Among the many shocks and social disasters of our time, one of the most significant places is occupied by the problem of drug use. However, the experience of acquaintance of mankind with psychoactive substances has more than one millennium. Turning to the past, the author makes an attempt to trace the history of human relations and drugs in order to understand the essence of the drug addiction problem now facing the world. The book offers a look at many spiritual aspects of the practice of drug use that are often out of sight of medical and legal literature. The effects of drugs on various phenomena of social, religious, cultural and political life are considered. Drugs and spiritual experience, sectarianism, literature, art - these are the range of topics considered in the book, as well as an analysis of the measures that society is taking to counter the spread of drug addiction. An article on the influence of drugs on the work of M. A. Bulgakov is placed as an appendix.