What Would Robert Louis Stevenson Say About Ozempic? Authored by Ann Bauer via Brownstone Institute , I have loved many addicts in my life. I have been exasperated, impoverished, and terrified by them. But also amused, warmed, enraptured, elevated… That’s the thing about addicts. They contain multitudes, all drama and extremes . They’re charismatic until they’re repugnant, joyful until they’re sui...
What Would Robert Louis Stevenson Say About Ozempic? Authored by Ann Bauer via Brownstone Institute , I have loved many addicts in my life. I have been exasperated, impoverished, and terrified by them. But also amused, warmed, enraptured, elevated… That’s the thing about addicts. They contain multitudes, all drama and extremes . They’re charismatic until they’re repugnant, joyful until they’re suicidal. Everything is in vivid, dangerous color. It’s part of the ride and the reason they exert such a pull on cautious, ascetic people like me. Some of my addicts are gone. My closest friend and “ Damn Good Food ” co-author, Mitch Omer, died at 61 . Others have found God and turned their lives around (they’re now exciting and dramatic people of faith). I love people who are addicted to alcohol, drugs, gambling, and food. Many surf between the four. Recently, another category of people formed: the ones injecting themselves with GLP-1s, mostly to lose weight but also to control other impulses. It’s clearly great for the handful whose life and health were being destroyed by obesity. But for the others? I’m dubious. Ozempic and its cousins (Mounjaro, Wegovy, Zepbound, et al.) modify the pleasure centers of the brain, making everything people crave—food, sex, smoking, alcohol, shopping, gambling, cocaine—less appealing. It doesn’t address the underlying problems of addiction, such as depression or dishonesty. It just eliminates the part of the person that enjoys and revels, the colorful, joyous side. It’s a version of the drug in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , that the doctor ginned up to divide himself, creating a respectable man bound by reserve and a separate murderous, pleasure-seeking monster. From Dr. Jekyll’s own account: Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profou...