What is not prohibited is not allowed: the attitude of religious and philosophical schools to prohibited substances

The relevance of the research is determined by a variety of the diverse processes of everyday, socioeconomic, legal, political, scientific and technological nature, taking place both in Russia and at the international level. Most research problems arise due to the complexity, confusion or lack of criteria for defining the concept of “prohibited substances”. The article deals with the probable reasons for this uncertainty: it considers the attitude to prohibited substances (using the example of alcohol) in the major Abrahamic religions - Islam, Judaism and Christianity, as well as in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism. According to the proposed hypothesis, the interpretation of prohibited substances depends on the historical and cultural factors of the formation of a social community that manifest themselves in a particular religion. It is concluded that in the vast majority of teachings this prohibition is not categorical and absolute. It is suggested that despite the achievements of modern health science, the development of normative activities and law enforcement practice, a person is able to resist these prohibitions, based not only on a specific intention to benefit from violating the prohibition, but also on the cultural and historical code.