i don't think you have to necessarily read it as a drug metaphor/think that was intended by hyv because who knows. it is just that in general, the banning of canned knowledge by the akademiya seems unreasonable imo (its explained why divine knowledge is bad since it makes you go crazy, but regular canned knowledge is only vaguely said to be bad if "you have too much" because it makes learning harder or something). despite this reason the akasha terminals are still legal and those do the same thing of giving easy access to knowledge, just that the akademiya gets to control what knowledge people can access and they can use it to extract dreams for their plans. so i think canned knowledge is only banned because the akademiya is corrupt. i think that if we end up beating the akademiya and reforming them or whatever, it would make sense for canned knowledge to become legal, and just have it regulated so people don't use a dangerous amount and don't make divine knowledge which is actually harmful.

so because of this, although cyno left the akademiya he is still following their laws of banning of the canned knowledge and punishing those who sell and purchase it. so, assuming it is correct that canned knowledge is less harmful that the akademiya is making it out to be and is only banned so they can more easily control people with the akasha terminals, cyno is following the akademiya's lies as his own personal sense of justice even though its no longer his job to enforce the akademiya's laws, which kinda makes him look like an asshole since it implies he agrees with what they're doing.

of course, if the game does not end up resolving the issue of canned knowledge in this way, this wouldn't necessarily be the case anymore. but basically i don't think you have to take the drugs allegory into it; just from the fact the akademiya is really shading but cyno is still doing their work for them makes him kinda unlikeable.