One way to set up your dystopian fantasy the way you want it is to use drugs. No, that's not what I meant, although plenty of authors do. This is about using custom-designed drugs in your novel. A fictional drug can have any effect you want it to, which can shape the setting or even drive the plot. In many fantasy worlds, there is someone, somewhere, who uses an addictive and highly-coveted mind-altering substance that doesn't exist in the real world. For example:
1. Milk Plus from A Clockwork Orange
Alex and his three droogs, Pete, George, and Drim enjoyed going to the Korova Milk Bar for a drink or three of Milk Plus before a night of the old ultra violence. Only instead of normal mixers like strawberry powder or chocolate syrup, this milk-based cocktail contained a variety of fictional narcotics, such as vellocet, synthernesc, or drencrom. To really add a touch of class, the drink is served in a woman-shaped glass with convenient nipple spouts. Even better? You can give it to your kids because the narcotics in Milk Plus weren't controlled.
Which is one of the reasons that A Clockwork Orange was the third most-disturbing book I read as a teenager. Read the rest of the list at HuffPo Books.