Editing Recreational drug use (section)

==Reasons for use==
{{Main|Entheogenic use of cannabis|Epigenetics of cocaine addiction|Molecular and epigenetic mechanisms of alcoholism}}
{{Further|Alcohol and Native Americans|History of drinking|History of opium in China|History of smoking}}
[[File:Bhang eaters before two huts (6124556163).jpg|thumb|[[Bhang]] eaters from India, c. 1790; Bhang is an [[Cannabis edible|edible preparation]] of [[Cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] native to the [[Indian subcontinent]]. It has been used in food and drink as early as 1000 BCE by [[Hindu]]s in [[ancient India]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Staelens |first=Stefanie |date=10 March 2015 |title=The Bhang Lassi Is How Hindus Drink Themselves High for Shiva |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/httpmunchies-vice-comarticlesthe-bhang-lassi-is-how-hindus-drink-themselves-high-for-shiva/ |url-status=live |magazine=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |publisher=[[Vice Media]] |issn=1077-6788 |oclc=30856250 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240309082416/https://www.vice.com/en/article/kbx94a/httpmunchies-vice-comarticlesthe-bhang-lassi-is-how-hindus-drink-themselves-high-for-shiva |archive-date=9 March 2024 |access-date=25 March 2024}}</ref>]]
[[File:Ganja Smoking - Gangasagar Fair Transit Camp - Kolkata 2013-01-12 2646.JPG|thumb|250px|A man smoking cannabis through a [[Pipe smoking|pipe]] in [[Kolkata]], [[India]]]]

Many researchers have explored the [[etiology]] of recreational drug use.<ref name="Crocq 2007"/> Some of the most common theories are: [[Genetics of addiction|genetics]],<ref name="Nature 2022">{{cite journal |last1=Saunders |first1=G. R. B. |last2=Wang |first2=X. |last3=Chen |first3=F. |last4=Jang |first4=S. K. |last5=Liu |first5=M. |last6=Wang |first6=C. |last7=Gao |first7=S. |last8=Jiang |first8=Y. |last9=Otto |first9=J. M. |last10=Khunsriraksakul |first10=C. |last11=Akiyama |first11=M. |date=7 December 2022 |title=Genetic diversity fuels gene discovery for tobacco and alcohol use |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |publisher=[[Nature Research]] |volume=612 |issue=7941 |pages=720–724 |doi=10.1038/s41586-022-05477-4 |doi-access=free |issn=1476-4687 |pmc=9771818 |pmid=36477530 |bibcode=2022Natur.612..720S |s2cid=254434507}}</ref> personality type, psychological problems, self-medication, sex, age, depression, curiosity, boredom, rebelliousness, a sense of belonging to a group, family and attachment issues, history of trauma, failure at school or work, socioeconomic stressors, peer pressure, juvenile delinquency, availability, historical factors, or socio-cultural influences.<ref name="NIDA 2020">{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=13 July 2020 |title=Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction – Drug Misuse and Addiction |url=https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drug-misuse-addiction |website=www.drugabuse.gov |location=[[North Bethesda, Maryland]] |publisher=[[National Institute on Drug Abuse]] |access-date=23 December 2021}}</ref><ref name=plant1980>{{cite journal |author-last=Plant |author-first=MA |title=Drugtaking and prevention: the implications of research for social policy |editor-last=Marsden |editor-first=J |journal=[[Addiction (journal)|Addiction]] |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] on behalf of the [[Society for the Study of Addiction]] |volume=75 |issue=3 |pages= 245–54 |date=September 1980 |doi=10.1111/j.1360-0443.1980.tb01378.x |issn=1360-0443 |lccn=93645978 |oclc=27367194 |pmid=6938224 |s2cid=32438214}}</ref> There has been no consensus on a single cause.<ref name="NIDA 2020"/> Instead, experts tend to apply the [[biopsychosocial model]].<ref name="NIDA 2020"/> Any number of factors may influence an individual's drug use, as they are not [[mutually exclusive]].<ref name="NIDA 2020"/><ref name=plant1980/><ref name=white2012>{{cite book | vauthors = White T |title=Working with Drug and Alcohol Users|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=clQST0yOQOwC&pg=PA77| location = London | publisher = Jessica Kingsley Publishers|year=2012|page=77|isbn=9780857006189}}</ref> Regardless of genetics, mental health, or traumatic experiences, social factors play a large role in the exposure to and availability of certain types of drugs and patterns of use.<ref name="NIDA 2020"/><ref name=plant1980/><ref>{{Cite web | work = Australian Department of Health | title = 3.1 Reasons why people use drugs | url = https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/drugtreat-pubs-front5-wk-toc~drugtreat-pubs-front5-wk-secb~drugtreat-pubs-front5-wk-secb-3~drugtreat-pubs-front5-wk-secb-3-1 | access-date = 2020-05-30 | archive-date = 6 November 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211106223638/https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/drugtreat-pubs-front5-wk-toc~drugtreat-pubs-front5-wk-secb~drugtreat-pubs-front5-wk-secb-3~drugtreat-pubs-front5-wk-secb-3-1 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

According to addiction researcher Martin A. Plant, some people go through a period of self-redefinition before initiating recreational drug use.<ref name=plant1980/> They tend to view using drugs as part of a general lifestyle that involves belonging to a subculture that they associate with heightened status and the challenging of social norms.<ref name=plant1980/> Plant states: "From the user's point of view there are many positive reasons to become part of the milieu of drug taking. The reasons for drug use appear to have as much to do with needs for friendship, pleasure and status as they do with unhappiness or poverty. Becoming a drug taker, to many people, is a positive affirmation rather than a negative experience".<ref name=plant1980/>

===Evolution===
{{Main|Evolutionary models of human drug use}}
{{Further|Effect of psychoactive drugs on animals|Recreational drug use in animals}}

[[Anthropology|Anthropological research]] has suggested that humans "may have evolved to counter-exploit plant [[neurotoxin]]s". The ability to use botanical chemicals to serve the function of [[endogenous]] [[neurotransmitter]]s may have improved survival rates, conferring an evolutionary advantage. A typically restrictive prehistoric diet may have emphasized the apparent benefit of consuming [[psychoactive drug]]s, which had themselves evolved to imitate neurotransmitters.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Sullivan RJ, Hagen EH, Hammerstein P |date=June 2008 |title=Revealing the paradox of drug reward in human evolution |url=https://anthro.vancouver.wsu.edu/documents/293/Sullivan_et_al_2008_Revealing_the_paradox_of_drug_reward_in_human_evolution_yZX1BuS.pdf |url-status=live |editor-last=Barrett |editor-first=S |editor-link=Spencer Barrett (evolutionary biologist) |journal=[[Proceedings. Biological Sciences]] |publisher=[[Royal Society]] |volume=275 |issue=1640 |pages=1231–41 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2007.1673 |issn=1471-2954 |lccn=92656221 |oclc=1764614 |pmc=2367444 |pmid=18353749 |s2cid=1102991 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228123846/https://anthro.vancouver.wsu.edu/documents/293/Sullivan_et_al_2008_Revealing_the_paradox_of_drug_reward_in_human_evolution_yZX1BuS.pdf |archive-date=28 December 2021 |access-date=28 December 2021}}</ref> Chemical–ecological adaptations and the genetics of [[hepatic]] [[enzymes]], particularly [[cytochrome P450]], have led researchers to propose that "humans have shared a co-evolutionary relationship with [[psychotropic]] plant substances that is millions of years old."<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Sullivan RJ, Hagen EH, Hammerstein P |date=April 2002 |title=Psychotropic substance-seeking: evolutionary pathology or adaptation? |editor-last=Marsden |editor-first=J |journal=Addiction |volume=97 |issue=4 |pages=389–400 |doi=10.1046/j.1360-0443.2002.00024.x |issn=1360-0443 |lccn=93645978 |oclc=27367194 |pmid=11964056 |s2cid=16713730|doi-access=free }}</ref>