Alcohol, drugs and intoxication have always been part of human society, but their differing social or religious meanings and their varied regional controls have shifted over time.

Today, after centuries of worldwide drug and alcohol prohibition, which were often met by resistance and accompanied by crime and violence, study of this history is reaching new levels of sophistication and global diversity, with new implications for scholarly dialogue and synthesis, as well as new political and policy implications.

Latin America has always been an important producer and exporter of psychoactive substances. It is a crossroads—ideas, substances and policy decisions flow in and out with huge consequences for the rest of the world. It has always played a central role in our understanding of intoxicants, from practices to policy. Mexico City is therefore perfectly situated as a venue for the Alcohol and Drug History Society’s 2021, bi-annual conference. Following on from the Society’s 2019 meeting in Shanghai, the Mexico City conference is particularly concerned with broadening and disseminating the exciting work of today’s alcohol and drug historians to a truly global audience, while also attracting and encouraging researchers from all over the world to participate.