Part II: Drugs, the Word of Wisdom, and Mental Health

Thank you to those of you who took the opportunity to participate in and read my new blog.  It flatters me to receive response and know that I have intelligent friends who think about life past what they have to.  My favorite philosopher (other than Christ who was more a master than a philosopher) Socrates stated, “all I know, is that I do not know”.  I believe that my thoughts and opinions stem from this belief.  In the pursuit of knowledge the further and deeper we get and the more we learn it would seem that the amount of questions that can be conjured only grows exponentially.

Now to continue our discourse concerning drugs; as we last spoke I left the conversation posing the question of morality in relation to drugs (for the remainder of this discussion I will subsequently refer to both drugs and alcohol simply as drugs; unless I am referring specifically to one or the other).  Morality is partly the great eternal debate of good vs. evil, progression vs. retrogression etc.  I use the phrase “eternal” because factors of good and evil, according to my understanding of them, will continue to transcend time.  So the question at hand is then, where within this spectrum of morality do drugs lie?  Now for you to understand the intended context of this question you must understand I presuppose that the following is in fact true: everything, that is, every creation or act potentially serves a twofold mission, employing one use serves for good and another serves for evil. 

Lehi said it in much more eloquent terms in 2 Nephi 2:11 “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things”.  So we learn that for every virtue there is a vice, for every up there is a down, for every light an absence of light, and for every right there is an equal wrong.  It will be difficult for anyone reading this from here on out to agree with much I have to say if you cannot accept or at least fathom this principle.  In worldly application we might speak of sex; this act can be used in virtue for good i.e. an expression of love between two committed and married individuals, contrastingly it also could be used for vise i.e. selfish gratification for mere physical pleasure, or for the purposes of exploitation and lust we find in pornography.  It then can be assumed that anything we find or look at, any act or any of God’s creations, we can find opposing uses for.

Now that this is understood I can continue on to my point and question.  Since we assume this opposition exists in all things, we know that drugs are no exception.  Drugs can and do in fact serve this selfsame twofold manner.  We find that they have a useful and seemingly good purpose in medicine but also have the potential and dangerous risk for abuse and dependence.  So where do we draw the line in the sand so-to-speak?  Where does the use of drugs cross from one realm into the other?  When does drug use become abuse?  It seems a fine line, and many moralists might pose the question, why look for or identify such a line?  Shouldn’t one seeking moral sustenance seek to stay as far away from that line as they possibly can?  I recall an article I read in an LDS Gospel Principals manual some time ago.  An author whom I cannot remember said it well through a parable that I shall attempt to paraphrase. 

“A wealthy man was charged with the responsibility from a state bank to transport some legal tender from one city to another.  This man soon found however that a group of robbers and thieves were aware of this common practice and often set traps to overtake the man’s horse and carriage team to loot the man of the money he was entrusted with.  In an attempt to overt further loss by these robbers' hands, the man advertised his need for a reliable and skilled team of horses and coach that were faster and more expert than anyone else in the area, thus ensuring a safe flight from the robbers and thieves.  He received three applications from men who claimed to be fit for the job, so he interviewed each of them and gave them a few scenarios and asked question to gage what their individual abilities were.  The man asked how fast each coach’s team was, how sturdy their wagons were, and with each man came a similar response, “My team is the fastest in the state, and my wagon is as new and as sturdy as they come.”  In an attempt to further assess each coach’s skill the man posed the question to each applicant, "Suppose a team of bandits was chasing after us, and we came to a curved narrow road with a steep cliff barreling down one side.  In an attempt to flee from the bandits you have to use the very best skills you possess.  How close do you think you could get to the edge of that cliff without falling off and plummeting down the cliff to our deaths?"  The first man thought for a minute and said, “Why, I’ll bet I could get my team and wagon not but 6 inches without falling.”  “That’s pretty impressive” replied the man.  When asked the same question the second applicant arrogantly bragged to the man, “Oh I recon I could take my team and wagon within 2 or 3 inches of that edge and be just fine”.  Then, the last man took very little time to think about the question and responded to the man’s question, “How close could I get to the edge?  Ha!  I’d stay as far away from that edge as I possibly could!”  Now guess which one of those coaches got the job?  Well, it was the last one who opted to stay away from the edge.

So we learn the moral of the story is not to see how close we can get to the edge, but how far away from it we can stay.  Stay where the footing is sure and there is no room for doubt or error.  Now, I think that this is a debatable point that can be argued for nearly any moral debate, however I am seeking to find the spirit of good and bad drug practices, so, I will not accept this as an adequate answer, besides it doesn't answer anything, it seems to just avoid an answer.  I am really trying to define what good and positive, appropriate use for drugs is, and where we find ourselves across that line moving towards bad and negative, inappropriate abuse.

The ‘code’ that the New Testament apostle Paul admonished Christ’s followers in his day to adhere to, that was reaffirmed by the modern day prophet Joseph Smith Jr. states in the last Article of Faith: “…we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things.  If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”  In this verse of scripture we find 4 attributes outlined for us that we are to seek after if we are pursuing goodness they are: virtue, love, good report, and praiseworthiness.  So in order for a drug to be considered good or morally good it must pass the test of possessing one or more of these virtues.

Moroni 7:16-19 says in essence, the Spirit, or light, of Christ is given to every man, and woman, that they may know good from evil.  That which is good invites more good, and invites the power to believe in Christ even to the point of a “perfect knowledge”.   Antithetically, bad or evil, persuades man to do more evil, and not believe in Christ; to deny him and not serve him.  So here we find we are given a compass or a “light” by which we can find direction or discern where good lies and where bad lies.

So we are done right?  We have found the is-all ends-all answer right?  Wrong!  We just have a good start from which to build off of.  I hope you will think on these things for a day.  I imagine by the end of this discussion, it will conclude with “knowing that we don’t know,” that is to say, I don’t have a specific answer for what I am getting into so I hope you aren’t expecting one, maybe collectively we can find a little more truth and direction in this quest.  I have opinions and guesses as to what some of the truth about drugs and morality is, but not everything.  


In the future I will question and break down the standard LDS church’s and similar Christian denominations' responses and stances on drugs and alcohol as well as find some potential faults within them.  Also, later this week, since I didn’t have time to get in to what I had intended to due to time restraint, I will as I promised last time address further and in more detail my personal experiences using drugs and alcohol personally in my life, the struggle that remains there to this day, and my aim to help others dealing with this disease of addiction (that’s right it’s a disease).   We will discuss the theory of the self-medication model verses Doctor prescribed medication.  Along with herbal and natural drugs vs. both bio-chemical FDA approved and illicit drugs.

I will also touch more on what my friend Adam John Daly remarked regarding his experiences and beliefs, presuming he is okay with that, as well as some of my wife’s thoughts and beliefs. 

If there is anything anyone wishes me to share or wants to add into the conversation via commenting the blog, or e-mail I would be happy to consider and address your thoughts.

Again thanks for reading!

-Ryan