How Does The Government Use Soma In Brave New World

In Aldous Huxley’s book, Brave New World, soma is an important part of the story and is mentioned a lot due to its importance and frequency in the plot. It also has relevance to current day society with the use of drugs for similar reasons. In Brave New World, drugs aren't just pretty common, they're distributed and encouraged by the government. The drug here is soma, a hallucinogen described as "the perfect drug," with all the benefits like calming, surrealistic, ten-hour long highs and none of those drawbacks like brain damage. The citizens of the "World State" have been conditioned to love the drug, and they use it to escape any moments of dissatisfaction. The theme that soma relates to is the pursuit of happiness through drugs which is

So while the government may encourage drug use, it only does so as a means of further controlling the population. “Why you don’t take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You’d forget all about them. And instead of feeling miserable, you’d be jolly. So jolly” (Huxley 92). People are convinced that the drug helps them feel good and even if it does, they are addicted to it and reply on it to manipulate their feelings.
Euphoric, narcotic, pleasantly hallucinant" is what Mustapha says of soma. It's arguably the best tool the government has for controlling its population. It sedates, calms, and most importantly distracts a person from realizing that there's actually something very wrong and that the citizens of the World State are enslaved. John picks up on this in Chapter 15; that's why he throws the stuff out of the window in the name of freedom. Everyone is trapped by happiness. It is a tough chain to break.
Another thing to think about here is Mustapha's famous claim that soma is "Christianity without the tears." Soma is an opiate that allows its users to be controlled. Brave New World seems to argue that Christianity functions in much the same way. It controls through