page_title: Recreational drug use
hierarchical_section_title: Recreational drug use
context_page_description: Recreational drug use is the use of a psychoactive drug to induce an altered state of consciousness for pleasure, by modifying the perceptions, feelings, and emotions of the user. When a psychoactive drug enters the user's body, it induces an intoxicating effect. Generally, recreational drugs are in three categories: depressants; stimulants; and hallucinogens.
  In popular practice, recreational drug use generally is a tolerated social behaviour, rather than perceived as the medical condition of self-medication. However, heavy use of some drugs is socially stigmatized. Many people also use prescribed and controlled depressants such as opioids, along with opiates, and benzodiazepines.
  Recreational drugs include alcohol; cannabis and hashish; nicotine; caffeine; prescription drugs; and the controlled substances listed as controlled drugs in the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of the United Nations. What controlled substances are considered generally unlawful to possess varies by country, but usually includes methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, MDMA and club drugs.
context_section_description: Recreational drug use is the use of a psychoactive drug to induce an altered state of consciousness for pleasure, by modifying the perceptions, feelings, and emotions of the user. When a psychoactive drug enters the user's body, it induces an intoxicating effect. Generally, recreational drugs are in three categories: depressants  (drugs that induce a feeling of relaxation and calmness); stimulants (drugs that induce a sense of energy and alertness); and hallucinogens (drugs that induce perceptual distortions such as hallucination).
  In popular practice, recreational drug use generally is a tolerated social behaviour, rather than perceived as the medical condition of self-medication. However, heavy use of some drugs is socially stigmatized. Many people also use prescribed and controlled depressants such as opioids, along with opiates, and benzodiazepines.
  Recreational drugs include alcohol (as found in beer, wine, and distilled spirits); cannabis (legal to possess nationally in certain countries and state/province-wide or locally in others) and hashish; nicotine (tobacco); caffeine (coffee, tea, and soft drinks); prescription drugs; and the controlled substances listed as controlled drugs in the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961) and the Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971) of the United Nations. What controlled substances are considered generally unlawful to possess varies by country, but usually includes methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, MDMA  and club drugs. In 2015, it was estimated that about 5% of people aged 15 to 65 had used controlled drugs at least once (158 million to 351 million).
caption: Edgar Degas, L'Absinthe (1876)
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