The paragraph is critical of this drug called Soma. According to the author it delivers no 'life defining insights’. What it does is induce a ‘mindless, imbecile happiness - a vacuous escapism". In such a context the best answer would be (b) as such a drug may very well insulate the user from reality. Option (a) can be eliminated as the drug is spoken about as some sort of deliverance from misery. This is a shift from the tone of the paragraph, which is critical of the drug. Option (c) speaks about the drug’s stimulating effect, which is a complete departure from the paragraph. Option (d) can be eliminated as the focus here is on the immediate effect of the drug.