Evidence of Psychoactive Drug Use in Non-Human Species- Examples and Insights

Evidence of Psychoactive Drug Use in Non-Human Species- Examples and Insights

The renowned work “Drugs, Society & Human Behavior” written by Hart and Ksir explains the relationship between certain drugs and human interaction in a complex and multidimensional manner. They contend that human rationality depends not only on logic but also on social needs and chasing pleasure. Thus, this view brings into play the idea that other species might be consuming mind-altering substances. The assessment of this behavior in non-human animals contributes to an understanding of the evolutionary and ecological aspects of drug intake, which, in turn, may enrich the comprehension of the issues about drug use in humans.

Evidence of Psychoactive Drug Use in Other Species

Costa et al. (2019) reveal fascinating psychoactive drug usage among non-human animals. For example, they observe different species choose their way to the consumption of substances with psychoactive properties. An interesting case is primates like chimpanzees and baboons who use fermented fruits. These animals primarily target overripe fruits, proceeding to the stage of fermentation, resulting in the production of alcohol. Following consumption of these products, they behave similarly to intoxicated humans, which are characterized by depression and impaired motor coordination. Besides these observations, animal species such as elephants and reindeer have been witnessed consuming psychoactive flora (Elliott et al., 2022). In Africa, elephant herds have been observed seeking the fermented juice of palm trees (Abraham et al., 2021), and in Siberia, reindeer forage on hallucinogenic mushrooms during particular seasons.

Implications for Human Drug Use

The fact that other species, too, rely on psychoactive drugs, among them humans, has major implications for the assumptions of drug use. For instance, it implies that the consumption of substances that alter the human mind is not only done by human beings but may also be run in evolution. Such an event throws light on the fact that drug use is a phenomenon that is not entirely a product of human culture or societal norms (Derex, 2021).

In addition, looking at drug use in different species of animals also gives an advantage in the recognition of the benefits and the risks of psychoactive substances. For example, a self-medication hypothesis is based on the idea that animals may attempt to use some plants as cures for ailments (De la Fuente et al., 2022). On the other hand, Kuhn et al. (2019) indicate that the lack of a comparable picture of drug use in other animals does not in any way negate the role of psychoactive drug use in humans. Rather than elucidating the simple aspects of drug addiction, it is apparent that these factors include social, cultural, and biological factors, which are specific to people as humans.

Conclusion

Looking at psychoactive drug use in other creatures gives a chance to explore the evolutionary, ecological, and behavioral factors that drive this behavior. If a plethora of these instances of illicit behavior exists among a population of animals, the implications of human drug usage would be just by far more complex. Recognizing both the similarities and differences between human substance abuse and non-human counterparts can be the source of more robust insights into the causes and the means of more effective prevention and treatment.

References

Abraham, J. O., Goldberg, E. R., Botha, J., & Staver, A. C. (2021). Heterogeneity in African savanna elephant distributions and their impacts on trees in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Ecology and Evolution, 11(10). https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7465

Costa, G., De Luca, M. A., Piras, G., Marongiu, J., Fattore, L., & Simola, N. (2019). Neuronal and peripheral damages induced by synthetic psychoactive substances: An update of recent findings from human and animal studies. Neural Regeneration Research, 15(5), 802–816. https://doi.org/10.4103/1673-5374.268895

De la Fuente, M. F., Souto, A., Albuquerque, U. P., & Schiel, N. (2022). Self‐medication in nonhuman primates: A systematic evaluation of the possible function of the use of medicinal plants. American Journal of Primatology, 84(11). https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23438

Derex, M. (2021). Human cumulative culture and the exploitation of natural phenomena. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1843). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0311

Elliott, T. F., Truong, C., Jackson, S. M., Zúñiga, C. L., Trappe, J. M., & Vernes, K. (2022). Mammalian mycophagy: A Global Review of ecosystem interactions between mammals and fungi. Fungal Systematics and Evolution, 9(1), 99–159. https://doi.org/10.3114/fuse.2022.09.07

Kuhn, B. N., Kalivas, P. W., & Bobadilla, A.-C. (2019). Understanding addiction using animal models. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 13(262). https://doi.org/10.3389/

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The authors of your text state that “humans do not live by logic alone; we are social animals who like to impress each other, and we are pleasure-seeking animals. These factors help explain why people do some of the things they shouldn’t do, including using drugs.”

Evidence of Psychoactive Drug Use in Non-Human Species- Examples and Insights

1. Is there any evidence that other species use psychoactive drugs? Provide supporting examples and evidence.

2. If there is any evidence that other species use psychoactive drugs, what are the implications of this for human drug use? If there is no evidence, what are the implications of this for human drug use?