Skip to main content

Dick, Death, and Meth


Philip K. Dick was a prolific writer of science fiction, with several of his stories and books having been adapted to film after his death in 1982. One of his better-known works is the book "A Scanner Darkly," which portrays America in the not-too-distant future, an America that has lost the war on drugs and is under total surveillance by government and corporations alike. The drug of choice in this world is Substance D. Substance D is derived from a flower (like heroin), is instantly addictive and has a near 100% recidivism rate (like crystal methamphetamine), and has a street nickname of Death (rhymes with meth) and people have either never tried it or are addicted to it; there is no in between.

Meanwhile, the government and corporations are working together to fight a never-ending war on drugs and paranoia is rampant. Luckily, there is hope: New Path Recovery is a rehab center that stands the best chance of overcoming the Substance D epidemic. However, it is revealed later in the book that New Path grows the flowers that D is derived from, thus supplying the demand that destroys lives while punishing the addicts, who are used as labor on the flower farms (like the CIA providing cocaine for the production of crack, which destroys the lives of users, who are then imprisoned and used as cheap labor).

Interestingly, the maker of Oxycontin has plans to release a drug to help fight the opioid crisis currently taking nearly 200 lives each day in America.


For a book released in 1977 by an author who died in 1982, this is eerily prescient of our current time and condition. Perhaps Dick saw the writing on the wall long before anyone else, perhaps before the writing appeared...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

In Memorium: Shaun Mullen, A Most Generous Man

Author, editor, blogger, and so much more Shaun Mullen has passed. Noting his blog  Kiko's House  hadn't been updated in a while, I did a search and discovered his  obituary . My friendship with Shaun goes back to 2006. While living in Australia, I'd discovered his blog when searching for informed commentary on US foreign policy in the Middle East. Sadly, much of that policy remains unchanged 14 years later, but that is for another post. Shaun  had noticed that his blog wasn't rendering correctly in Internet Explorer and asked if anyone could suggest a fix. I, being a bit of a tech head at the time, suggested Firefox or similar browser, and the problem was solved. We kept in and out of touch, finding common ground in music (I mentioned my love for the Grateful Dead and Shaun sent a dozen CDs of concert recordings. By International mail. The man was generous to a fault.), worldview, and more. My old site got its greatest number of hits when Shaun linked to a few of m

Quote Of The Day, Kafka Edition

I usually solve problems by letting them devour me.  - Franz Kafka

The World In Which We Live: Premature Reopening Edition

I don't even know where to begin. Despite there being no effective treatment, vaccination, or the much-discussed herd immunity, many states are relaxing social restrictions put in place to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. My home state of Georgia was among the first to do so (my sense of timing and location is impeccable). Instead of a state economy charging out of the gates like a racehorse, we get this: An 83% increase of confirmed cases in my county, which is mostly rural with a small industrial base, 90 miles from Atlanta. But freedom, amiright? I find it utterly amazing that people find being instructed to stay in their homes and take extra precautions to prevent becoming infected with a fatal disease a form of tyranny. When did "Wear a mask and wash your hands regularly" become equal to tanks in the streets? I understand wanting a haircut; Hell, I need  one but don't want to kill my barber, a nice guy who fits nicely into the at-risk category. Do