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Face it folks, the future is a scary, panic attack-inducing place. Think of the technology that existed 10 years ago and look at what we have now (or just look at contemporary Tokyo). Scifi has always reflected these changes on a social and cultural level and along this plane of logic, drugs and alcohol are moving at the same pace. While most real drugs ensure users a good time and an imminent morning of shame and douche chills, drugs in scifi help navigation, bring about telepathic abilities, reveal the true nature of the government, or just split your brain in half while you trip balls. Sometimes the dealers are young kids or members of resistance movements, but most of the time it's the suits in seats of power manufacturing the goods. Either way, here's the 10 greatest drugs from scifi literature and celluloid. Unfortunately these are fictional so no field research was possible to back the selections up. Pass the Soma and enjoy.
10) Stelazine from Philip K. Dick's Faith of Our Fathers
A recurring theme in science fiction is the distribution of drugs by the government to keep citizens docile. Counter-culture sci-fi icon Philip K. Dick used the theme in his work frequently -- his own drug use is often mythologized. In the infamous 1967 anthology Dangerous Visions, editor Harlan Ellison stated that Dick was under the influence of LSD when he wrote his contribution, the terrifying "Faith of Our Fathers." Dick later refuted this in his novel Radio Free Albemuth, stating: "After that I had a really dreadful reputation as a doper, thanks to Harlan's desire for publicity. Later on I was able to add a paragraph to the afterword of the story stating that Harlan had not told the truth, but the harm was done." The story takes place in Vietnam, where the atheist Communist Party drugs the water supply with hallucinogens to keep the real appearance of the Party leader a secret. Tung Chien, a party bureaucrat, is given an anti-hallucinogen by a resistant movement. The drug, stelazine, allows Chien to see one of the real forms of the leader; gnashing metal teeth and all. Dick would revisit all of these themes in his later works and so will you further down this list.
9) Glitterstim from Star Wars
All we know about "spice" and its specific variety "Glitterstim" from the OT is that Han's fumbled transport of it earned him a death mark from Jabba. The Extended Universe elaborates on the drug and we learn that its effects include a temporary telepathic ability and state of euphoria. Overuse leads to nerve damage, loss of sight, and paranoia. Glitterstim is produced from the web of Energy Spiders (seen above) who inhabit the spice mines of Kessel, where Han and Chewie first meet. Han himself was a user and the spice makes several EU appearances, most recently in the Aaron Allston novel Outcast.
8) Dust from Babylon 5
What do you get when you mix Babylon 5 with Homicide: Life on the Street? Answer: The Babylon season 3 episode "Dust to Dust." After Narn ambassador G'Kar uses the drug Dust to telepathically assault Ambassador Mollari, Psi Cop Bester is sent to Babylon 5 to find the dealer. Dust gives non-telepaths the ability to invade the minds of others; experiencing their thoughts and memories along the way. The catch is that the victims are left unconscious and telepathic victims never really recover. Narns used to have telepathic abilities, but this was lost after the majority of Narn families were wiped out and the telepathic gene eventually faded away. Dust, however, allows the user to temporarily regain this ability. Bester eventually reveals that Dust was originally manufactured by Psi Corps in an attempt to develop human telepaths. The theme of human telepaths would later be revisited by director Nancy Meyers in her sci-fi epic What Women Want.
7) Can-D and Chew-Z from Philip K. Dick's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
While the drug of choice for author Philip K. Dick ran the gamut of uppers, his 1965 Nebula-nominated novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch featured two distinct hallucinogens: Can-D and Chew-Z. Can-D is used by colonists to "translate" themselves into the Barbie-style "Perky Pat" layouts where they either become Perky Pat or her boyfriend, Walt. While in this shared-hallucination, users can leave behind their dismal existence and act out an idealized, "swell" version of life on Earth. P.P. Layouts, the company behind Perky Pat, is also the manufacturer of the "illegal" Can-D. P.P. gets some competition when Palmer Eldritch is rescued from a crash on Pluto and returns with an alien drug known as Chew-Z. Like Can-D, Chew-Z transports the user into an alternate reality but the difference is that Eldritch plays puppet master to these hallucinations. The book spirals in and out of reality and hellish hallucinations until the memorable last trip.
6) Nuke from Robocop II
The inferior sequel to Paul Verhoeven's classic saw Robocop squaring off against a drug cartel led by Cain, a balding misanthrope in a Salvation Army leather-vest. In near-dystopian Detroit, the designer-drug of choice is Nuke which comes in a quasi-ketchup packet you squeeze straight into your bloodstream. Not only will it make a crazy noise when administered, but the person you bought it from is probably 10-years old, asshole. In Cain's perpetual ketchup-haze, he believes that Nuke is the key to paradise. After Cain tortures a cop to death (is there any other way to get information?), he fatally beefs with Robocop and gets his ass handed to him. OCP psychologist Dr. Juliette Faxx transfers Cain's brain to a new cyborg, Robocop 2 -- doy -- and a sweet deal between mayor, police, and drug dealers is made; ensuring Cain's heirs that they'll have immunity to distribute in Old Detroit. Being a true testament to the junkie condition, not even cyborg-Cain cannot resist Nuke and Robocop uses Cain's addiction to distract him, punching a hole through his cyborg shell right to his brain. And that my friends, is symbolism, Irvin Kershner-style.
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