We’re seeing a significant increase in substance abuse these days. There are the usual suspects — marijuana, pain pills and sedatives. But heroin is up, and so, sadly, is the use of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Physicians are routinely prescribing the antidote, naloxone (Narcan), to those who overdose and are discharged home. While the reasons for this have to do with ease of manufacture and transport, another important issue is simply, “Why are people using?”
Time and experience, and hopefully some sanctification, have softened my view. I’m coming to understand a couple of things.
First, I heard a speaker say this, and it moved me: “Nobody sets out to be an addict.” This is true of the teen hooked on heroin, the neighbor who is an alcoholic, and the grandmother who can’t function without her Valium. People use for a reason — and from what I’ve seen, it’s often related to underlying stress, trauma and deep inner pain.
Second, as in surgery, the anesthesia takes away the pain for a while. It doesn’t solve the problem. We have a society that is awash in those lost in their sin and guilt. We are surrounded by those who have been emotionally, physically and sexually abused. We have young people without connection who graduated from the foster system. We have children who are functionally orphaned because of their parents’ addictions. And we have some who are trying to cover over the deep hurt they felt in hard, judgmental churches from people who weaponized God’s Word but had never been transformed by grace.
A podcast advised me to take a different approach to my opioid abusing patients. It suggested I ask them if they have Narcan, if they change needles, and if they clean their skin before injecting. I had occasion to have this conversation after we pulled a young woman from a car. She had injected and was not breathing.
After we resuscitated her, we had a wonderful talk. She was embarrassed and sorry, and just told me a bit of how hard life had been lately. She said nobody had talked to her that way, and she took information on addiction resources.
As we scratch our heads about addiction, it would perhaps help if we, the body of Christ, would simply offer Christ. And do it with loving concern and with open arms. The pain is real. People just need a better way to treat it. I think we can help with that.