marijuana adopted as anesthetic against a dream — "Low-grade synthetic Bob or not, the…"

The exact etiology, and it is self-medication of the inner life from the very first hit: the habit begins not as recreation but as a sleep aid aimed at a recurring dream, a "psychodysleptic Sominex" to get him through the night. "Worked like a charm" is the hook — the drug delivered precisely what it promised, which is what makes the vow "concerning fathers and differences" already half-broken in the telling.