The Sacred, the Ceremonial, and Substances

As a longtime proud lightweight drinker, I’ve always been interested in people’s mores, values and practices when it comes to casual substance use. This graduate school-era essay explores some of my observations and my own values when it comes to mind-altering chemical use.

I never did understand the concept of casual drinking. Cocktails with lunch. Happy hours at the bar after work. Beer with dinner in front of the TV. Though I know some people who swear they like the taste of beer, it seems like people who consume alcohol on a frequent casual basis aren’t doing it because booze is just so yummy.

Deny it all you want, but having even one alcoholic drink affects your mind and your body long after you’ve finished it off, no matter what your age, sex or body size. I found out from reading Oprah Winfrey and Bob Green’s Make the Connection weight loss book that taking one drink can slow down your metabolism for a whole day. This slowdown is more noticeable by people like fitness guru Green who exercise almost every day; a single drink the night before can turn the next day’s treadmill workout into a butt-dragging ordeal. Now, think about how hitting the bar after getting off from the job in the evening must affect a person’s performance at work the next morning.

If the way alcohol drags down the body wasn’t enough to make me question frequent casual drinking, there’s the mental effects on top of that. I’ve known many people who say that one or two drinks does nothing for them, yet when they go to parties or clubs they’re bored or uncomfortable without a couple of beers, coolers or glasses to “loosen up.” I wish people were more honest about what they use alcohol for: any time you choose to take a drink, you are seeking to alter your mental and emotional state, because that’s what alcohol and the other so-called controlled substances are for.

Alcohol is a depressant that shuts down levels of brain functioning from the highest to the lowest depending on the amount you consume. The first brain function that shuts down is your inhibitions, which is why a lot of people can’t “party” without one or two drinks in them. Unfortunately, the second function that shuts down is your judgement, which is why we all have been to more than enough parties, clubs and bars where people act a little bit more inhibited than they need to be. Through spending a lot of time with recovering alcoholics, I have become even more aware of how oppressive the casual drug use in this culture is, and how liberating partying and socializing without it can be.

Now, I may sound like I want to see Prohibition reimposed, but that’s not what I want. My wish is for people to be truly aware, not just in the “yeah, yeah I know it’s bad for me” kind of thinking, that alcohol, tobacco and the other “recreational” drugs are mind-and-body-altering substances that have risks regarding their use; therefore, none of these substances, pardon the pun, should ever be taken lightly. Much of the social consequences of substance use are the result of addiction, but I believe that a large part of the misery we suffer from drug use originates from our culture’s ubiquitous casual, unthinking, “recreational” use.

Going back to alcohol as an example, unthinking drinking of booze is so accepted, even expected, that those of us who don’t want to drink stick out like thorns in the side of those who automatically order a beer at a restaurant or a rum and Coke at a club. So many times in my life as an adult, I’ve been asked with disbelief by others, “You just want a pop?” Or “How come you’re not drinking?” Or “Come on, why don’t you have a drink? I’m paying!”

When I was a teenager, the only purpose I saw for ever taking a drink was to get drunk. As a teen, I had plenty of peers who thought the same way, so I spent my share of evenings “gettin’ blowed” on booze and weed. As a five-foot-two-inch, 120-pound female, I had almost zero tolerance to alcohol; it only took one or two wine coolers to have me falling-down silly. The people I got drunk and high with would laugh at me drinking wimpy low-alcohol drinks, but these same people would be puking sick later on while I was still giddy with my buzz. I got sick drunk once at a college kids’ party where there were endless cups of bland, cold keg beer and drinking games that never seemed to end. I collapsed on the floor and later vomited. Knowing that I had drank way past my point of drunkenness because I wanted to fit in with the party crowd, I promised myself that I would never get that drunk again.

As an adult, my alcohol use has been limited to rare special occasions. If I were to consume alcohol even 20 times in one year, that would be a real lush period for me. I’m not comfortable drinking with people who aren’t family or close friends, or in public places.

When I think about the times in which I feel right about drinking—holiday gatherings with family and friends, a birthday drink or two—as well as the risk I take any time I drink alcohol, I see myself developing an awareness, not of the bull-crap “drink responsibly” kind that’s advertised on TV by alcoholic beverage companies, but of the specialness of indulging in something that’s mind-altering and risky. This is not something you’re supposed to do every day. Consuming these substances is something that’s best saved for special occasions, in safe places with people you trust.

Idealists in the 1960s and ’70s sought to “expand” their minds via substance use, but their failure lay in their ignorance of the risks of using in general, as well as of the specific dangers of substances that were manufactured for mass dissemination and addiction, such as heroin, cocaine and commercial tobacco.

Long before drugs were produced and marketed as cheap amusement, partaking of mind-altering substances was limited to ceremony and celebration. Native Americans used tobacco, peyote and other plant-derived substances to cement bonds among people and to get in touch with the spirit world.

I would like us to recall that lost collective memory and begin to use mind-altering substances with a consciousness. We can read books about the history and use of herbs and other substances for both sacred/ceremonial and medicinal use in various cultures. We can avoid the manufactured substances that have a high risk of addiction. We can avoid buying alcoholic beverages that are marketed as inexpensive fun in a bottle and save our money for fine wines and liquors to be savored during special gatherings with the people we love.

Or we can make our own “hooch”—I once witnessed the making of “17-day champagne” from a recipe. Home brewing is one of many possible ways way we can skip giving our money to the controlled substance manufacturers. For example, some people take the legal risk of growing and harvesting natural substances for sacred/celebration and medicinal use.

Whatever choices we make, acquiring wisdom and consciousness about mind-altering substances and making this awareness a social value rather than the current ruling extremes of abstinence or excess could lessen the devastating effects of abuse because we would have a life-affirming, hypocrisy-free principle for when, where and why we should partake in the herb or the libation.