The following is a letter to his son from a loving father, in hopes it might help others who are struggling with drugs.The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Dear Richard,

I’ve done some research to see if any of your assertions about the positive effects of LSD have any merit. Here’s a purely scientific-based study that concludes LSD significantly impairs executive functions, cognitive flexibility, and working memory but did not positively influence quality of decision-making and risk taking. This conclusion is in alignment with my own science-based research as well as my personal observations of your behaviors and actions.

We have tried to bribe/threaten you, hoping to motivate you to make better decisions. I’d like you to do your own science-based research in future decisions regarding drug use. You can start with this research article. Kindly share with me any science-based research that might support your belief about the positive effects of LSD or weed.

Oh, wouldn’t you know it, here’s one on LSD! On the surface, this article seems to have a rather positive view toward LSD and all the bad people who halted research on it for safety reasons. But it is misleading and dangerous to think the research by those profiled here is conclusive. These popularist approaches, are not based in real science. LSD is certainly worthy of further scientific study. There is promising work being done with micro dosing etc, under actual, controlled scientific conditions. But you or somebody you “know” buying and taking LSD on “the street” is not science-based experimentation, no matter how much you may try to convince yourself to the contrary. The article “seems” to support taking LSD, but actually it doesn’t, to the discerning reader. Please, I beg you, be that kind of a reader.

The fact is, you won’t find any scientific-based research for taking LSD off the street, because it doesn’t exist. There is no telling what is in the shit you have taken or the damage it has done. That includes the weed you’ve gotten a hold of too. There is no way for you to know, as a consumer of an elicit substance, what fillers were used and what it might be laced with, etc.. The idea of “purity” is a myth. Drugs by their very nature are an impurity; they are an external substance. Even prescribed drugs should not be taken without medical precautions and supervision. And your own due diligence.

Son, you are playing with fire and you are doing so with a person I happen to love and value with all my heart. When you were little, you promised me you would never take drugs. Keep that promise to me now, before it is too late. Please stop, once and for all.

Do whatever it takes to finally get that you are precious, just as you are. There is only one Richard Delaney. And the only things you can do to make you more than who you already are, is to develop your mind, through rigorous study, engage in quiet, non-drug induced contemplation, find a creative outlet and heed the call inside you to search for a higher purpose.

And if by some chance, you are taking these substances to somehow help you process stuff that is upsetting you, then may I suggest you be open to a deep therapeutic journey of self-discovery, with a trained psychologist of your choosing. Navigating this crazy world is not easy for anyone. No one is beyond needing help with this whole life thing, even if some people seem to be. Meanwhile, know that no matter what, I love you and will never give up on you.

your loving dad