Academics, politicians and media reporting on the topic tend only to consider intoxiation when it manifests as a social problem. This book takes a more nuanced view, and examines drug and alcohol use from a wider number of perspectives. It discusses issues such as the history of drug and alcohol use, the attractions of intoxication to individuals, and the control adn regulation of drugs and their users. It also examines evidence for the rise of teh so-called 'pharmaceutical society', and asks whether society is on the cusp of a revolution in psychoactive substance use.