This seems inconsistent with the memoir's stated purpose. But on the other hand, De Quincey also spends significant time describing the drug's 'pleasures,' and he acknowledges later in the preface that if these pleasures were more widely known, more people would use opium. On the one hand, the memoir's extensive description of 'the pains of opium' lends credence to De Quincey's assertion that the text is meant to be "instructive" and drive people away from opium use. Readers can choose whether or not to take this claim at face value. In this passage, De Quincey explains his reason for publishing Confessions of an English Opium Eater – namely, he hopes that it will deter people from using opium. In that hope it is, that I have drawn it up: and that must be my apology for breaking through that delicate and honourable reserve, which, for the most part, restrains us from the public exposure of our own errors and infirmities.” Thomas de Quincey, “I trust that it will prove, not merely an interesting record, but, in a considerable degree, useful and instructive.
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