Drug Abuse in Brave New World Essay Example

According to a study by The American Addiction Center over 75% of people who are over the age of 18 are chronic drug users. That means the average American citizen knows at least one person who is in a battle with drug use. As a society Americans are becoming more and more dependent on third party sources for dopamine. This common theme of addiction can be predicted even as early as 1932 by Aldous Huxley. In one of Huxley’s novels, Brave New World, the book tackles the major issue of drug abuse, and how it can run a person's life. Huxley Depicts this detrimental Health issue through the drug Soma, the stigma and sayings that surround it. 

Mr. Huxley controls the image of Soma through the characters' sayings, making the drug seem benign and almost helpful. John is talking to Mustapha about the drug soma, John being from outside the world state doesn’t understand the appeal to soma. In contrast, Mustapha is the leader of the world state and relies on soma to keep his subjects happy. They are mid conversation when Mustapha says; “Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now…”(Huxley 183). Mustapha casually drops the idea that soma will solve all problems by simply making you feel happy. The definition of an addiction is not being able to go without that substance, that idea goes hand in hand with Mustaphas sentence. Mustapha describes the mentality that he pours into thousands of people per day. The idea that “anybody can be virtuous” seems innocent and even minor but when put into perspective is really a terrifying idea. Being human means making mistakes and learning from them, if soma takes that experience away by making the user think they are perfect will do detrimental damage. In a study done by the Addiction Center, “Over 21 Million Americans have at least 1 Addiction while only 10% of those people get the help they need”. That is one tenth of the American population, a population of which includes little kids (assuming they aren't addicted to anything). The amount of people who are addicted to substances is only growing too, making Huxleys imaginary world sound more and more like our own. In that same conversation Mustapha says one last remark making his world even more scary, “It's like Christianity without the tears” (Huxley 183). Mustapha is comparing a drug to a religion, the drug has overtaken their lives to the point they treat it like a god. They are so clouded with their own propaganda that Mustapha doesn't see the issues behind soma and the level of addiction they have reached. Clearly The world state has reached a point of no return with their soma usage and their mental dependence.

Huxley is comparing soma to alcohol in today's society through the frequency of usage and the amount of people that depend on it. According to a study done in 2019 by The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; “85.6 Percent of Adults above the age of 18 drink alcohol”. That number is staggeringly high, while the use of alcohol above the age of 21 is legal it still says a lot that almost 90% of the adult population decides to drink. This number is only rivaled by the amount of soma abusers in Huxley's novel. Lienna is talking to Bernard right before their date to obstacle golf which she was a little hesitant about. Her first instinct was to say; “A gramme is better than a damn” (Huxley 90). Openly sharing a commonplace saying like that to make her seem like she fits in with the rest of society. Yet the irony of the situation is that the reader knows that Bernard considers himself to not fit in and doesn’t really like soma. This is evident of the other 15 percent of our society today that doesn't enjoy drinking. Likewise during their date later on Bernard brings up the threats Against him in conversation, what seems like a normal topic turns into Lienna saying; “I take a gramme and only I am” (Huxley 104). In comparison to before the hypnopaedia all world state creations face from a young age tell them that soma is normal. So normal in fact, that they have regular stations where residents can get their recommended dose periodically. The world state smothers the residents with soma to make them complacent. Clearly the amount of soma that is being used is a problem and is being compared to the amount of alcohol consumed today.

Clearly, the novel is portraying the issues within society and the problems with abuse. The take on drugs or alcohol isn't bad by any means, the bad part is when those substances are being abused and overused. The issue needs to be addressed if the world, as a society, wants to move on and go onto bigger and better things.