Book Review: How to Feel Good and How Not To: The Ethics of Using Marijuana, Alcohol, Antidepressants, and Other Mood-Altering Drugs

How to Feel Good and How Not To by John-Mark L. Miravalle is an important book for people of faith to contemplate right now because there is a political push for the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana (cannabis).

I read Professor Miravalle's book the same week my governor called for the legalization and taxation of marijuana as a fix for the state's budget deficit. What should Catholics think about this push for legalized pot?

This book explores the “why” of drug use, beginning with an explanation of how we desire delight, and avoid sorrow. Quoting saints, like Saint Pope John Paul II, Professor Miravalle guides the reader into the deeper questions about life's purpose, the use of drugs (including alcohol), suffering and evil, and whether marijuana use can be morally justified. (The chapter “The Value of Suffering” is a gem.)

I grew up during the 'just say “no”' drug campaign that discouraged many in my generation from using illegal drugs. The reasons behind drug use were not discussed then, and society mandated long prison sentences for drug users and dealers. Without exploring the reasoning behind the pursuit of drug pleasure and elimination of pain, I fear society will continue to take the wrong approach regarding its role of regulation.

Without a clear explanation of why people seek to use drugs like alcohol, antidepressants, and cannabis we may never grasp the real issues at stake in the moral dilemma of drugs and legalization. Thankfully, we have tools like How to Feel Good and How Not To that gives us a Catholic perspective about the responsible use of drugs.

Professor Miravalle uses clear and concrete examples. He writes:

“We weren’t made to rest or take delight in artificially stimulated

brain states. We were made to rest in human goods, in the actual

flourishing of our natures. Recreational drug use—including the

various forms of recreational use of cannabis—manipulates the

faculties against their intended design, distracts us from the prac-

tices that facilitate virtuous delight, and makes our pursuit of real

happiness that much less likely.”

The chapter on alcohol use contrasted with cannabis use is a valuable chapter for American Catholics (Prohibition springs to mind here) because it clarifies why alcohol use is far different from the recreational use of pot. Alcohol is used for other purposes rather than only to feel good for example.

The book also defines the Catholic Church's criteria for the moral use of drugs in the chapter discussing the medical use of antidepressants.

Why should we care about the legalization of marijuana? We know from legalized abortion the genie will never be put back in the bottle once a government declares something is legal. Worse, the moral reasoning about why some actions are wrong becomes marginalized once the law is signed. Catholics must not allow more vocal activists to silence our moral viewpoint.

No matter what happens in the arena of public laws, we need to use the arguments in this book to protect our own children and others from being seduced by laws that make pot use seem morally okay. We do not want to lose our kids to cannabis because we lacked the right words to tell them it is immoral to seek a fake delight, as the book explains far better than I can:

“The evil of drug abuse isn’t primarily about the damage it does to the body or to social position.

It’s about how it can warp the soul and permanently render it incapable of fulfillment.”

Many Catholics need help to understand our moral beliefs, and the author's style allows complex topics to be defined inside a very enjoyable read.

I recommend this book to anyone wanting to fully understand how to arrive at a morally sound judgment not just about drugs, but about the meaning of our lives.

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