When the novelty wears off

De Quincey splits Confessions of an English Opium Eater into three sections - an introduction, a section titled "Pleasures of Opium" and another titled "Pains of Opium". I found it interesting and revealing that, in the  section dedicated to the pleasures of the drug, De Quincey describes the drug in a flurry of technical jargon and medical terminology. He discusses the medicinal uses of opium and the chemical process by which it numbs pain and alleviates symptoms of stress, but never praises it on a level of personal experience. This reveals that, at the time of writing Confessions, De Quincey held a negative perspective on opium and was unable to reflect positively on the drug due to the years of pain and torment his abuse brought him. When a drug user who has not yet crossed the threshold into destructive abuse writes about the drug in use, that user might describe how much more enjoyable it makes his personal every day experiences or how it improves his ability to work on his craft. De Quincey has moved away from that period of productive indulgence with opium and now sees it as an agent of mental instability. To him, it is no longer fun and enlightening (as we find out in "Pains of Opium") and the only "pleasures" to be derived from the stuff is strictly medicinal.