Preachy anti-drug garbage.

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There's so much more going on in this story, thematically and in the subtext, the "anti-drug message" is almost just a set piece to allow them to develop. Right off the bat "Fred" slips from his written speech and mumbles about how this crap (the anti-drug propaganda) is the reason why people do drugs in the first place and that if they want to stop the problem they need to eliminate the demand, not just the supply. The entire plot is a big tangled loop. Fred is investigated Arctor (himself, even before he can't tell the difference), trying to get up the chain of supply through Donna, at the request of Hank, who IS Donna. All ultimately to get Arctor so burned out on the drug that he gets into New Path, who are the "rehab" organization with a government contract, that make the drug itself. The cops can't bust New Path because the government won't let them scan their farms. The snake is eating it's own tale, metaphorically. There's a lot of commentary there about why people do harmful drugs, why they abuse them and what incentive authority figures have to keep busting the users and sellers, without going after the sources of the problems on both ends.

I'm sure P.K. Dick had a lot of strong opinions about hard drugs and wanted to convey a certain amount of dissuasion from them. He certainly did a lot of those and felt the negative effects in the most severe ways. The way he delivered that message though was simply to show how self destructive drug addicts behave. He doesn't even demonize it, as Arctor discusses early in the film why he allowed it all to happen. How sometimes things were *beep* and sometimes they were beautiful, but essentially at least he never knew what to expect, instead of being bored with his life. The story isn't asking the viewer to either embrace the lifestyle of Arctor or demonize him or the drug, it's a pretty objective view. Some of his misery is of his own doing, some of it is thrust upon him. Some good may come out of this pain and plenty of pain came from his prosperity. That's a pretty non-controversial overview of real life with or without drugs. It goes back to the whole "eliminate the demand" sentiment. Bruce/Bob/Fred is as much a victim of his own desires and flaws as he is the patsy of the bigger plan, which seems to be ultimately the system fighting itself even as it becomes the enemy it's trying to take down. It's almost impossible to distinguish the heroes from the villains here. They pushed him along the path, he allowed (and even somewhat wanted) it to happen.

All besides the fact that they're not really talking about smoking a joint or getting drunk or taking a pill at a dance party or something. The kind of drug use being portrayed in the story is serious addiction, not recreation. If you're not taking a critical view of the story and exploring it's themes beyond a cursory overview of the basic plot, you're going to be subject to your own insecurities and reactionary tendencies with it. The film isn't telling you "you're a piece of *beep* for doing drugs, see?!", but you can certainly make yourself feel that way about it if you're appropriately inclined/impaired.

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This film is preachy anti-drug garbage.
Were we supposed to be honestly scared of these little red pills?

It was reminded me of watching a *beep* "Uh Drugs are Bad M-kay" Captain Planet "Mind Pollution" episode: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0893716/

I think that even if the anti-drug message was unappreciated, there was a whole lot else to take away from it - the paranoia and dehumanization by chemical was really quite fascinating, and the ending reveal was pretty freaking crazy.

Also the anti-drug message wasn't handled in a way like other movies do. Contrast this movie with Avatar, a movie that I like, but beats you senseless over the head with its message. A Scanner Darkly didn't just come out and say "hey man, drugs... they're bad," it instead showed how people would be reduced to animals on both sides of the equation - New Path uses a rehabilitation front to cover its facilitating of the very drug it 'fights against,' while those who fight against New Path must break a person down in order to confirm this.

What the audience will glean from this in the end is that Drugs are bad, but we get to step back and look at it in a worst-case scenario, even though many of the more important elements of the drug world are similar/the same between real and fictional worlds. It's good stuff

You're completely missing the point. Philip K Dick was a habitual drug user, he never promoted an anti-drug message.

It's against the War on Drugs, anti-Government policy, that is all.

Interesting, I have not seen the film yet, but the book, while anti drug in some ways, is not blatantly anti drug.

"You gonna bark all day little doggie, or are you gonna bite?"

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