DRUGS ARE THE OPIUM OF THE MASSES

Since living here I have always felt I am spending a lot of money on drugs, the legal kind. So far, I seem to have avoided the culture here of doping everyone up to the eyeballs in the hope they don't go on the rampage. Every day I pass people who look shockingly drugged and I wonder what on earth happened to them. There seems to be so many mental health problems and I often see women walking around like zombies. I have met quite a few Spanish women who are fucked up but for reasons I can not relate too. The longest experiment with fascism appears to still hold sway. Apart from anti-depressants I also see a lot of money spent on neck braces and walking sticks. H thinks most of them are putting it on and today I saw a woman who lives in my road and half an hour later she was wearing one of those things and again I found myself thinking 'what the hell happened man??' In Britain I would probably go to Boot's or Superdrug for medicines and creams but these types of shops don't exist here and you can't buy medicines from supermarkets. I was recommended a cream for mosquito bites the other day and came out 12 euros poorer from a chemist who was probably away at one of the mountain spas with my money. The health food shops are a complete rip off too when it comes to buying vitamins and minerals. I buy alternatives and 'erbs from a great place in London on the Walworth Road called Baldwins and they are much cheaper and not so addictive. Apart from paracetemol which you can get for about 20p in England I am going to try and avoid the chemist here as just going in one makes me feel I ought to be buying something. Things like witch hazel and calamine lotion don't seem to exist and a simple aqueous cream you can buy for a pound in Britain was offered to me for twenty euros as the chemist said he could 'make' it for me. There is evidence of this as Aragon spends 290.65 per person on pharmaceuticals. The old fashioned remedies are proving to be best with me and a cup of tea and a chat with a good pal is often all that's needed before things get out of hand.