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We think of recreational drugs as being a phenomenon that has emerged relatively recently. However, the use of drugs, other than medicinal purposes, has existed from antiquity. The purpose was sometimes not only for enjoyment but also integrated with religious practice. The recreational use of drugs has been a fairly consistent phenomenon throughout recorded history and most likely much longer.

The use of drugs such as opium likely originated from prehistoric periods, although direct evidence is limited. Remains from Central Asia and across Eurasia's parts suggest plant residues that resemble cannabis have been found on braziers. In fact, the origin of opium is that it comes from Central Asia, and it liked reached the Near East and Europe in the Neolithic due to migrations of populations such as the Yamnaya. Some early evidence for recreational drug use comes from ancient Mesopotamia (modern Syria and Iraq) and Egypt. At Ebla, in modern western Syria, a kitchen was found in a palace from the mid 3rd millennium BCE. When the ceramics found in the kitchen were analyzed, they were found to contain traces of opium.

In China and India, evidence from the Bronze Age also suggests early use of opium; marijuana, particularly in India where the drug naturally occurs, was also likely used in the Bronze Age about 5000 years ago. In these cases, both drugs could have been smoked and used in drinks.<ref>For more on the earliest history of drugs in the Old World, see: Escohotado, Antonio. 1999. <i>A Brief History of Drugs: From the Stone Age to the Stoned Age</i>. Rochester, Vt: Park Street Press. </ref>

[[File:blue-lotus-1.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Painting from the time of Ramses III showing the use of the blue lotus. ]]

In Egypt, one popular drug was the blue water lotus. Bluewater lotus has hallucinogenic qualities and was often with wine (Figure 2). Paintings of drunken festivals with descriptions and depictions of likely orgies suggest that it was ingested for recreational use and not just for religious purposes. However, recreational use may have also been part of worship rituals in Egypt, as descriptions of the use of the blue lotus have been found at Karnak, the site of Egypt's most holy temple.

The famous burial of Tutankhamun contained the blue lotus, which could suggest its ingestion during the pharaoh's life and was intended to comfort him in the afterlife. In later periods, both Greek and Roman cultures ingested opium, including using it in wine. The Greek stories and mythology often mentioned drugging of the gods, suggest opium and other drugs such as mushrooms may have been common.<ref>For more on the blue lotus, see: Vasudevan Nair, R. 2004. <i>Controversial Drug Plants</i>. Biodiversity Library. Hyderabad: University Press (India) : Distributed by Orient Longman, pg. 69. </ref>

Recreational drugs also included other forms, including types of mushrooms. In the Sahara and sub-Sahara Africa, mushrooms containing psilocybin were used as a hallucinogenic by nomadic groups. Rock art from 9000-7000 years ago, before the Sahara became a vast desert and was still relatively fertile, may suggest that mushrooms were ingested in North Africa as part of rituals and visions seen and painted. Representations of mushrooms are also shown, which would suggest their use as part of the visions or drawings shown in rock art.<ref>For more on rock art and other forms of recreational drug use in Africa, see: http://www.artepreistorica.com/2009/12/the-oldest-representations-of-hallucinogenic-mushrooms-in-the-world-sahara-desert-9000-%E2%80%93-7000-b-p/</ref>