by Rick Mitchell, M.D.
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. – 1 Corinthians 10:13
It has been over two months now since the death of Prince, his brilliant life cut short by an accidental narcotic overdose. On any day you can look in the newspapers and find a story of another life ended by narcotics. If you’re anything like me, your first inclination is to sigh and shake your head sadly. “Why didn’t they didn’t stop sooner?” “Why did they start in the first place?”
Doctors see people who are driven by the desire to feel the rush that narcotics can provide. They tell us lies – “I dropped the last prescription into the toilet by accident”. People who abuse narcotics can be very challenging to help, and many physicians marginalize them because of their own anger and fear.
People who struggle with addiction are also made to feel like monsters by society – “druggies”, “addicts” – we label them with these words. They are marginalized. They are thought of as weak, or morally reprehensible. We make them feel guilty, worthless, helpless, and hopeless. The search for drugs consumes them, and leads them sometimes to commit other acts like theft which only serve to reinforce society’s reproach.
In clinic, I try to center myself by remembering that no one woke up one morning and asked for this. “I think I’ll become addicted to drugs today” is a phrase which I’m pretty sure has never been uttered by anyone. So how does this happen?
It all starts with a first use. It could be an experimenting adolescent or someone trying to dull emotional pain. It could be someone recovering from a surgery who discovers that the pain medicine REALLY helps them to feel better. All abuse starts somewhere with that first use.
Then it grows. Some people want to feel that rush again or want to be rebels. Some people have the rush of the narcotic mixed up with the relief of their pain and convince themselves that it is ongoing pain they are treating and the pain med is needed. Some people justify it, because if it came from a doctor, it must be safe.
What does this have to do with us? Everything. Because reading this article right now might be someone who uses pain medicine regularly and is a bit worried that there might be more to their use than simple treatment of pain. We might know this person, see them on Sundays, share a table with them on Wednesday nights. We might see this person at Simpson Shelter. We might meet this person on a mission trip. It might be our spouse or our child. It might be us.
How do we recognize a problem? In others, we might see people missing obligations, putting themselves at risk, and withdrawing from people and activities they have cared about in the past. In ourselves, we look for using higher doses of medication than we were prescribed (even if we feel justified in doing so), or using it more often. We may find ourselves craving the drug, not the relief it brings. We might feel withdrawal symptoms like chills and sweatiness. We might try to quit, unsuccessfully.
And what can we do? We can be the “way out” Paul talks about in 1st Corinthians. We can ask people we see struggling if they are OK, and humbly listen to their answer. We can remove the stigma of prescription narcotic abuse and let people know we understand their addiction is not something they choose. We can extend our hands and leave them extended for as long as it takes to help someone get back up again. We can educate ourselves about the problem and how to help on websites like drugabuse.com, drugabuse.gov, narconon.org, ncadd.org, and samhsa.gov. We can pray for them, and love them. If it is us, we can take the brave first step by admitting there is a problem, and reach out for help.
In the US in 2014, there were an estimated 1.9 million people with a prescription drug abuse problem (168,000 of those were adolescents), and nearly 19,000 deaths from prescription drug overdoses. For every 200 people, 1 has a narcotic problem.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today 2 get through this thing called life…”. Prince knew what he was talking about. When we help others without judgment, we are truly doing God’s work.
God bless you all!
Rick