Article October 26, 1987 Issue

Breaking free from drugs

Drug use is delusive; spiritual insights are dependable.

Jeffrey K. Clements

In college I was curious about the reputed mind-expanding effects of marijuana and other drugs, and I began experimenting. The biggest appeal was to be able to escape from the limits of my mind and just let go.

For a while I actually believed that drug-induced sensations were not only pleasurable but fraught with insight and a larger sensitivity to what was really going on. At the same time I was troubled by my observations of frequent drug users who had developed a need to be on drugs just to feel "normal." I also noticed a boring repetition of opinions expressed in a trite, "hip" vocabulary.

However, I continued experimenting with drugs until I found myself caught in the same delusions. Then something unusual happened. Some friends who had also been using drugs stopped using them. I noticed that they were now much happier people. Their schoolwork improved, and their personal lives were not so confused. In every case, it seemed to me, they were achieving the freedom we all wanted, but without drugs of any kind—not even the beer and coffee that seemed such an essential part of college life!

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