The Drugs *Do* Work -

After A Fashion, That Is
And yes, that's another reference to one of The Verve's bigger hits, which Allen Klein couldn't latch onto and suck all the money out of like some great bloated leeching financial vampire had 0% to do with (sorry, I get a bit irate).  You know, contemporary justice being served at last as regards "Bittersweet Symphony".

Hmmm.  Not sure about the accuracy of that statement, Richard.

     Anyway, this has nothing to do with the music industry - oh that above wasn't Current Affairs, either, since the whole thing had been rumbling along for 22 years, which makes it Historical - but it most certainly does have something to do with money.
     Let us now abruptly change subject, apparently, though let me assure you it will all come together eventually.
     The television series "Justified", featuring the laconic and sardonic character of Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens has been over and done for several years now, but Your Humble Scribe is only just wrestling it into his vision, and I am now on the third season.  Art?

The last thing many, many bad guys get to see.

     It strikes me that each series is based around the dealings to do with various different classes of illegal drugs.  Let me expound.
     In Series One the matter of concern was "Meth", or "Methamphetamine", which is a powerful stimulant.  It was being made in illegal so-called 'labs' where safety or supervision or even sobriety or straightness were very low priority.  Art?

Street stuff unlikely to resemble this even remotely

     In Series Two we were back to the traditional marijuana crop, as being run in a most business-like fashion by Mags Bennett.  Mags very much a traditionalist, extremely hostile to any kind of new-fangled pills or potions.  Her business partners, however, were more interested in money than motives.

Masks because this stuff stinks.*

     In Series Three the issue revolves around what everyone calls "Oxy", which Your Humble Scribe had to dig around a bit to resolve.  It does not refer to Oxytocin - an entirely separate drug product - but instead to Oxycontin, which is the proprietary brand-name of Oxycodone, and this is one of the Opioid drugs that are now seen as a Very Bad Thing.  Unless, of course, you are one of those making and selling it illegally.  Art?

£2.60 each at legal prices

     Yes, but the illegal versions can cost you £26 per pill, so you can see why unscrupulous business persons are willing to crank out thousands and thousands of them.
     Because the drugs do work; even if the addicts build up a tolerance, they will still keep coming back, Richard.
     Well, let us now sit the motley down and ply it with ginger biscuits and some freshly-perked coffee, smiling all the time, just to play mind games with it!**

Possibly poisoned?

     There will now be a slight hiatus as I go downstairs and put the oven on.

Further On Curbing The Abuse Of Superpowers
Many years ago on this blog, I did a series of rather sophomoric posts on "Superheroes With Their Pants Down", which looked at the problems associated with having super powers in the real world, one of which I think - because I never go back and re-read this stuff - I think was about "Why Superman Cannot Get Drunk".  This is fairly self-evident to even the least sharp amongst us; having a man who can fly through anything being unable to focus properly or even know where he's going is a Very Bad Thing.

Say hello to Nitromethane!

     I also imagine that Clark Kent would need to drink an entire tanker of nitro-methane to get a buzz on, as something merely 190% simply wouldn't do the job.
     That strand of thought brought me to another method of acquiring super powers - via drug delivery.  I know one episode of "The Outer Limits" deals with this, and earlier today I mentioned "The Boys" with a similar method.
     Well, in the spirit of the Intro, gentle reader, don't forget that people build up a tolerance for drugs.  Imagine you are Wonder Weasel Woman, and you've paid £150,000 for the privilege.  You have incredibly fast reflexes, razor-sharp fangs, super-speed and the criminals in your patch of Tottington Sodbury keep a very low profile.
               
                                      Come on, I don't have to explain which is which, do I?
     When the drug treatment wears off, you pony up another £150,000, except this does very little for you and you can barely break the pastry on a Beef En Croute, let alone bite a criminal's foot off.  "Toleration!" smilingly explain the purveyors of Conrad's Costly Cobalt Crud.  "Another dose needed!  As a repeat customer, we will give you a 50% discount."
     So you shell out £225,000 in total.  Of course, when that drug treatment wears off ...

What On Earth?
Really, I created the English country village of Tottington Sodbury out of thin air, as far as I knew there's no such place, I mean all you have to do to create an English country village is string a couple of appropriately oldey-worldey place names together - and then I found this -

The Coincidence Hydra dines on my behind AGAIN.

     Somewhere in my Sekrit Layr is the "AA Book Of The English Countryside", which I can see I need to dig out again for a bit of research.

Finally -
Conrad bit the bullet on Saturday and popped into Travelling Man to see if they had either or both of those comic book series The Flop House Facebook crew had recommended: "Saga" and "Lazarus".
     The staff had to direct Your Aged Purblind As Well As Humble Scribe to the shelves, and I've got the first TPB of "Lazarus" and the first three of "Saga", which wins hands-down on the art front, absolutely top stuff by <egad a gel!> Fiona Staples.

The Lying Cat.  This cat detects lies.

*  So I'm told.
**  Yes, I am evil.  Deal with it.