1. ***Religion*****.** In many faiths, such as Catholicism, wine is a sacrament. Peyote, a hallucinogen, is used in the Native American Church to contact the supernatural.
2. ***Medicine*****.** It is quite obvious that as analgesics, anesthetics, antiseptics, and anxiolytics, alcohol, tobacco, hallucinogens, opiates, stimulants (coca), and other drugs have been and still are of great instrumental, psychological, physiological, and medicinal value.
3. ***Work*****.** Many stimulants such as tobacco and coca help individuals remain alert and vigilant during periods of arduous work. They also ward off hunger with their appetite-suppressing properties. By increasing metabolism they can reduce cold stress. People such as police, fishermen, waitresses, truckers, and others who must frequently work at night find these substances especially helpful.
4. ***Nutrition*****.** Certain substances such as marijuana can stimulate appetites, which may be of benefit to those who are undernourished, often because of the malaise and nausea accompanying diseases like cancer and cancer therapies. Several beers and wines made from fermented vegetables and fruits, respectively, have caloric value and contain vitamins B and C.
5. ***Economic*****.** Drugs have always been important economic commodities for production, distribution, sale, and exchange. Some drugs, such as the coca in the high Andes of Bolivia, Peru, and Chile, are crucial peasant commodities. Opium and tobacco are likewise important economically for small farmers. Alcohol, in its many forms ranging from fermented honey to wines, beers, and distillates (brandies, whiskeys, and vodka), is economically important in almost all societies in which it is found. The large market for illegal drugs makes them a multibillion-dollar industry.
6. ***Socio-ceremonial*****.** It would be remiss not to mention the important social, convivial and secular, ceremonial use-values of drugs. Buying someone a cup of coffee or a beer or handing out cigars at a child's birth are simple but significant examples of socio-ceremonial exchanges, which may eventually be reciprocated. Breaking out champagne to celebrate special occasions like weddings, graduations, New Year's Day, anniversaries, athletic victories, or even mortuary occasions such as the Irish wake, found in most societies. Your reading on *clubbing* by Bellis, et al. highlights drug associations with recreational pleasures. Indeed, as we shall learn shortly, the more socioculturally institutionalized or embedded and integrated a substance is in a variety of situations and activities, the less likely it will be abused and associated with personal problem-solving effects, deviant behavior, and crime.
7. ***Warfare*****.** In the United States, alcohol and tobacco use has traditionally increased during times of warfare. Military personnel, for a variety of reasons, have often used stimulants to combat fatigue and monotony and to remain vigilant during, or in anticipation of, dangerous situations. This is especially so when on night duty. To relax, relieve boredom, and to help socialize alcohol has been a companion of military personnel throughout history and in many cultures. Many substances, whether they are hallucinogens, stimulants, or depressants like alcohol, have often been used prior to combat to reduce fear and to increase risk-taking and courage.