The following paper is a part from the theorical frame of an investigation that is developing by an UBACyT doctoral scholarship, witch purpose is to inquiry the use of psychoactive substances in scholar children. An historical review about the use of those substances in different societies and cultures is presented. Also it is analyzed the beginning in the XX century of the prohibitive politics of some psychoactive substances wordwide. It is analyzed the way that those politics influence the social perception about the use of substances phenomenon, resulting very useful to comprehend the processes involved, to use the social representations theory. As a conclusion we can say that the “drugs problem” is the result of a long process of social construction that influences different areas and repercutes on the politics being applied in the subject.