Plenty is written about whether recreational drugs should be legal and how we should police their use. But the reasons underlying our use of drugs are less often considered. Why Do We Take Drugs?, a new exhibition season beginning this week at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, is devoting six shows to the task of finding a global answer to that question.
The season takes in everything from Amazonian rituals to North American hippydom, Japanese tea ceremonies and British boozing. What it won’t do is moralistically tut or wag its finger. Rather, its aim is to open people’s minds, but with knowledge rather than substances. As the centre’s director, Jago Cooper, explains: “The whole ‘just say no’ approach to drugs, to put them in a box and ignore them, doesn’t work. It’s better to have understanding and make informed choices.”
