Escohotado produced a book that thoroughly documents the pharmacological enlightenment.“(…) Replacing conjectures and future possibilities – what would happen if this or that drug changed its status – by a comprehensive list of examples about what happened and when. This is because, practically, there is no psychoactive drug that has ever stopped being considered both a panacea and an infernal potion, depending on collateral factors in each case. Among those factors are xenophobia and political, economic, and theological interests.” He lists a host of examples: wine terrified the Greco-Roman civilization, resulting in several bans on its consumption; drinking coffee was punished with mutilation and gallows in Russia and Egypt, similar to tobacco in Persia; Paraguayan maté was rejected by the Vatican as a satanic vehicle. Among the first reviews was that of Fernando Savater in "El País"’ literary supplement: “A new phenomenology of consciousness … A unique book in the world bibliography, not only because of its wideness and complexity but also due to its purpose and depth.” Since then, this work has become a major reference. An abbreviated version was translated into many languages. Esochotado completed it in 1992 with an appendix dedicated to personal experimentation, "Learning from Drugs: uses and abuses, prejudices and challenges", which involved experimentation with about a hundred compounds such as alcohol, heroin, hemp, ether, benzodiazepines, cocaine, LSD, coffee, ketamine and MDMA. Following its publication, he gained “an army of followers and a legion of detractors”. The book analyzes drugs as a way towards self-discovery, maturity and dialogue or even simple entertainment:“Drugs prompt chemical modifications which can also induce solitude, silence, abstinence, pain, fear. Chemically, there is no way to distinguish a person who is under the effects of drugs from one under the effects of yoga. Chemically, we are nothing but a set of reactions. The problem is that society tells you that, even if you are chemically the same, that one came in the good way and the other through the back door.” Instead of classifying drugs as legal or illegal, hard or soft, or according to their respective chemical bases, the author arranges them in groups by function. They are evaluated on the extent to which they meet the expected or promised level of satisfaction, and the needs are defined as “peace, verve and travel”. The author examines each substance by variables such as minimum active dose, median lethal dose, tolerance factor, subjective and objective effects, synergies, antagonisms, and withdrawal symptoms.