Like patterns in a tapestry, recurring themes emerge in my interviews with addicts: the drug as emotional anaesthetic; as an antidote to a frightful feeling of emptiness; as a tonic against fatigue, boredom, alienation and a sense of personal inadequacy; as stress reliever and social lubricant. And, as in Stephen Reid’s description, the drug may—if only for a brief instant—open the portals of spiritual transcendence.
