Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Drug use
(890 words)

1. Definition and overview

A “drug” today is understood to be any psychoactive substance, that is, any substance that affects consciousness. The present article will consider those that were consumed on a mass scale, or at least a socially relevant scale, in early modern Europe. The overwhelmingly permissive attitude to drugs until the last third of the 19th century arose firstly from the fact that the use of plant substances …

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Bolognese-Leuchtenmüller, Birgit, “Drug use”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_018443>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170626



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