History Main / HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs

* ''VideGame/SaltAndSanctuary'' has a variation where the drug in question is [[BoozeBasedBuff wine]] rather than a hallucinogen. The House of Splendor is a strange creed that worships a pair known as the Fool and the Prophet, who extol hedonism in all things, and their mages believe that dulling one's inhibitions draws out their primal connection to the Warp thus enhancing their magical abilities. To that end, they believe in forever partaking in revelry and indulging in wine to strengthen their connection to the Warp. They might actually be right about this, as the House of Splendor's mages sell some of the most powerful spells in the game.

* The pilot of ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' mentions a man called Doug Forcett who got high on mushrooms one night and when a friend asked what he thought happened after death, he proceeded to correctly describe 92% of what actually happens. As a comparsion, it's stated that most religions only get about ''5%'' right.

* In ''Podcast/LessIsMorgue'', taking the right cocktail of brain-blasting hallucinogens can allow you to see and commune with the dead. The particular combination is a cocktail called "The Louisiana Clam Slammer."

If Higher Understanding Through Drugs is used as a defining character trait, the character is typically an EruditeStoner. JunkieProphet is a subtrope where the use of drugs specifically helps someone foresee the future. DrunkenMaster is a related trope, where alcohol temporarily enhances someone's physical skills. If a drug grants someone actual physical superpowers, we're dealing with a SuperSerum. Compare GeniusSerum, which effects a direct change on one's mental capacities, not just "cosmic knowledge".

If Higher Understanding Through Drugs is used as a defining character trait, the character is typically an EruditeStoner. JunkieProphet is a subtrope where the use of drugs specifically helps someone foresee the future. DrunkenMaster is a related trope, where alcohol temporarily enhances someone's physical skills. If a drug grants someone actual physical superpowers, we're dealing with a SuperSerum.

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** Around the end of ''Discworld/TheLastContinent'', Rincewind drinks a lot of beer so that he can think better (or at least bendier) and guess what he has to do. Apparently, the state of mind where you can understand what happened to the wizards is very similar to the state of mind where Dibbler's meat pie floater sounds like a good idea.
** According to ''Discworld/{{Pyramids}}'' the best way to see the different colours of black when not in a magical field is to "smoke something illegal and look at a starling's wing".
** In ''Discworld/TheLightFantastic'', the shamans of Skund consume fly agaric in the hope of getting a vision of Topaxci, God of the Red Mushroom, Skelde, Spirit of the Red Smoke, or even Umcherrel, the Soul of the Forest. Exactly how much wisdom and understanding these visions actually contain is another question; ''Discworld/TheLastHero'' says that Topaxci is also God of People Who Tell Other People That "Dog" Is "God" Backwards And Think This Is Somehow Revelatory.
** Implied in ''Discworld/SmallGods'', which says that if people could really see how amazing the universe is, their mental state would be very similar to the sort of people whose plastic greenhouses are seriously inspected by the authorities.

** In ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'', there are several occasions where characters gain deeper knowledge via drugs, both real and [[FantasticDrug imaginary]] ones. The most notable example of the latter is the blue mold the protagonist Dane and his mentor Tom smoke, allowing Dane to contact [[SentientCosmicForce the Barbelith]], though it's later revealed that [[spoiler:the mold was just regular mold with no narcotic qualities at all.]]

* The eponymous gunslinger in the first book of Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheDarkTower'' series takes mescaline to allow himself to access the spirit world. It's treated as an uncomfortable but necessary evil; the gunslinger doesn't enjoy the loss of self-control, but it's hardly [[WhatTheHellHero the worst compromise he makes]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Indivisible}}'', the drug Ohma was used by practitioners of ancient arts in special ceremonies to achieve a higher state of consciousness and further their connection to the gods. Unfortunately, Mara began selling the stuff to the masses for money, resulting in Ohma addicts littering the streets.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Indivisible}}'', the drug [[FantasticDrug Ohma]] was used by practitioners of ancient arts in special ceremonies to achieve a higher state of consciousness and further their connection to the gods. Unfortunately, Mara began selling the stuff to the masses for money, resulting in Ohma addicts littering the streets.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Indivisible}}'' the drug Ohma was used by practitioners of ancient arts in special ceremonies to achieve a higher state of consciousness and furthur their connection to the gods. Unfortunatly, Mara began selling the stuff to the masses for money, resulting in Ohma addicts litering the streets.

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** Music/TheMoodyBlues recorded ''Legend of a Mind'', a nine-minute long paean in homage of drugs pioneer Dr Timothy Leary, who advocated for Higher Understanding Through Drugs.
** Music/JeffersonAirplane reinvented Lewis Carrol's ''Alice in Wonderland'' as ''[[AliceAllusion White Rabbit]]'', in which all the things Alice drinks, eats and secondary-smokes when she goes down the rabbithole bring on the mother of all mind-expanding trips.
** Music/TheBeatles ''Tomorrow never Knows'' is about turning on to higher planes via drugs.
* The Music/BonzoDogBand's ''Eleven Mustachioed Daughters'' is an extended parody of songs of this type.

* Subverted by Dr, James Dobson of [[MoralGuardians Focus on the Family]] in his [[http://brainerddispatch.com/lifestyle/3369872-eight-common-symptoms-can-indicate-teen-drug-abuse nationally syndicated column]] listing 8 symptoms of [[DescentIntoAddiction drug abuse]]:

[[quoteright:350:[[Comicbook/AnimalMan https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/animalmantrip_6696.jpg]]]]

* The pilot of ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' mentions a man called Doug Forcett who got high on mushrooms one night and when a friend asked what he thought happened after death proceeded to correctly describe 92% of what actually happens. As a comparsion it's stated that most religions only get about ''5%'' right.

* ''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space''. Buster Kincaid accidentally takes a consciousness-raising pill instead of his FoodPills and starts raving that he's in an artificial reality created by machines, e.g. thousands of fanfic writers with personal computers. [[RedPillBluePill Proton gives him a blue pill]] to snap him out of it.

When this trope is used, the drug in question is usually either cannabis, ecstasy, or some type of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_drug psychedelic,]] such as LSD, peyote, mescalin, or psilocybin. A FantasticDrug may also be used, but its effects are often portrayed similarly to those of real life drugs. For obvious reasons, drugs that make one act selfishly or aggressively – such as cocaine or amphetamine – are rarely depicted as pathways to deeper understanding.

* This is one of the themes of Aldous Huxley's ''Island'' (as well as his essays ''The Doors of Perception'' and ''Heaven and Hell''). Contrast with ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', where drugs are only used for intoxication. Perhaps significantly, Huxley was introduced to peyote/mescaline between the writing of ''Brave New World'' and those other works.

* Terence [=McKenna=] developed a theory that humans gained sentience and religion due to drug use, in his books. He also deliberately referred to Philip K Dicks works and suggested that the reason psychotropics exist was to free mankind from the black iron prison mentioned in Dicks Exegesis.
* The moksha-medicine is used in [[Literature/Island1962 Palan culture]] for higher understanding, sometimes also for interpersonal bonding. The protagonist tries it, as well, in the last chapters, and it makes everything he's learned in the island fall into place.