BUREAU OF LOST CULTURE – High Society (28/09/2024)
Every society is a high society. Every day, people drink coffee in European cafes chew betel nut in Indonesian markets, take coca leaf on Andean mountainsides and smoke tobacco in every nation on earth.
Getting high has been a pursuit of civilisations throughout time. Mind-altering drugs have been part of virtually every human culture that has ever existed from prehistory to the present day. They have shaped cultures, kick-started global trade, transformed our understanding of the mind, built empires and threatened the fabric of society.
Cultural historian and writer on the psychoactive, Mike Jay, returns to the Bureau to tell us why