One summer many years ago I went through one of my greatest challenges—the use of recreational drugs. At college and in home circles, many friends and relatives were into heavy alcohol and drug use. Having been raised in a Christian Science Sunday School, I remained drug free. When I entered college, I would return home on weekends and visit my branch Church of Christ, Scientist, loving the purity and innocence I found there on Sundays. Such a change from the home scene and the riotous college life!
The free-love and illicit drug/alcohol atmosphere swirled around me, both at home and at school, for three years. I maintained my integrity, but I was always targeted, always offered drugs, and felt insecure for refusing. I didn’t know what to do—with my father now gone, I had no mentoring, and I felt closed off and friendless. I flunked out of school and talked to no one about my deeply shattered life—the upheaval of family, school, and friends.
And then that September, for the first time, I swallowed a combined dose of LSD and mescaline. The drug-induced euphoria lasted about half an hour; then I slipped into a really bad trip. Within another half hour I was totally unconscious. My co-druggers drove me around town, debating whether to drop me off in front of a hospital. Even though I was apparently unconscious, I could still hear every word they were saying. I was taken to an apartment, where I lay for a few more hours. Fear was all around me.
