What is it about?
The chapter focuses on the abuse of narcotics as intoxicants. Who took what, what were the consequences, which narcotic had what effect, what happened in cases of overdose etc. It becomes obvious that there were trends in the abuse, that consequences could differ very much depending on the social class or occupation one had and that abuse was a widespread problem across boundaries of class an standing.
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Why is it important?
This is important, because most works focus on Hashish as intoxicant and do not look at other narcotics. But other narcotics were in use and by regarding this it becomes obvious that there is much more to know than just the fact that Hashish had at a certain time become a widespread problem in society.
Perspectives
This chapter was probably the most interesting to write, because it opens a window into the actual life of people in pre modern times. It is about the cases of abuse that we learn about in the sources, about consequences, about measures against abuse taken by authorities and about the places, gardens and locations attributed to buying, selling and consuming narcotics.
Dr. Thomas Thiemann
Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat Munster
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Betäubungsmittel als Rauschmittel, January 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004722385_007.
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