 Whether it’s caffeine, nicotine, or morphine, drugs of choice have defined our lives and history, with sometimes benevolent, sometimes tragic results. This program focuses on the history of America’s drug use and abuse, from the days when the early European settlers became enamored of tobacco, through Prohibition, and up to today. The problems we see today existed in other forms and with other drugs throughout our history. The reasons for using drugs have also remained constant: to ease pain, alleviate boredom, or to expand our consciousness. The program traces the patterns of American drug use and abuse and documents the cultural, social, and political movements that impacted, or were impacted by, the use of drugs. (58 minutes)
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