u/bucketheaddude

On January 20th, 2029, Donald Trump left office as the President of the United States. On February 11th, 2029, after multiple unsatisfactory social media posts from the former President, various private investigators from multiple parties and corporations leaked documentation, emails, and texts of Donald Trump and REDACTED from the FDA talking about business opportunities and an all new medication, while what it did was never outright named or described they spoke very excitedly of it.

On December 13th, 2034, the FDA published a patent and made a public announcement of an affordable over the counter drug that they claimed would “Change the world and possibly destroy the urge to use addictive illegal drugs forever.” This new drug was dopamine. While the public and multiple governments around the world, including that of the US, were highly anxious and protested against the idea of an ingestible 100% dopamine chemical drug, the FDA carried on with the mass manufacturing of dopamine, releasing the drug on July 4th, 2035.

Change in the country was immediate. First it was reluctant customers buying one bottle, then after an hour they came back, buying multiple bottles in bulk. More and more customers came to pharmacies and corner drug stores, they sold out quickly, causing customers to become agitated and violent. Drug dealers or “Plugs” no longer sold illegal substances, those had gone out of value. They now sold large quantities of dopamine, and due to the patent many began producing their own in different ways. There was cheap dopamine which lasted much less than the over the counter, then there were those that lasted longer but weren’t as powerful.

Then there was dopamine that was much more powerful than the patented one, no matter what type the public bought however the effect was the same across the board. Enormous drops in productivity, people showing up to work, recreational establishments, parks. The birth rates had plummeted. There was no reason for anyone to do anything anymore, they had all they could ever want. Pure bliss. A small minority of the population of the US was still thriving, whether they are members of the public who saw their friends and family and strangers choose to starve and die or the rich who profited off of the drug’s success. The rest of the world hadn’t had dopamine shipped yet, many planned on sinking the ships that were scheduled to deliver it, others were morbidly curious at the effects of the drug.

2050. There are not enough left of us, everyone we know has willingly accepted death with a smile. They say starving isn’t so bad with dopamine, why give birth? Why raise a child? Why talk to each other? Why dream? Everything we do in life is for dopamine, remove the pursuit, remove the earn, you’ve reached the end. You win, game over.