The Dionysian Naturalist

The Will to Party  by Wayne Mellinger "Drug wars" and "addictions" seem to be defining features of modernity. When patriarchal church and state conspired to destroy shamanic practices, the wisdom of entheogenic "controlled use" died (See my essay  "On the Genealogy of Drug Use and Addiction ). The eminent ethnobotanist Jonathan Ott calls this the " pharmacratic inquisition ".   The following essay was written a while back (2008), and I recognize in it a "romantic" perspective on drug use as normal, healthy, and natural, a tone which frightens many.  In my life journeys I have learned many important things through the use of intoxicants.  Centrally, I have learned that I personally am not able to use many "harder" drugs and maintain my freedom.  When I do attempt to use these substances I break out in handcuffs.  I live a clean and sober life now  and have no desire to go back to daily drug consumption  (I self...

[This unpublished essay was originally written in 2006] ON THE GENEALOGY OF DRUG ABUSE AND ADDICTION Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D. [Originally written in 2007;p substantially revised in 2024] INTRODUCTION This paper adopts a genealogical approach, inspired by the methodologies of Friedrich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault, to explore the historical transformations in human substance use across different modes of production. Genealogy, as a critical framework, seeks to unravel the contingent and often contradictory processes through which modern understandings of drug use and addiction have emerged. This method challenges linear historical narratives, instead emphasizing the ruptures, power dynamics, and cultural negotiations that have shaped humanity’s relationship with psychoactive substances. While contemporary discussions of drug use often focus on addiction as a pathological or individual condition, this paper reorients the analysis to consider broader sociohistorical patterns. By...