The War on Drugs
THE war on drugs is being waged on a national, international, and political level. But its severest battles are fought closer to home, in the hearts and minds of those individuals struggling to overcome drug addiction and abuse. A successful war on drugs will require such grass-roots efforts, for individual victories are preliminary to national or global ones. Victory can be gained as victims of drug abuse find that there is a better place to turn than to drugs to deal with the problems they face. For some individuals, when problems in life seem too much to bear, taking drugs appears to them to be their only chance for escape. But this temporary and destructive ``escape'' is not the only option. The underlying problems demand deeper solutions than mere escape -- and they can be dealt with, and healed, by turning to God for help.
When something is lacking in our life, either physically or emotionally, God can fill that seeming void with something more wonderful than any chemical could ever hope to promise. His love does not merely gloss over the real problem or act as a temporary high that leaves us as low, or lower, than before. He has a way of removing the source of torment permanently, replacing it with hope, promise, and health. This healing transformation can come when we sincerely turn to God for help, when we pray and listen for His guidance and are willing to be regenerated by our obedience to Him.
Christ Jesus relied upon spiritual power alone to heal. And he promised that anyone who faithfully followed him could also rely on God's divine power to heal. He said, ``He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.''1
Christ is more than a synonym for Jesus. It is the spiritual force of God that gave Jesus his power to overcome evil. No material drug can possibly act as a substitute for Christ, Truth, which reveals to us our God-given freedom from evil.
Freedom from drug dependency can be found when we come to have more faith in the healing power of God, Spirit, than we do in narcotics. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, ``The good that a poisonous drug seems to do is evil, for it robs man of reliance on God, omnipotent Mind, and according to belief, poisons the human system.''2 As we gain faith in God -- and lose faith in drugs -- we will find that we are able to turn away from them and be free from their ill effects.
Few could disagree that the most effective way to win the drug war is to eliminate the demand for drugs. As worthy of pursuit as this end is, it is not going to be reached overnight. But as we share with our fellowman the understanding that there is a better way to go than taking drugs, we can make progress toward diminishing the demand.
God has already given us what we need to win the drug war -- Christ. Christ, Truth, gives us new opportunities to help those who really need help. These individuals can respond to Christ's love and discover for themselves that there truly is a practical alternative to taking drugs.
1John 14:12. 2Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 169-170.
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