What's the crack?

At first glance it may seem to most people that there is a mutually exclusive relationship between drugs and religion...


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-476208/Heroin-addiction-isnt-illness--stop-spending-millions-treating-it.html

Drugs are mostly associated with delinquency, depression and the excesses of an opulent hedonistic society. We see many news headlines bombarding us with the evils of drug abuse ranging from ‘Teenage drug abuse skyrockets’ to ‘Mental illness and drug abuse soars’

Coupled with this are the many initiatives launched by governments worldwide aimed to crack down on drug abuse such as the Australian National Drug Strategy or the British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

Religion on the other hand is viewed by some to bring with it the qualities of sobriety, clear thinking and moderation. When we think of a typically “religious” person (and I would like to highlight that fact that I have written this phrase in inverted commas!) an image comes to mind of a devout Muslim who does not drink due to doctrinal reasons  or a baptised Sikh who will not smoke due to prohibitions laid upon him by the code of conduct outlined by his faith.
 

This blog does not intend to contest the fact that arguments can be found in scriptures worldwide which state that drugs are harmful and should not be used, rather I simply intend to uncover the deeper relationship between religion and drugs which we ordinarily would not encounter in our everyday lives.

I am going  to look into the drug/religion relationship by trying to gain some understanding of the role that drugs have played in religious scriptures and communities  across the globe from the cannabis smoking Rastafarian to the drug peddling Sadhus of Nepal

As well as warnings against drug abuse in various religious texts we can actually find the promotion of certain drugs in some scriptures with ancient Hindu scriptures talking about the drug 'Soma'  and Sufi texts and oral tradition talking about the intoxication of god's love itself.

In a nutshell... it is this complex relationship with drugs, intoxication and religion which I intend to explore further in this blog.

Bottoms up!