Drug use is widespread amongst mankind throughout the solar system. Most common is "longevity" a drug that effectively stops the visible aging process at whatever age the user decides. The impact of Longevity upon the social structure of humans has been dramatic. Living great grandparents are now in existence and new forms of speech have evolved to compensate for the longer lifespans of people. "Traveling years", "A Gathering age" ," Breeder" are all new definitions that help place someones stage in life rather than the out of date terms such as "middle age" which no longer have much meaning.
This does not mean that humans on Longevity are immortal. Longevity "merely" slows the natural body clock of humans to a slower rate, accidents, illness and cancers still occur. However no healthy person who has taken longevity regularly has yet died of old age.
Longevity has several side effects. It tends to make its takers a little more aggressive than usual , although most doctors agree that this is offset by the more cautious nature introduced by the potentially huge lifespan. In addition there seems to be a direct link between the rates of Longevity use and incidents of Psionics amongst the population. Several religious & moral groups are highly concerned about this turn of events suggesting that somehow the drug is perverting humanity.
Recreational Drugs
One of the offshoots from the Collective Era has been the almost universal acceptance of mood altering drugs, this trend started with coffee in ancient history but now includes hundreds of designer drugs usually named after the mood they bring about "Grief". "Meditation", "Joy" etc. Cocktails of these drugs often produce bizarre effects and have on more than one occasion caused an individual to go on a violent rampage.
The most potent drug is called "Event Horizon" so named because it alters the persons consciousness forever. Once taken the user has his mind permanently changed. Much has been written about what these actual effects are but subjects are usually unable or unwilling to give a detailed report on their feelings. Most describe a deep understanding of the universe and a glimpse of what is known as "The abyss Truth". Whatever this "truth" is , it has not yet been communicated fully to non users but it seems to involve a literal acceptance of what one sees before ones eyes rather than the "construct of language and objects which humanity paints on top of the universe".
Event Horizon users are often superb artists or philosophers but oddly those who are stunningly successful in life are usually regarded by the Horizon community as failed in some way.
