'Soma' was a cure-all sort of narcotic something or other given to the 'citizens' in Aldous Huxley's apocalyptic novel 'Brave New World'.
Here, from Wiki:
In the book, soma is a hallucinogen that takes users on enjoyable, hangover-free "holidays".
It was developed by the World State to provide these inner-directed personal experiences within a socially managed context of State-run 'religious' organizations; social clubs.
The hypnopaedically inculcated affinity for the State-produced drug, as a self-medicating comfort mechanism in the face of stress or discomfort,
thereby eliminates the need for religion or other personal allegiances outside or beyond the World State.
Thank you for the clarification. Soma, carisoprodol, can be habit forming and I don’t take it regularly. But, I try to keep some with me constantly because my back pain is debilitating.
Now, you have found me out. I haven’t read Huxley and so wasn’t familiar with the context.
Thanks.