ABSTRACT
Scientists no longer believe that a drug has a simple physiological action, essentially the same in all humans. Experimental, anthropological, and sociological evidence have convinced most observers that drug effects vary greatly, depending on variations in the physiology and psychology of the persons taking them, on the state the person is in when he ingests the drug, and on the social situation in which drug ingestion occurs. We can understand the social context of drug experiences better by showing how their character depends on the amount and kind of knowledge available to the person taking the drug. Since distribution of knowledge is a function of the social organization of the groups in which drugs are used, drug experiences vary with variations in social organization. I 168explore that possibility in three quite different settings of drug use: the illegal use of drugs for pleasure, the use of medically prescribed drugs by doctors’ patients, and the involuntary ingestion of drugs by victims of chemical warfare.
