Brave New Prescriptions

by steven  []  -  5 replies

Prescription pill photo from our comrads at istockphoto.comLike any internet celebrity, I'm plagued by email with From addresses like cindy5674@supereoffers.com offering Online Presciptions [sic] Filled!

However, today's email from cindy5674 caught my attention. The subject line read: Valium, Xanax, Ambien, Soma, and much more ONLINE.

Valium and Xanax - ok, sure. I've never heard of Ambien. Whatever. But Soma?

A quick Google search reveals that Soma is the name of a real prescription drug. It is also called "CARISOPRODOL" and is used "as an adjunct to rest, physical therapy, and other measures for the relief of discomfort associated with acute, painful musculo-skeletal conditions" (source). File under: missed the point completely.

For those who haven't read Aldous Huxley's Brave New World:

"Soma [?] is a pill that individuals take to basically relieve them of their cares and anxieties; if life gets too difficult, they take a soma holiday." (source)

Replies to Steven Garrity’s post: Brave New Prescriptions
Alan []
I wonder if they bought off Huxley's estate for the coprright to the name. The hangtime to the heirs rights after death of an author is amazingly long - hence the Government of PEI's ability to buy a stake in Anne of Green Gables branding.
Will []
http://www.willpate.org
So close, yet so far.

I'm already taking Prozac, so if they ever come up with a real Soma, I'm game.

Nick Burka []
Speaking of Soma, great song.
Andrew []
andrew.magerman@t-online.com
Hi there steven.

Soma is even older than that. Soma is mentioned extensively in the Rig-Vedas (ancient Hindu texts, at least 3500 years old) as a psychedelic drug used in many rituals.

Andrew

david martland []
david_martland@hotmail.com
And of course soma is the word for the central body of a neuron, surrounded by dendrites, and which pushes out signals along its axon. Relevant? Maybe!