The Lotus Eaters seem to represent the temptation of oblivion offered by drugs. The fruit of the lotus makes those who consume it forget about all their problems, which is why they are tempted to keep eating it. They want to stay in the forgetful, oblivious state forever. Anyone who eats the fruit seems to become addicted and does not want its hallucinatory effect to go away:
Not prone to ill, nor strange to foreign guest,
They eat, they drink, and nature gives the feast
The trees around them all their food produce:
Lotus the name: divine, nectareous juice!
(Thence call'd Lo'ophagi); which whose tastes,
Insatiate riots in the sweet repasts,
Nor other home, nor other care intends,
But quits his house, his country, and his friends.
