BiblicalInsights.net

In 2011, there were 1.765 deaths due to drug overdoses in Ohio.  An Ohioan died every five hours from a drug overdose in the same year.  From 1997 to 2010, the average number of painkillers such as Oxycontin prescribed per Ohioan jumped from seven to sixty-seven.  Heroin involved deaths are continuing to rise from 16 percent (233) in 2008 to a high of 24.1 percent (426) of all drug overdose fatalities in 2011.  Since 1999, drug overdose deaths have leaped by 440 percent in Ohio.  For the fourth straight year, unintentional drug overdoses continue to be the leading cause of injury-related death in the Buckeye State, topping traffic crashes, suicides, and falls. (All statistics from the Columbus Dispatch, April 27, 2013, A1 A8; “Ohioans overdosing on painkillers, heroin” by Alan Johnson).
In view of the rising number of drug users and addicts and the rise in deaths due to drug abuse, each person should become knowledgeable of the signs of drug abuse.  In an article entitled, 20 Secret Signs of Addiction, Melanie Haiken gives a list of things to look for if you suspect drug abuse. (Yahoo Health, Mar. 14, 2011).
1.  Quantity Control.  Over time, a higher tolerance to alcohol or drugs leads people with addiction problems to increase the quantity and frequency of their substance of choice without showing signs of loss of control.
2.  Hide and Seek Around the House.  Pills or bottles of alcohol may turn up in unexpected places.  Pills are generally kept in a medicine cabinet.  But, what if you find a bottle of pills in the cookie jar?
3.  The disappearing act.  Missing jewelry?  Money? Cameras?  Selling items to raise money for drugs is common among abusers.
4.  A Head Start.  Drinking before going out with friends to drink.  Then, you attempt to give the appearance of drinking the same amount as friends.
5.  Tricks and Manipulation.  Hiding an addiction leads to constant subterfuge.  The addict becomes adept at lying.  Are you having trouble believing your spouse when he/she tells you where they have been and what they have been doing?
6.  The Money Magnet.  Drugs are expensive.  Bar tabs are too!  Are you having financial problems?  Problems paying the rent? Utilities?
7.  The Clear Choice.  Vodka is the drink of choice by alcoholics because it is clear and looks like water.  Vodka can also be mixed with other drinks (iced tea for example) and be disguised.
8.  Missing in Action.  Repeated failure to show up at a birthday party, graduation, or some other important family event is a sign of addiction. An addict becomes unreliable and secretive.
9.  A Narrower World.  As addiction takes hold, it tends to block out other interests and activities that were important.  Lost interest in hobbies or sporting events and even church attendance and functions.
10.  Magic Bottles.  A bottle that never seems to get empty may be a sign of addiction.  Addicts hide bottles of alcohol in strange places (in the water tank in the back of the commode).
11.  Can I Try The Diet You’re On?  Crystal meth, cocaine and other “uppers” stimulate energy to the point that people feel they can go without eating.  A side effect of this is weight loss.  Do you know someone who is losing weight but is not on a diet?
12.  Squeaky Clean.  Constant use of gum or breath mints to cover up the smell of alcohol is a sign of addiction.
13.  The Bathroom game.  Prescription drugs are commonly found in the bathroom medicine cabinet.  When visiting the home of others, addicts will raid the medicine cabinet and take pills.
14.  Mood Management.  Many family members describe the emotional experience of living with an alcoholic or addict as a roller coaster ride.  Unstable moods, and unpredictable emotions are exhibited by addicts.
15.  Sleeping Sickness?  Alcohol and many types of drugs are sedatives or “downers.” They make you sleep and sleep heavily.   Have trouble holding down a job?  Are you sleeping in the day time and at night?
16.  Pain That Never Ends.  Back pain is one of the most common excuses for requests for more and more pain medication.  Do you know someone who is regularly changing doctors in order to get different types of narcotics?
17.  Sickness Without a Cause.  Addicts are often ill.  They have chronic physical problems.  They have low energy, fatigue, and depression.
18.  Paranoia and Panic Attacks.  Attacks of paranoia are often associated with addiction.  Addicts can develop social anxieties, fear of public places, and avoidance of public gatherings.  Isolation results.
19.  Storyteller.  Addicts become adept at telling stories to others to gain sympathy.  They lie to family members, bosses, doctors, the police and even the minister.  Some of these stories are difficult to verify.
20.  The Blame Game.  Denial produces blame.  The addict blames others for his/her problems.  Guilt-tripping is a common tactic.  The addict attempts to shift responsibility away from himself to others for all of the problems encountered.  The home often becomes a war-zone.  Hostility and violence are common.  Peace is gone.  How many times have the police been called to your home?
In the next blog, we will look at what you can do if a person you love is abusing drugs.

A recent letter to the editor of the Columbus Dispatch touched on a word missing from our every day vocabulary.  Can you guess what it is?  The title of the letter was, “‘Sin’ disappeared from lexicon long ago.”  The letter pointed out that the high priests of journalism have “outlawed” the word “sin” from the common vernacular.  This prompts the question, “why?”
I would like to offer two reasons.   One reason lies in the psychological coping mechanism we call “denial.”  Denial is a psychological defense where we will not face reality, instead, we deny reality so that we will not have to deal with it or the pain that it brings.  Another reason is redefinition of truth.  When we define truth subjectively rather than objectively, everything is permissible.  The ideology called postmodernism does this.  If everything is permissible, then sin vanishes.
The Problem.
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”  Rom. 3:23.  And, “the wages of sin is death…” Rom. 6:23.  Sin is a universal experience of mankind.  The consequences are serious both now and for eternity.  While some may deny the reality of sin, and others have redefined truth to make it disappear, the reality of sin keeps confronting us.  One way to force a realization of this is to look at the numbers. The price we pay for sin is enormous. Consider the following:
Internet Gambling.  The estimated social cost of internet gambling is 25 billion dollars per year. (Does God Exist, Jan./Feb. 2013, p. 27).
Alcoholism.  The cost of alcoholism to the American taxpayer is 43 billion dollars per year.  (Does God Exist, Jan./Feb. 2013, p. 29).
50% of all fatal accidents involve alcohol.
80% of all fire deaths.
65% of all drowning deaths.
40% of all assaults.
77% of falls.
55% of arrests.
Unwanted Pregnancies.  The annual cost to the American taxpayer of unwanted pregnancies is $11 billion dollars.  (Guttmacher Institute, Huffington Post.com, 5/24/2011).  Two-thirds of unintended pregnancies–a million births-are publicly funded by Medicaid and other government programs.
Addicted gamblers.  The costs associated with addicted gamblers in the U.S. is between 32.4 billion and 53.8 billion dollars a year.  This amounts to about $274 per adult annually.  Gambling in America, Baylor University professor Earl Grinols from dailyfinance.com., July 22, 2011).
Drug Abuse.  Substance abuse and addiction breaks down as follows:
Illegal drugs–118 billion a year.
Alcohol:  185 billion a year.
Tobacco:   193 billion a year.
Totals:   559 billion a year  (Drugabuse.gov  National Institute on Drug Abuse, 4/9/2013.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases.  Sexually transmitted diseases for Ages 15-24 costs $6.5 billion a year in 2000 dollars.  Among all age groups the cost go up to between $9.3 billion to $15.5 billion (includes HIV).  Guttmacher.org. Guttmacher Institute (Jan./Feb. 2004, vol. 36, no. 1).
Crime.  The annual cost of crime in the U.S. is $1.7 trillion dollars.  David A. Anderson, “The Aggregate Burden of Crime.”  This amounts to $4,118.00 per person in the U.S.  (David Anderson is professor of economics at Davidson College, North of Charlotte, North Carolina).
Divorce.  Family fragmentation costs:  $112 billion a year.  Benjamin Scafidi, J. Whitney Bunting School of Business at Georgia College and State University.  Ph.D. in economics from the University of Virginia.  “The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing” c. 2008 www.americavalues.org.
Pornography.  The financial costs to businesses productivity in the U.S. alone is estimated at $16.9 billion annually.  The human toll is far greater.  Webroot.com “Internet Pornography by the numbers; a significant threat to society.”  Consider some stats:
Every second 28,258 users are watching pornography on the internet.
Every second $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography on the internet.
40 million people in America regularly visit porn sites.
35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography.
One-third of porn viewers are women.
2.5 billion emails sent or received every day contain porn.
Abortion.  The normal cost of a first-trimester abortion runs between $350 to $550.  Guttmacher Institute www.guttmacher.org.  “In 2009, the median charge for a surgical abortion at 10 weeks gestation was $470.  The median cost of  a medication abortion was $490.  In 2008, 20% of all abortions were covered by Medicaid (State funded).  In 2008, there were about 1.2 million abortions performed in the U.S.  Total costs:  $112 million dollars.
The total costs exceed 2 trillion, 35 billion dollars!  And, these are just the financial costs.  May we add the emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual costs?
How can we deny the reality of sin when it is costing so much?  Why not let God define sin?  Sin is a transgression of the law of God (I John 3:4).
The Solution.
The first step is to face reality.  We must admit to ourselves and to God, “I am a sinner.”  This confession will produce guilt and shame if prompted by godly sorrow and move us to repent and turn to God.
The second step is to pursue the pathway of redemption and righteousness.  We must say, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.”  We must seek forgiveness from God who is the only source that has the power to remit sins.  We must yield to God’s Will for our lives.  We must repent.  Repentance involves a turning away from sin.  It involves a cessation of the practice of sin.  We must be baptized to “wash away our sins” (Acts 22:16; Acts 2:38).  And, we must pursue righteousness.  The way of righteousness is the strait and narrow way that leads to eternal life (Matt. 7:13-14).  The problem is sin.   The solution is “Christ in you and you in Christ.”