The "Golden Bough" of Drugs. By Glenn W. Robinetteon 4 December 2008 - Published on Amazon.com This is simply the best book in any language written about drugs, as complex and intricate as the "Golden Bough." As a drug history it is simply superb. As philosophical treatise, it is even better. One distinguishing mark of genius is the ability to ask an intelligent question. Escohotado asks: Why are some users of some drugs persecuted? The answer, which will surprise you, is resolved in some 1500 pages of dense and uncompromising history. This brilliant polymath has done nothing less than organize, collate and study in-depth the history of the various uses (both profane and sacred) of nearly every major drug (legal and illegal) through society after society over the last 5000 years. The only thing it lacks, sadly enough, is an English edition. He is not for everyone; Escohotado is an acquired taste. His castellano is a guilty pleasure. He makes you work for every insight but such exhilarating moments of Zen-like "Aha!" abound throughout this work. It is an absolute must for anyone who wishes to make informed judgments based upon facts and who is not content with the easy opinions or cheap propaganda of the day. Finally, I must add that Antonio Escohotado lives and teaches presently in Madrid, enjoys excellent health for his age (mid 60s) with his wife and daughter and never apologizes for drugs or anything else for that matter. Indeed, he could be said to swear by the ancient Greek maxim: "Medicine in the hands of fools is poison; poison in the hands of the wise is medicine." As he writes in the introduction, to try to add a moral dimension to drug use is as foolish as trying to speak of "guilty and innocent sunrises." Drugs are merely useful or not useful and it is primarily but not exclusively dosis that makes the difference between remedy and venom. Far from being an out-of-touch intellectual, Escohotado (like few others) has actually dared to take the time and trouble to experimentally and scientifically ingest the drugs he writes about so that his work is grounded in personal experience, as well. A must for every discerning reader. The mediocre and fearful should flee to the ignorance and safety of their empty caves.