

In popular practice, recreational drug use generally is a tolerated social behaviour, rather than perceived as the medical condition of self-medication. Generally, recreational drugs are divided into three categories: depressants (drugs that induce a feeling of relaxation and calmness) stimulants (drugs that induce a sense of energy and alertness) and hallucinogens (drugs that induce perceptual distortions such as hallucination).

When a psychoactive drug enters the user's body, it induces an intoxicating effect.

Recreational drug use is the use of a psychoactive drug to induce an altered state of consciousness either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime by modifying the perceptions, feelings, and emotions of the user.
