Generation X-Gone: The Death of Narcotics

March 2nd, 2042:
What is Lost from the Death of Narcotics.
An excerpt from Professor Patrick Donovan's bestselling book, "Generation X-Gone: The Death of Narcotics."
Narcotics use, whether through legal or illegal means, has been a staple of modern society for thousands of years. Alcohol of course being the biggest and longest running culprit due to its legality and death count, but not far behind that we have cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines. Even marijuana, though now mostly legal across the globe, has had its political ups and downs through history. The invention of the XGone Procedure has changed this particular aspect of society and the repercussions, both good and bad, are being seen everywhere. In this chapter I'm going to talk about the bad from a societal and psychological standpoint; what are we losing with the near-elimination of narcotics from society?
If you're as old as I then you'll remember the good ol' days of youth when smoking a joint was a ritualistic statement against your parents and society as a whole. Where dropping a tab of L.S.D. meant taking a trip to another world and seeing humanity from a brand new perspective. Every puff or tab or cap not only shifted your mind toward the all important self-reflective, but also built a strong sense of individuality and taught you that not everything in this world is as it seems. It opened your perspective to things sobriety couldn't offer with youth, and made you question life at every turn. Many people, at least in the circles I run with, can agree this to be an accurate depiction of what drug use meant to them pre-adulthood.
Note: PRE-Adulthood. If you're still dropping acid when you're 30 then you likely haven't yet found your calling in life. Unless you've decided your calling IS to drop acid - then I suggest you seek professional help right away.
Drug use thus sort of wanes as the years go on and wrinkles and folds take over. When you reach that all-important stage in your life when you're finally doing what YOU want (not what your parents want for you) then drugs tend to lose their appeal. Being "high on life" suddenly becomes a hell of a lot more interesting. Still, having experienced both ways of thinking has personally allowed me to see the world from a uniquely advantageous perspective. One where everything seems to make a little more sense and it takes a fair amount of pushing to break my inherently positive outlook on life.
I'm also not saying drugs are for everyone, not by a long shot. Nor are they needed to form any of the conclusions I've stated above. Some people even find the very idea of altering their thought patterns to be extremely off-putting, even terrifying. Not everyone can see or experience the benefits, nor should everyone. If it works for you, great. If it doesn't, also great. The point is that youth have always had the choice; it's a staple of childhood, an important life decision which when taken away has the potential of stunting progressive self-growth and altering the way in which our children view the world. Thanks to XGone the choice of "do I or don't I" has now been given to our prenatal youth who hold nothing but high aspirations for their children and a new age willingness to accept outlandish technologies. 
"So a simple injection while I'm pregnant means my kid will never smoke crack or do heroin? Of course, sign me up right now!" 
The only problem is these same parents are also being hard-pressed into adding less dangerous psychedelics to the list (such as: marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, L.S.D., L.S.A., D.M.T., and mescaline), drugs which can be harmlessly utilized to evolve the mind if done so in moderation and with extreme care. Know your source, do your research, and watch your intake. Challenge yourself but never overdo it.
This means I'm not talking about those burnouts you knew from college who would spend every waking hour shooting or snorting, always searching for or riding the next high. I'm not talking about an addiction born from a defeated outlook on life, or as a means of forgetting a rough upbringing. I'm talking about constructively using drugs to expand your mind and see beyond the restricted confines of what society allows you to see. To help form your own opinions on the world and to question those forced on you since birth.
With the invention of XGone and the death of narcotics we are entering into a new world nobody can begin to predict. With drugs having been such a staple of society for so long, how can we know what its removal will ultimately do to the balance we've come to hold so dear? All you must do is remember back to the pre-1950's when the world was guided by government's forcing their furtive views down the throats of the population - and we fell for it, hook line and sinker. Then came the 60's and everything changed; our youth were suddenly understanding the real world for the first time. Whether you want to believe it or not, the drug culture of the 1960's influenced a positive shift in consciousness and awareness which ultimately led to where we are today.
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"Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities - the political, the religious, the educational authorities - who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing - forming in our minds - their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open-mindedness, chaotic, confused vulnerability to inform yourself." —Timothy Leary
Category:XGone