Humans Used Mind-Altering Drugs 25,000 Years Ago, New Discovery Shows

Scientists found evidence that people in the Ice Age chewed on special nuts to get a 'high,' proving our habit for drugs is much older than we thought.

It turns out humans have been looking for ways to change their mood for a very long time. Scientists just found the oldest proof yet that people were using mind-altering drugs way back in the Ice Age. Researchers looked at the teeth of a person who lived about 25,000 years ago. This person was a hunter-gatherer living in what is now Indonesia. When the team looked closely at the teeth, they found small bits of material that did not belong there. These bits came from a plant called areca. Today, people in parts of the world still chew these nuts. It acts like a mild drug that can make you f…