Editorial February 19, 1944 ISSUE

Do Drugs and Liquor Bring Real Satisfaction?

John Randall Dunn

The search for that which will bring some measure of enduring happiness or satisfaction is age-old. In fact, the initial effort of evil to enter one's thinking comes generally in the guise of that which is pleasurable and satisfying. In the Garden of Eden allegory, did not error's serpentine suggestion whisper that the forbidden fruit was "good for food and ... pleasant to the eyes"? In working with men in penal institutions, how often does one hear an inmate, referring to his misdemeanor, say: "I don't know why I did it. I see now there was no pleasure in it!" Many disillusioned mortals can echo the words of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes, "All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing."

In spite of this widely accepted truism, however, behold the sad spectacle of thousands of men and women, and young people scarcely out of their teens, turning these days to intoxicating liquor, hoping to find therein pleasure, temporary exhilaration, courage, or stimulation! Yes, it is a sad spectacle—sad as would be the picture of one fleeing to escape from one tyrant only to be caught in the toils of another.

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