The Christian encounters drugs and drug abuse

the long version

If you have bought this book hoping for a categorical condemnation of drugs, you had better return it for a refund. I have chosen instead to try to "tell it straight" from the various vantage points from which I view the drug controversy: as a Christian who is concerned about the implications of the drug revolution for issues such as Christian freedom, the nature of spiritual experience, and the vitality of the Christian community; as a psychotherapist who works primarily with young people, some of whom have tried one or more of the drugs mentioned in this book; as a scientifically trained psychologist who is unwilling to accept as evidence that which is only speculation or vain hope; and finally as a parent who faces soberly the fact that his sons are only a few years away from the time when they will probably be exposed to the possibility of trying drugs themselves. - Preface.