One of Merritt Butrick's final performances. The "Don't do drugs, kids" message was a bit over the top, but I liked Picard's interpretation of non-interference in deciding not to help the Ornarans repair their ship (with the main purpose being helping them kick their nasty felicium habit).

There is a question that lingered in my mind. Joachim's people provide David's people with the dope. The episode was pretty vague about what exactly they got in return. Initially, it seems like "everything". The Brekkians (I had to look up that name) claim that their only industry is the drug. That means that the Ornarans supply food, minerals, labor, textiles, hairbrushes so that they can maintain their big hair, everything?

The Brekkians must have a small population. The pure bulk of raw goods needed to supply an entire civilization would require more than three or four space ships that are on the verge of breaking down. Also, the people supplying all these raw goods are either high or jonesing. Neither condition is conducive to production of high quality goods.

Something just doesn't compute here.

In the case of the episode, it seemed like the drug didn't make them "high," it just allowed them to be functional. Remember, it was originally just a cure for a disease. Not recreational.

@sukhisoo said:

There is a question that lingered in my mind. Joachim's people provide David's people with the dope. The episode was pretty vague about what exactly they got in return. Initially, it seems like "everything". The Brekkians (I had to look up that name) claim that their only industry is the drug. That means that the Ornarans supply food, minerals, labor, textiles, hairbrushes so that they can maintain their big hair, everything?

"We supply them with the necessity for living, they supply us with the necessities of life." Not sure if that's exactly right, but I think it's pretty close. I wondered about that as well; I mean the Brekkians didn't even grow their own food? I can see why they got upset when Picard said he wouldn't help the Ornarans repair their ships - warehouses full of felicium with no customers and flat, frizzy hair. Where are the Ferengi when you need them?

The Brekkians must have a small population. The pure bulk of raw goods needed to supply an entire civilization would require more than three or four space ships that are on the verge of breaking down. Also, the people supplying all these raw goods are either high or jonesing. Neither condition is conducive to production of high quality goods.

Something just doesn't compute here.

Seems Yar's warning fell on deaf ears. At first, you're taking drugs to feel good, but eventually you're taking them to keep from feeling bad. Sheesh, try to keep up.

@revengine said:

Seems Yar's warning fell on deaf ears. At first, you're taking drugs to feel good, but eventually you're taking them to keep from feeling bad. Sheesh, try to keep up.

That's true of many "recreational" drugs, hallucinogenic narcotics, etc. But there's no evidence that this drug ever made them "Feel Good." It just kept them from dying of that long-gone disease. NOW they take it to keep from "feeling bad." But that "feeling bad" isn't "coming down" from being "high." It's largely because they still think they'll die of the disease, without the "medicine." They don't realize the disease has been cured/eradicated and no longer exists.

@Knixon Hmm, I'd have to disagree with you on that one. From the Memory Alpha website:

Felicium was an addictive narcotic originally developed as a vaccine, produced on the planet Brekka.

As a vaccine, it prevented the spread of a plague that existed on Brekka's neighboring planet, Ornara sometime in the 22nd century. It was made by a complex and expensive process, including the harvesting and cultivation of the originating plant, and its distillation into the final product.

The euphoria experienced when taking felicium was immediate and seemed to be somewhat sedative and pain relieving, similar to planet Earth's opiates. After taking the drug, the individual would eventually experience withdrawal symptoms within 72 hours.

The vaccine was supplied by the Brekkians in exchange for goods. Even after the plague was over, the Ornarans had unknowingly become addicted to the vaccine, the terrible withdrawal symptoms leading them to think they were still affected by the disease, and Brekka continued to produce it for them in a profitable business. It became the Brekkians' only product. As years passed, the Brekkians refined the drug to make it more and more potent.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Felicium

Reading over this has made me realize something else; although the Brekkians only industry is producing felicium, its production must involve a lot of varying processes. So, if it happened that they could no longer sell felicium to the Ornarans, they at least have some knowledge of production that doesn't necessarily have to involve felicium.

Frankly, I don't think the actual episode fully supports that Memory Alpha description. So I would have to go with "if it isn't on screen, it didn't happen."

And what evidence is there that the "medicine" is actually difficult to produce? Just "the word of the mealy-mouthed gentleman down below," or however Scotty put it in "A Taste Of Armageddon." I doubt they'd want their victims... err, customers... to know if it WASN'T difficult to produce.

The smiles, combined with the vacant looks displayed by David and his sidekick after they huffed down their hits provided some nice on-screen evidence that the stuff produced euphoria.

I took it as relief from the withdrawal symptoms, etc. And how would they get the work done to supply the planet with all their needs, if they're high all the time? ALL of them, since they ALL were taking the "medicine." It doesn't hold up.

Directly from the episode:

Dr. Crusher: "I may not know felicium's effect on Onaran physiology, but I know how to interpret physical reaction."

Capt. Picard: "Are the Onarans recovering?"

Dr. Crusher: "T'Jon and Romas are feeling fine. In fact, too fine. Felicium's a narcotic."

Capt. Picard: "Then T'Jon and Romas and everyone on their world ... "

Dr. Crusher: "Is a drug addict."

Being high doesn't necessarily render someone incapacitated, especially an addict. Felicium does relieve their withdrawal symptoms which allows them to function normally, but it's still a narcotic, they're still getting high. Yar's speech about eventually getting high just to keep from feeling bad may have been overly preachy, but it was still true. Getting high for the Onarans wasn't about seeing rainbows and laying around in the grass giggling, it was about being able to function properly.

It may be somewhat oversimplified, but it seems to me that if you can still do all the stuff required to produce all the stuff that you have to "trade" to get your "Fix," then you're not really high. It's like, if you're still able to drive well, then you're not really drunk. Drunk driving, etc, practically by definition means that you're impaired to the point that you're a danger to yourself and others. Then, you're drunk. If your driving is NOT impaired, then you aren't really drunk. Which I suppose means the TNG writers were confused or something. Not that that surprises me.

Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

-Mark Renton in Trainspotting-

Oh please, let's not devolve this thread into Trainspotting too.

Let kids watch Trainspotting and they probably think twice before using drugs you can't get a better anti drug advertisement than that movie when watching this episode it actually made me WANT to use drugs

Yeah that toilet diving scene is enough to keep anyone off drugs I think. Ugh.