Substance abuse in ancient Rome

Common card · No. 217677

Drugs in ancient Rome were used for a variety of purposes. Cannabis and opium were used as medication to treat conditions such as insomnia or earaches. Roman doctors noticed the addictiveness of these drugs. They wrote that cannabis induced "a warm feeling" and opium was dangerous when diluted. Alcohol was believed to be beneficial when consumed in moderate amounts, yet harmful when consumed in excess. Ancient Roman authors and philosophers, such as Pliny and Seneca, believed that alcohol could cause problems such as frenzy, criminality, tiredness, hypersexuality, decreased sexual potency, and death, and that it would damage the social order.

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