Valued return of my drug, alas (5,2)

I believe the answer is:

deary me

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'valued return' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'of my drug alas' is the wordplay.
'of' becomes 'dear' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'drug' becomes 'e' (e is another name for ecstasy).
'alas' is an anagram indicator (alas can mean unfortunately or sadly).
'my'+'e'='mye'
'mye' is an anagram of 'yme'.
'dear'+'yme'='DEARY ME'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for deary me that I've seen is " I'm surprised".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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