I spent some time working in the Pacific Northwest and over the internet I met someone who gave me a tour of Vancouver B.C. when the government was giving drugs and palliatives free to the local junkies (self-described). Some of these people could talk intelligently and show emotions, some of the more long termed simulated zombies very well, down to the missing teeth, hollow eyes, and vacant stares. Truly terrible.

I guess I can be 'modern' enough to acknowledge that drugs have their place. In fact, they can accomplish miracles. But they are the edged tools of our inner structures without actual scalpels being used.