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To the best of my knowledge, Crowley was strung out when he wrote the damn book. It is a junk fantasy. That type of thinking ("free to use," "free of need") killed my best friend. And it would have killed me too (could at any minute in fact). It just doesn't work that way in the real world, at least not for chronic substance abusers. (There were obviously many other causes for our addictions and Richard's death besides the ideas contained in Diary of a Drug Fiend. But one best not ignore the power of an idea, even when other life issues are involved.)
I will never "blame" Crowley for Gurney's death. That would be a real insult to both of them. If Gurney was foolish enough to allow his illness to ignore the probability that Crowley was addicted when he wrote Diary of a Drug Fiend, that was his problem. And Aiwaz knows, I'd be the last person to blame Crowley, either for being addicted or for writing the book. I know how it is to be strung out, and I also know that what he concocted therein as the "cure" is every junky's dream. "Lord, just let me be able to enjoy this shit today and be free of it tomorrow."
I, on the other hand, have joined the "other" A. A. , Alcoholics Anonymous. And I've been drug and alcohol free for nearly six months. I wouldn't touch a drug or a drop of alcohol with a ten foot pole. And as long as I maintain that attitude, I will remain alive and well, productive and happy, sober and sane. And why? Because for an alcoholic and drug addict, that is the only cure. Gurney was both, I am both, and Crowley was at least a drug addict, if not alcoholic. He couldn't, in my opinion, "take it or leave it" any better than I or anyone else suffering from the problem of chronic substance abuse.
