Some young people have an image of artists, writers, actors, and others in the creative and performing arts as heavy users or abusers of drugs and alcohol. What follows from that image is the idea that drug use stimulates creativity or improves the artistic experience. However, there is little scientific evidence that alcohol and drug use actually increase creativity.

In particular, people have taken psychedelic drugs, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), mescaline, and methylene dioxyamphetamine (MDA) to increase their appreciation of art, to improve artistic techniques, and to enhance creativity. Marijuana, too, has been used to enhance creativity, to heighten one's sense of meaningfulness, and to expand one's range of perceptions. Countless people worldwide have used alcohol to loosen their inhibitions, to become more spontaneous, and to encourage originality.

One reason drugs are thought to inspire creativity is that psychoactive substances can produce...