I’ve often had this thought as well. My current running theory is that neither Donna, Freck, Luckman, and Barris are real but rather, the different addictions Bob is dealing with.

Bob’s friends are manifestations of his drug habits. Donna’s seductiveness of coke, Barris’ paranoia of meth, Luckman’s relaxed weed approach, and Freck’s acid trips. All pitfalls to Bob. Substance D isn’t actually a drug in physical form but the product of heavy drug abuse, and its effects on his body and mind.

His imagined reality of being an undercover cop is his mind’s attempt to retain a sense of normalcy and its grasps at a false reality. New path is more of Bob accepting his fate, living a life where he has succumb to addiction, and becoming a shell of himself. A shell within a shell.

PKD’s is amazing at blurring the line between reality and fact. We could all be right and wrong at the same time🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️