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Comment by triceratops | Hacker News Reader

Other than religious proscriptions against alcohol, I can't think of any civilization in history that has outright banned any drugs. Were the Romans, Egyptians or Persians especially anti-drug? Any of the ancient Indian or Chinese kingdoms and empires?

On the other hand, cannabis has a long tradition of use in ancient India[1].

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_India

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Europe, circa the middle ages, had cultural taboos against certain "witchy" herbs. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only other cultural prohibition against some class of drugs at large.

I do believe such bans to be hideous and downright stupid. It is crass authoritarianism, nothing less than the subordination of the individual's body and mind to a tyrannical society clownish enough to demand it.

When the Chinese banned opium the British went to war to reopen that market because it was so profitable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars

It seems like many drugs are banned in various societies today, so I don't quite follow you.

> It seems like many drugs are banned in various societies today, so I don't quite follow you.

OP thinks no "advanced civilization" has ever allowed drugs. Drugs bans enforced by state power only became a thing near the end of the 19th century. That means no advanced civilization existed before then - not the Romans, nor Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Indians, or Chinese - and countless others. Sounds incorrect to me.

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