I read a news story the other day about how Jacksonville is in a drug epidemic. It seems heroin is the drug of choice for people in our area. Over 500 people overdosed and died last year in Duval County, Florida.
It is estimated that 208 Million people
consume illegal drugs.
Why would people turn to drugs? In most cases, it’s because they don’t feel loved. They look for something to give them the feeling of belonging. To fill that empty pit of hopelessness they have inside.
Usually, someone starts using drugs with friends as a teen because of peer pressure. Before they knew it, they were hooked. And those who come in contact with these people see drug abusers as weak and don’t understand why they don’t just stop using drugs.
Our society has forgotten how to show love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says that Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Society doesn’t understand why these people take drugs to begin with. Unfortunately, too many children are being raised by parents who find it easier to be a friend than a disciplinarian. Some of the kids were planted in front of a television or computer while their parents went off and did their own thing. Some even had parents who were addicted. When these children grew older, they didn’t know how to connect with others, so they turned to something, anything that they felt would help them feel connected to society.
An estimated 7 million kids between 5 and 14
are left home alone regularly.
The sad part is, once they are addicted, society wants nothing to do with them.
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…addiction is not about the pleasurable effects of substances, it’s about the user’s inability to connect in healthy ways with other human beings. In other words, addiction is not a substance disorder, it’s a social disorder. – Robert Weiss, LCSW, in his article “The Opposite of Addiction is Connection”[i]
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This country has a faction of people who would rather have drugs run rampant than have these same people believe in Jesus. Yet, the more we take God from this country, the higher the drug use.
Maybe I’m the only one who sees the connection.
I think we are a society of lost souls and are too politically correct to admit it. But God is love, pure and simple. He is the one thing we can connect with to keep from feeling alone. I see this epidemic only getting worse.
Atheists sue to take down God’s words, the cross, anything having to do with Jesus from public buildings. They say Jesus Freaks are just addicted to a religion, and God doesn’t really exist. I ask you non-believers, would you rather replace Him with heroin. It does seem to be the addiction of choice at the moment.
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