Brave New World: Chapters 11-15

Lets talk about soma (in context of the article Can Science Be Ethical?):

Soma is the drug of choice in Brave New World (probably the only drug) and is itself a technological/biological advancement: its able to rid a person of all emotionally negative things in their life, for a short time. In the article, it is said that scientific advancements are only useful if it further polarizes social classes or directly threatens humanity; also that a scientific advancement works for evil if it is a toy for the rich and works for good if it helps the poor. In soma's case, it does not further polarize social classes but does, however indirectly, threaten humanity; it is a way from keeping people from truly thinking and experiencing feelings crucial to grow as a person and being individuals. And it does not necessarily work for good or evil since the drug is equally rationed out to all social classes, yet the drug does oppress the masses subtly. So, how should soma be classified? Is it even ethical?

Well, if we look at its classification from an ethical perspective then soma is evil; it is not a toy for the rich at first, but if we think about how people like the Mustapha Mond, a world controller, and how they use soma to oppress the masses, then soma sort of does become a toy for the extremely rich and influential like Mustapha Mond, who controls people with this seemingly innocent drug.