... not a bed of roses is an account of a part of the author's life that he spent as an opiate addict. It begins in Teheran, capital of Iran, during the reign of the country's last Shah, or king. Attracted by oil wealth and openness to foreigners -- and by the accompanying prospect of employment at high salaries -- the author goes to the city to look for work after spending nearly all of his money on travelling in Europe. Robin soon finds a job as a copywriter with an advertising agency. He also begins to smoke opium, and gradually becomes addicted to it. Then he is unable to get any opium one day, and he smokes some heroin instead. He loves the effect of heroin, comparing it to the feelings he imagines an astronaut might experience on viewing the universe during a journey into outer space, particularly on a maiden or early flight. The author had intended to use heroin only once, but in the coming few weeks he takes it several times more. Both opium and heroin -- and in particular the latter -- make a confusion of the writer's editing and writing skills for hours after a smoke. The effect plays a part in his making an error while editing an article for a newspaper he has joined from the advertising agency, and he is dismissed. He has been thinking of returning home for many months, and decides that now is as good a time as any to do it. He also intends to use as an occasion for quitting drugs the new start his return will represent. But when Robin reaches home, in the British territory of Hong Kong, he succumbs to a strong psychological desire for opiates, and goes looking for opium to take the edge off it. He is unable to find any of the drug, however, so instead he buys some heroin, and before very long has become addicted to it. The addiction leads Robin to losing his job in a radio station newsroom, largely through sleeping when he should have been at work. With no income, he attends a government-run methadone clinic, where he meets a patient who becomes his friend and shows him how to make good money by shop-lifting. Robin is caught she-lifting twice, and is prosecuted for each offence, being fined for the first, and sentenced to probation for the second. The latter penalty included treatment for Robin's heroin addiction at an institution on a remote island. When Robin is discharged from the island, another friend of his introduces him to begging from clergyman as a source of ready cash. Then the author is arrested by the police in possession of about a quarter of an ounce of heroin. Two terms of imprisonment follow, the second coming close on the heels of the first, and causing him to develop an anxiety neurosis. The condition is treated satisfactorily, but followed by a nervous breakdown after the second imprisonment, a disorder that included psychotic delusions and hallucinations. Robin recovers from his breakdown, but goes through a lengthy period of depression in the process. Finally, a medical doctor helps him to maintain and develop a relatively normal life in a way that is countless controversial -- he meets a request Robin put to him for a regular supply of medicinal opium.
