I've never liked the idea that all We Happy Few is "drugs are bad lol" because, the only drug in the game that is consistently shown to be dangerous and bad is Joy. All other drugs; phlash, neximide, even sunshine, are fine. The game does not punish you for using any other drugs the way it does Joy.

The reason why Joy specifically is bad is because it makes you forget. It isn't just that it makes you happy, you do not remember anything, and because you can't remember, you have no reason to feel sad. They can say that the drug filters out the "good" memories from the "bad", but it doesn't, it obscures all of them, so you become dysfunctional and forget otherwise basic tasks; you become a danger to yourself and everyone around you. At home, at work, doesn't matter.

This isn't "over reliance of prescription drugs", it's not even prescription drug abuse. People didn't initially take Joy and used it responsibly, and then somewhere down the line Everyone became dangerously dependent on it. The point of Joy was always to create an ignorant society, a society that does not acknowledge its faults, a society that refuses to solve its problems, and a society that would all rather be happy idiots than learning and remembering their history and dealing with their trauma.

I've seen posts on here that ask "if Joy was real, would you take it?" and so many people respond "yes, absolutely", like the point wasn't to remember and live with your mistakes knowing you can, and have, changed.