Drugs could be a new philosophy of good taste (12)

I believe the answer is:

anaesthetics

'drugs' is the definition.
(anaesthetic is a kind of drug)

'a new philosophy of good taste' is the wordplay.
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'philosophy of good taste' becomes 'aesthetics' (philosophy dealing with artistic value and taste).
'a'+'n'+'aesthetics'='ANAESTHETICS'

'could be' acts as a link.

(Another definition for anaesthetics that I've seen is " Medical discipline".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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