What comes to mind when you hear the word addict? 

Could you possibly be one? 

What do you know about addiction, and its causes? 

I pray you have never had to research these questions or give them
much thought. As a father who lost a son to an addiction, may I share with you that which I have
learned?

Dopamine is known as the “feel-good” hormone. Your body makes it, and your nervous system uses
it. Your brain uses dopamine to give you the sense of pleasure, your “reward system” so to say, which
gives you the feeling that you’re on top of the world and motivates you to want to repeat the
experience.

An addiction is an activity, substance, or thing a person uses to avoid dealing with some of the harsh
realities of life. Seventy percent of Americans have some kind of addiction. Who, what, or where do you
run to when you need to feel better about yourself? Your phone perhaps? Take a quick glance around
you and see how many faces are buried in their screens. Did you know this activity releases dopamine?
Speaking of faces, your social media “likes” and “comments” releases dopamine and causes you to feel
the acceptance you are seeking from your peers. Some other common addictions may be shopping,
alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, pornography, marijuana, and even gossip. Some people are so absorbed in
other people’s lives and what they are doing that it is all they can talk about. They slander and malign
them so that they can feel better than “those people”

There are many reasons given why people find themselves stuck in the pattern of addiction. Genetics
or traits passed down from parents to children. Mental illness and isolating or withdrawing from
physical, social, spiritual, or emotional activities due to physical, sexual, or verbal abuse. Peer pressure
or seeking the acceptance of others may influence our beliefs of what is right or wrong. Traumatic
childhood experiences such as witnessing violence. Self-medicating to ease the pain of coping with
health issues like anxiety, depression, or stress, caused by many of the reasons just mentioned above.

In this day and time drug overdoses are not what we tend to think of when we hear about someone
dying. Most likely it is not because they took too much of a drug. A synthetic opioid has been being
added to drugs within the last couple of years. It is manufactured in China and being brought over the
Mexican border daily.

This is why so many more people are dying. Lab testing reveals that 3 out of 5 pills sold illegally have a
lethal dose of fentanyl in them. A lethal dose is the amount comparable to a piece of sea salt. Fentanyl is
50-100 times more potent than morphine. There are people dying who have not even become addicted
to drugs. One pill taken with a lethal dose of fentanyl in it can kill you within minutes.

There is a stigma attached to drug addiction but let us remember that these people are children of
God just like me and you. Has anyone woken up one day and said to themselves “I want to be addicted
to cigarettes, caffeine, video games, alcohol, pornography, or even food.” No, we have not, but some of
us are. The drug addict did not aspire to be addicted to drugs. At some point in all our lives we have
done things we shouldn’t have, and we just didn’t get caught.

Have you ever driven under the influence? Some get a DWI, and some don’t get caught. Have you ever
had unprotected sex as a teenager? Some get pregnant, and some don’t get caught. Have you ever lied
to someone? Some get away with the lie and some get caught. Maybe you’ve eaten fatty foods all your
life. Some have a heart attack, and some don’t get caught. The drug addict is no different than you or
me, they just got caught. We know nothing about the choices of these broken souls. We don’t know the
horrific storms they’ve survived, their circumstances, loss, demons, abuse, torture, or generational
curses.

I’d like to offer some food for thought and by food, I mean the BREAD of LIFE

Jesus healed the blind – disease

He forgave the thief – choice

He healed the leper – disease

He forgave the murderer – choice

He healed the woman with the blood disorder – disease

He forgave the world of all its sins – Thank God he made that choice. 

That’s who Jesus is. I believe that
when addicts die from overdose Jesus weeps just like He wept for Lazarus. These people were
someone’s child, sibling, spouse, mother, father. They were someone’s heart. Let us not forget that!
Let us remember that God’s grace does not discriminate. God saves the liars, the abused, the criminals,
the alcoholics, the prostitutes, the drug dealers, the drug addicts.
Everyone is a sinner save by God’s abundant grace!