Basic HTML Version
adequately address. Yet until they
do, the drug problem cannot be
solved.
Gettlng at the Root
of t he Problem
Numerous persons involved with
drug and alcohol preventionjreha–
bilitation programs recognize that
the root of the whole problem is
spiritual in nature. At the same
time many of these individuals
admit that they must overlook the
root cause and limit themselves to
trying to deal with the effects
instead. Why?
Society as a whole has not
wanted to face up to its spiritual
responsibilities. It has been this
way from the beginning. When
God c r eated the first huma n
.beings, he gave them his great spir–
itual laws. In addition, he offered
them his Spirit-his inner charac–
ter and streng th. These gifts were
guaranteed to produce happy, full ,
abundant lives.
A society regulated by God's
laws would be free of drug and
alcoho l abuse problems. There
wouldn't be broken marri ages,
upset fami ly si tuations and alien–
ated ch ildren. People would be
taught why they are alive. They
EPIDEMIC
(Continued from page 6)
Average Citizen tryi ng to cope
with the frustrations and problems
of living by reaching for bottles of
alcohol, or gulping loads of pep
pills, sedatives, tranquilizers or bar–
biturates. Millions don't look on
cigarette smoking as a classical
example of d rug addict ion (for
most smokers). But it is!
lt
is a
culturally accepted addiction to
nicotine (and possibly other tobac–
co substances) as surely as a junkie
is addicted to heroin or sorne other
enslaving drug.
Many adults-particularly in the
family unit- refused to see how
their
example in coping with prob–
l ~ms,
by smoking and using alcohol
and d rugs, conditioned the younger
generation to experiment with pot
and other potent licit and illici t
drugs.
Young people's faith in drugs to
May 1982
would understand what t he awe–
inspiring goal of life is. There
would be no need to get high on
st imulants. No one would have to
t ry filli ng a gaping void, over the
meaning of life, wi th psychoactive
chemicals . That void would be
filled instead with God's Spirit–
his vitality and inspiration.
But the first human beings had
to choose whether this was what
they were willing to do. "No," they
said in so many words, "we want to
try fi nding happiness our
own
way.
We don't want God telling us what
to do through his revealed laws."
So the first human family
rejected God and his precepts. Ever
since, mankind has been going his
own bungling, ineffective, doomed–
to-failure way. And God is permit–
ting it until humanity gets sick and
t ired of it all.
Li sten to the description of
society as it is today and how it
carne about.
It
is briefty summar–
ized in Romans 1:28-32: "And
since they [human beings] did not
see fit to acknowledge God [they
rejected him!] , God gave them up
to a base mind ["a mind void of
judgment"-KJV, margin] and to
improper conduct" (RSV). This
" improper conduct' ' includes drug
deal with problems and needs in life
was preconditioned by widescale
parental and cultural practices. In a
drug inundated environment, peer
pressure adds tremendous ímpetus
to experiment further.
Today 's international drug
smugg ling networks with their
army of illicit drug pushers could
not exist except that millions of cit–
izens were preconditioned by cul–
ture to seek in drugs escape, thri lls
and solut ions to every problem.
Mu l t i-drug Addlctlon
Now health officials are facing a
relatively new and dangerous drug
problem: multi-drug addiction.
Doctors are seeing more and more
patients, and at youn ger ages,
addicted to both alcohol and drugs
or combinations of d rugs. Millions
of individuals at ever younger ages
are playing this dangerous game of
chemical roulette with their minds
and bodies.
and alcohol abuse and al! the other
evils plaguing humanity.
Read the next three verses in the
Bible and see how many of the evils
listed there- including homosex–
uality-are part and parcel of the
human condition today.
The only real and definitive solu–
tion to drug and alcohol misuse–
and to all the other problems of this
world- is to reject the way man–
kind has been going. And to turn to
the Eterna! God and bis revealed
laws. This is true for the individu–
al-as well as the national-good.
Merely info rming the public
about the dangers of drugs and alco–
hol abuse, and seeking tougher pen–
alties for pushers, is not the ul timate
answer. There has to be a change of
the heart- a change of human
nature, a change of mind that would
void the craving to
~:~se
stimulants
and hallucinogens in the fi rst place.
A complete d iscussion of this subject
is contained in our free booklet
Nev–
er Before Understood-Why Hu–
manity Cannot So/ve Its Evils.
Be
sure to send for your copy.
· And why not, while you are writ–
ing for it, ask for the free booklet
Why Were You Born?
It makes plain
the purpose of life-the reason you
were born on this earth! o
The death and the harm from
alcohol and d rug abuse are not
occurring only in the dropouts of
society as was common a genera–
tion ago. They are occurring on a
massive scale in the
mainstream
of
society! Uppers and downers are
now staples in the diet of many try–
ing to cope with life's problems.
Sorne try to shake abuse of alco–
hol by turni ng to drugs. Others try
to shake abuse of d rugs by turning
to alcohol. Both are still trapped in
a drug-dependent syndrome and
are failing to deal with the causes
of their problems.
One American doctor said,
" If
the public knew the real danger of
the chemicals they ingested, they'd
probably never take another pill in
their
Ji
ves."
You , Too, Can Flnd
a Better Sol utlon
Wouldn't it be so much better if, as
much as possible, you could cope
41