ABSTRACT
Humankind has identified hundreds of preparations that, when absorbed by the body, alter its functions in ways that make the user feel transformed. The word preparation seems appropriate to denote the range of things that otherwise carry the names drug, substance, chemical, narcotic, stimulant, sedative, hallucinogen, and anxiolytic, among others, because they require varying degrees of preparation before the user ingests them. The process of getting a drug (the most broadly understandable of the commonly used terms) ready for consumption may involve actions as simple as finding a plant or mushroom and eating it, or as elaborate as chemical extraction of specific alkaloids from plant-derived liquids, modification of the alkaloid, dilution in water, and hypodermic injection into the vein. The idea that drugs require preparation should prove especially useful in examining the history of drugs other than alcohol, because it causes us to imagine how our ancestors developed present-day forms of drugs.
