The drug addict is today’s scapegoat. Viewed honestly, much of our culture is geared toward enticing us away from ourselves, into externally directed activity, into diverting the mind from ennui and distress. The hard-core addict surrenders her pretense about that. Her life is all about escape. The rest of us can, with varying success, maintain our charade, but to do so, we banish her to the margins of society.
