exotic product comparable to 'mind-expanding' drugs in other cultures. One would hardly expect these experts to be involved in the field of drug culture, and so Ogorevc became a suitable authority who could position salamander brandy among national representational symbols, at least for some Slovenians. For them it became national and not merely local heritage. In western societies, drugs have a numinous character since they are simultaneously terrifying and attractive.
