In Politics, Aristotle wrote about a technique that tyrants use to maintain their grip on a population: the banning of anything which might bring about “comradery” or a “high spirit.” For Aristotle, this tactic represented a deliberate strategy to suppress any opportunities which the working class might have to form solidarity among themselves, and in turn, make plans for revolt. This fear of political revolution is specifically mentioned by Aristotle as a key factor in the logic of prohibition.
Some years earlier, Aristotle’s teacher Plato wrote about “the tyrannical man” and the role of intoxication in bringing about political upheaval. He suggested that rulers become tyrants amid a “cloud of incense,” perfume, wine, and flowers. The luxury afforded by political gains, Plato wrote, alienates individuals within the ruling class, by overwhelming their sensory organs with stimuli which their subjects cannot access or afford. As a result of this process, Plato insisted, the personalities of rulers are thus twisted into something new, beyond the “ruler” per se—the tyrant.
These passages point to urgent issues that lie at the heart of not only drug culture but also the fundamental nature of the function of politics. In the teachings of Plato and Aristotle, we see that a) rulers become tyrants after becoming intoxicated with both social power and material substances, and b) the ruling class simultaneously prohibits certain objects/activities among the working class as a strategy to stifle political progress. More simply, it suggests that rulers are afraid that if we peasants get our hands on the good stuff, we’ll just want more and more, until we’re banging at the doors of the palace demanding free stuff.
Later, a key element of Plato’s point was empirically verified by scientists who found that CEOs emote less sympathy for others than non-CEOs. This suggests that something about the positional relationship of being in authority is correlated with, basically, being an asshole.
I find it fascinating that Plato framed the rise of tyranny as something which is originally seeded within a bubble of luxury. This will be a key theme in the story we are about to embark on. In fact, every single element of these two passages from Plato and Aristotle is clearly demonstrable in the popular history of drug use. This book shows how, by walking carefully through the history of the relationship between drug use and the state.