In late 1991, a few days before the new year, I was sitting on my couch drinking and smoking marijuana. I was raised in Christian Science, and I always believed its teachings to be true. However, I had lost my way when I was younger and started smoking marijuana at age 13. By this time I was smoking nearly every day, multiple times a day. I also drank multiple alcoholic beverages each day.
I had tried to quit several times and had succeeded temporarily. I was sober for 13 months in law school. I did very well in school, and one might think that I would have taken that to heart and quit altogether, but the change wasn’t permanent. I quit another time for about three months, but the allure of being high kept drawing me back.
Each time I tried to quit smoking and drinking, I prayed to see myself as God’s expression, as we are taught in Christian Science. But my lifestyle was not compatible with Christian Science, and I was unable to break the grip of addiction.
