THE FINAL COMEDOWN: God of the Machine has a bunch of interesting drug-related tidbits stored in one sadly permalinkless post (scroll down to “Smack, Crack, Pot”). Excerpts: (Q: Mr. Haspel, how many times have you experimented with marijuana? A: Several thousand times, sir. Science requires replicable results.)

…Theodore Dalrymple [non-legalizer and congential pessimist, by the way–ed.] points out, by way of prologue, that heroin withdrawal isn’t all it’s, er, cracked up to be:

“I can’t tell you how many people I’ve withdrawn from heroin. You never get any problems with it. It’s not like withdrawal from serious drinking which can be, and often is, a medical emergency. From a medical point of view, I’m much more worried in the prison when someone tells me he’s an alcoholic. I’m much more worried about the physical consequences of his withdrawal because they are really serious, and he can die from them. But nobody ever dies from heroin withdrawal. …”

…Human beings are goal-directed to such a degree that they will substitute a destructive goal if nothing constructive presents itself. Drugs fit the bill admirably.

…This pseudo-meaning is enhanced by ceremony and ritual, a vastly underrated aspect of drug culture. [Yup. More here–ed.]

…All-consuming drug use travesties purposeful behavior, the way the Mafia travesties legitimate business. And drug users testify, strangely, to the Misesian proposition that man is a being who acts toward ends.