Wine is used ceremonially in Roman Catholic and Judaic rites. Among primitive people, psychoactive plants are often considered sacred, gifts from gods and spirits to unite people with the higher realms. People have also used drugs to feel like they are more at one with nature, God, and supernatural beings.
Another reason people get so involved with drugs is to be able to look inside of themselves. These curious individuals want to explore and investigate parts of their own mind that are not ordinarily accessible. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, was considered one of these "explorers", who experimented with cocaine. Aldous Huxley, who wrote the book The Doors of Perception, used mescaline extensively in the 1950's, and is probably the most famous modern example of these self-explorers.
Mood alterations are another reason why people use and abuse drugs. The majority of legal medical drugs sold today are aimed at changing undesired moods (Weil and Rosen 16). Consequently, people feel like unwanted moods are symptoms of disease and they have to take medicine to relieve them of such moods. Escaping the pain and boredom states of everyday life, as well as relieving anxiety, depression, lethargy, and insomnia, are all reasons for the consumption of drugs. Another way to look at it is to say that taking drugs is in the treating of diseases. It is one more way in dealing with the symptoms of illness. Opium, morphine, and alcohol were mainstays of nineteenth-century medicine, used to treat everything from menstrual cramps to epilepsy. At one time, cocaine, in the form of coca wine, was the most widely prescribed drug to treat illnesses. Cocaine was then accepted as a miracle and cure-all drug. Tincture of marijuana was also a very popular drug. .
Another factor that plays a role in persuading people to use drugs is simply peer pressure. Teenagers who would not take drugs on their own are persuaded to do so by their peers, and they choose to do so just to follow the crowd.