self wreck

People have been using substances to lift their spirits for millennia. Techniques for fermenting beer & related tipples are known from Egypt & Sumeria 4000 years ago, & they soon spread across the inhabited world. Coca leaves (the source of cocaine), tobacco, & caffeine were also popular with ancient cultures.
Humans may even have an evolutionary pre-disposition to seek out narcotics, even though they can be addictive & damaging. Some people may have genes which make them more genetically prone to drug addiction than others. Even some animals - jaguars, lemurs & bees, for example - have a habit of getting high.
Alcohol - Some experts believe that the world's first impromptu breweries might have been created when grain stores became drenched with rain & warmed in the sun. Ever since, humans have discovered that alcohol reduces their inhibitions, impairs their judgement, affects sexual desire & performance, creates beer bellies & leads to hangovers (& dubious cures).

There is an enormous amount of research on drug taking, examining both legal highs, such as alcohol, nicotine & caffeine, & illegal stimulants, such as marijuana, LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, amphetamines, heroin & magic mushrooms & the so-called date-rape drugs rohypnol & GHB.

Binge drinking is an ever-increasing health concern, & when not consumed in moderation, alcohol can lead to liver problems, brain destroy & infertility. Drinking whilst pregnant can also destroy the unborn kid. It is not all bad news though: studies show that some types of booze, such as red wine, are rich in antioxidant polyphenols which can help prevent heart disease & cancer.

Marijuana, six time the preserve of hippies, is now regularly smoked by millions of people in the US & UK. Around 14.6 million Americans have used marijuana in the last 30 days. Though still controversial, support for controlled legalisation of this most common illegal drug is growing.

However, detractors argue that the long-term effects of smoking dope on the brain are unclear, that it decreases fertility, damages the unborn foetus, can contribute to cot death in kids born to dope-smoking parents, & may lead to memory loss, schizophrenia, depression & other illnesses.

That support is bolstered by research showing that cannabis (& psychoactive extracts such as THC or cannabinoids) can provide relief for sufferers of multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease & epilepsy. Cannabis can also help to improve appetite & decrease weight loss in AIDS victims & may be able to slow the growth of cancerous tumours.

Ecstasy, or MDMA, was allegedly first prescribed as an anti-depressant. It was also used by American marriage counsellors & psychotherapists in the 1970s. The drug made patients feel less anxious & more open, accepting & empathic. But notoriety for the drug in the UK did not come until it was popularised by the rave dance scene in fields & warehouses in the late 1980s. Use of the drug is now common in main stream clubs & 2 million or more British youngsters pop the tablets at weekends. Clubbers enjoy the feelings of emotional closeness, rushes of energy, increased stamina heightened sense of touch & other effects.

Critics say that regular ecstasy use is a recipe for causing memory loss & lasting destroy to the brain's serotonin-producing neurons. Users can die from fatal overheating or a unsafe build-up of water on the brain. Ecstasy causes other problems such as stifling sex drive & damaging kids in the womb.

Cocaine comes from the coca plant, the leaves of which have been used by Native South Americans for 3000 years as a mild stimulant. Cocaine itself was first developed as a local anaesthetic, but has been a popular street drug since the 1970s. Today it is used by millions of people in the US alone & up to 150,000 finish up in emergency rooms with heart attacks or other side effects. It acts on the brain's dopamine method, & is thought to mimic the thrill of desire & anticipation.

Tablets contaminated with other compounds are part of the problem & plenty of tests have been developed to check for purity. Controversial research found evidence of a link between ecstasy & Parkinson's disease in 2002, though the finding was later retracted. Other animal studies conversely hinted that ecstasy might actually help treat the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Some experts point to the fact that despite the drug's giant popularity, ecstasy deaths remain very rare: downhill skiing kills more people. Controversial medical trials are testing the use of MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in victims of rape & violent crime.

Cocaine is highly addictive - plenty of users become dependent after a year or one, & some research suggests that a single dose could get you hooked. Use of the drug is linked to high blood pressure, deadly heart conditions & violent behaviour. Therapies to help addicts conquer their dependence include vaccines & related methods, which use antibodies to bind cocaine & stop it reaching its target in the brain. Other drugs can block cocaine cravings.

Nicotine comes from the leaves of the tobacco plant & was first cultivated & used by Native Americans 8000 years ago. Early European settlers in the Americas cultivated it as a funds crop for export, & smoking became popular back home in Europe during the 1600s. These days, an estimated 46 million Americans smoke 420 billion cigarettes per year. Smoking was thought to have few ill effects until researchers noticed that lung cancer prevalence rose enormously, along with the popularity of cigarette smoking in the twentieth century.

Today the 40-plus known carcinogenic chemicals in tobacco smoke are linked to cancers including those of the stomach, lung, pancreas, cervix & kidney. Research has also shown that nicotine or other tobacco chemicals can increase the speed of growth of tumours, cause cot death in the children of smokers, kill brain cells & lead to heart disease, strokes, emphysema & even mental illness.

Passive smoking is also widely thought to be unsafe activity & has been linked to an increase in cancers, heart disease & stroke, as well as lower than average IQ levels in children. Some people may be genetically-prone to nicotine addiction, & teenagers are more likely to become addicted than adults. Scientists are developing a controversial vaccine which could be used to protect young people against cigarette addiction.

The drug increases blood pressure & stimulates the heart lungs & other organs. There's been few verifiable links between caffeine & serious health problems, though research has shown it can increase sensitivity to pain, cause panic attacks & play havoc with sleep cycles. Some role in heart disease & cancer has been suggested, but not proven. Research has hinted that caffeine perhaps offers some unusual benefits by protecting against diabetes & radiation poisoning. Critics argue that addictive caffeine - supposedly a flavouring - is used by soft drink manufacturers to keep punters coming back for more.

Caffeine is found in around 60 known plant species, is a key ingredient of coffee, tea & chocolate, & is the world's most popular stimulant. Tea has been popular in China for at least 3000 years, but possibly for much longer. Caffeine is used by billions of people to boost alertness.