Exactly this.It was all legal from like the begging time, up until a few hundred years ago. So, I don't thinks its reasonable to pretend its causal in the rise and fall of civilizations. Although, meth did likely bring down Nazi Germany. I think the use of drugs is just common rather than causal. Whether it be drugs, booze, or something big pharma cooked up.
People have been altering their consciousness since the beginning.
Read about the Eleusinian Mysteries. Most or all of the influential Greeks, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, all went to the Temple and ingested a mixture of hallucinogens', likely mushrooms and ergot, and had mass visions of the birth/Death/Resurrection cycle.
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Eleusinian_MysteriesEleusinian Mysteries - Wikipedia
Six categories of priests officiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries: Hierophantes – male high priest, an