Originally aired July 13, 1998
Written by Richard Manning
Directed by Jefferson Kibbee
On a world where drug use is mandatory, Maggie and Colin are dosed with mind-altering chemicals, and Quinn and Rembrandt have to save their friends while trying to elude the Drug Empowerment Administration.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Drugs Are Good: This episode's parallel world follows this trope closely.
- Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: On this world, everyone has to wear a drug injection device on their arm that keeps them calm at all times.
- Government Agency of Fiction: The Drug Empowerment Agency.
- Government Drug Enforcement: The U.S. government mandates drug use, and the alternate Quinn Mallory is a leader of the anti-drug resistance. The reason for this was Sigmund Freud accidentally discovering the pharmaceutical properties of lithium, which he so enjoyed that he became a biochemist instead of a psychologist. All people (in the US, at least) have implants in their arms that allow for direct intravenous injections without risk of infection. Using syringes is seen as barbaric. The police make sure everyone stays tranquil and happy. If someone acts out, they shoot them... with a narcotic dart. One trailer
for the episode had a memorable tagline: "the government regulates drugs... by getting everyone hooked on them!" - Stepford Smiler: Maggie and Colin after being drugged.
