In Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World, the drug used to keep citizens content is soma.
Soma is a government-distributed substance that provides temporary escape from discomfort, anxiety, and unpleasant thoughts. Citizens are encouraged to take it during emotional difficulty, making it a central tool of social stability in the World State.
The drug is not simply a recreational detail. Huxley connects soma with a society that avoids grief, solitude, deep relationships, and independent reflection. The population is conditioned from childhood to value consumption and immediate satisfaction, so chemical comfort reinforces the wider political system.
Brave New World was published in 1932. Its title comes from a line in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, spoken by Miranda. Soma should not be confused with the real historical ritual drink called soma in ancient Indo-Iranian religious traditions; Huxley borrowed the name but created a fictional modern drug with a different social function.