Diary of a Drug Fiend

Love under Will 363 the hospitality of the Abbey. Song and dance were in full swing. Basil and I fell into a quiet chat. ‘“* How long is it, by the way,” he said, “ since you last took a dose of anything ? ”’ ‘I’m not quite sure,’”’ I answered, dreamily watching Lou and Lala, who had arrived a week since with the apparatus I required for my experiments, as_ they waltzed together on the court. They were both radiant. It seemed as if the moon had endowed them with her pure subtlety and splendour. “IT asked you,” continued Big Lion, pulling at a big meerschaum and amber pipe of the Boer pattern, which he reserved for late at night, “‘ because I want you to take the fullest advantage of your situation. You have been tried in the crucible and come out pure gold. But it won’t do for you to forget the privileges you have won by your ordeal. Do you remember what it says in the Book of the Law ? | ‘“*T am the Snake that giveth Knowledge and Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunken- ness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, and be drunk thereof | They shall not harm ye at all.’” ‘“ Yes,” I said slowly, ‘“ and I thought it a bit daring ; might tempt people to be foolhardy, don’t you think ? ” ‘Of course,”’ agreed Basil, ‘‘ if you read it carelessly, and act on it rashly, with the blind faith of a fanatic; it might very well lead to trouble. But nature is full of devices for eliminating anything that cannot master its environment. The words ‘to worship me’ are all- important. The only excuse for using a drug of any sort, whether it’s quinine or Epsom-salt, is to assist nature to overcome some obstacle to her proper functions. The danger of the so-called habit-forming drugs is that they fool you into trying to dodge the toil essential to spiritual and intellectual development. But they are not simply man-traps. There is nothing in nature which cannot be used for our benefit, and it is up to us to use it wisely. Now, in the work you have