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Recreational drugs are often considered to be the byproduct of the Sixties, but the drugs themselves have long histories of both legal and illegal use before that time. There are different classes of recreational drugs as determined by the legal status in different countries. The groups I will touch upon are opiates, psychedelics, anesthetics, cannabis, and stimulants which are illegal in the United States. There are several more, but these are the ones I can discuss with some educational insight.

Heroin is an opium derivative initially discovered in the 1870s, but was rediscovered by Bayer Pharmaceuticals of Germany in 1898 while working on the manufacturing of codeine for pain relief drugs. Heroin was marketed as a children's cough suppressant and cure for morphine addiction until it was discovered that heroin is converted to morphine in the liver. The United States legislated heroin as prescription only in 1914 and then banned its sale altogether in 1924. Many prescription pain relievers on the market today are opioids, derivatives of the same base chemical as heroin. Earlier in Europe opium was smoked in opium dens, much like alcohol is consumed in bars today, and has recreational uses dating back to fifteenth century China where opium poppies were initially grown. There are still opium wars occurring in Middle East poppy fields today due to the financial gains of worldwide recreational use of its derivatives.

Psychedelics are drugs that cause hallucinations whether they be visual or auditory. I include in this grouping LSD (acid), MDMA (ecstasy), mescaline (peyote), and psilocybin (shrooms). Peyote and mushrooms are known to have been used in religious ceremonies and spirit walks far back into the history of native cultures. Their natural psychedelic properties were probably found by accident and seen to be from the gods. LSD and ecstasy are manufactured mimics of this process. Ecstasy could also be categorized as a stimulant since its psychedelic effects are often unnoticed.

LSD was initially introduced for psychiatric treatment. It was created by Sandoz Laboratories of Switzerland in 1938. It was tested by the British government alongside psilocybin in the 1940s and 50s, but was leaked out of a Harvard laboratory and began being used recreationally by the now infamous Dr. Timothy Leary. The drug was officially banned and criminalized in 1966.

Ecstasy is infamous for being part of the club scene, or raves, but MDMA was first patented in 1912 by the German

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