appetite dressed as spirited inquiry — "there’s always room in Hal’s budget…"

Using rebranded as scholarship and even ethics: it's not merely a right but almost a duty, in the name of the spirits of inquiry and responsible trade, to sample the drug first. The rationalization is airtight and self-flattering, and the budget line — always room for spirited inquiry — is the appetite's accountant, funding the debauch under a heading no one has to feel bad about.