Drug use may have begun 25,000 years ago, new research finds
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Scientists have found evidence that early human foragers in Indonesia were using the betel nut as a drug.

Humans may have been using mind-altering substances far earlier than scientists had once thought, new research indicates.

The evidence shows that betel nuts were used as drugs by some Indonesian communities up to 25,000 years ago.

Scientists from Griffith University in Australia found unusual patterns in the skeletal remains of early human foragers, which they linked to the sucking of betel nuts.

Professor Adam Brumm, who led the research, said this may be the “earliest evidence for drug use anywhere in the world”.