The use of psychoactive drugs - including both antidepressants and antipsychotics - has exploded. . . [yet] 'the tally of those who are disabled. . . increased nearly two and a half times.
Another very common use, in all cultures, of psychoactive substances is to give people transcendent experiences. To allow them to transcend their human and ego boundaries to feel greater contact with the supernatural, or with the spiritual, or with the divine, however they phrase it in their terms.