More On Adictive Substances

There are some more thoughts worth adding to the last post that I want to add here.

The first one is how simple and innocent addictions get started. There are what are called Gateway Drugs but the problem has much earlier beginnings. I know that many if not most that read this will either laugh at what I say or they will be offended and want to criticize what will be said here but this is based on both science and my own experience.

One of the very first substances that could be considered a gateway drug is not just legal but hardly anyone recognizes that it is additive. But those that are honest with themselves and have had this experience will know what I'm talking about. The substance is in so many foods it boggles the mind. You can even find it in salt and frozen vegetables. It is given many names to disguise its presence. It is responsible for depression, road rage, PMS and even verbal and physical abuse of other people. It is often used in combination with other addictive substances to help the user choke down the offensive tasting substances that are also addicting. What is it? It is sugar. ---Yes sugar.

Like other addictive substances it goes by a wide variety of names. No one wants sugar listed on the label of the food they buy so companies change the name to things like: lactose, sucrose, fructose, evaporated cane juice, concentrated fruit juice, brown sugar, molasses, corn syrup, rice syrup and about a dozen other names. Another way that companies hide the amount of sugar used in their recipes is that they will split the terms used for sugar. They will put cane juice as one ingredient, sucrose as another ingredient, brown sugar as another and on and on.... If they were honest they would say that sugar makes up the large part of the list---50 percent or more in some cases. But by breaking it up they can make it appear that sugar is a very small part of the list.

Having been a sugar addict I speak from experience that it is highly addicting. If anyone doubts it just try giving it up for a month. If you find yourself impatient with people, angry at inanimate objects, surmising evil of people that have done you no harm, tired and weak most of the time then take what I'm saying seriously. If you find it impossible to stop after eating just a little of something that has sugar in it and you end up eating more than you intended to, or eat until you are very uncomfortable or out of money then you are addicted.

Well, what is wrong with being addicted to sugar? It weakens the immune system, it makes us difficult to live with and it leads to both obesity and other stronger addictions. It is the most common gateway substance.

What does it lead into? Well, the next drug of choice is all the caffeine containing substances. That includes coffee, tea (yes, tea---no matter what color but not including "caffeine free" herbal tea), cola drinks (name your favorite fizzy drink), chocolate and all those substances. So what is wrong with caffeine? Plenty more than you ever imagined. It raises the blood pressure and heart rate, short circuits the brain and nerves, depletes the body of calcium from the bones, increases the risk of cancer (the more you drink the higher the risk), causes digestive problems including heartburn, increases the risk of heart disease, causes psychological problems including anxiety and much more serious mental problems. It encourages tumor development and causes birth defects in children, including cleft palette. So why is it allowed? Because the FDA members are all drinking it while they make decisions. Addicts rarely see the problem and are willing to take action against their substance of choice. Two books I recommend reading are: The Truth About Caffeine by Marina Kushner and Caffeine Blues by Stephen Cherniske MS

Like sugar caffeine is a gateway substance that takes the user to the next level. The next level is still within the laws but is deadly. It kills hundreds of people every year. It affects everyone around the user. It is nicotine. It is responsible for hundreds of deaths every year. It kills not just users but the bystanders that have to smell it. It also affects the children of smokers. The breath of a smoking parent is toxic to an infant according to recent research and a little lady from the 1800s that was shown these things by God. Caffeine is a stimulant and nicotine is a depressant and the caffeine user finds relief from their jittery nerves in smoking a cigarette with the coffee. These two are so closely linked that the most successful stop smoking plans available will tell you that in order to succeed in giving up cigarettes the caffeine has to go too. Cigarettes increase the risk of every form of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke and a host of other diseases.

People that smoke and drink coffee are much more likely to begin the use of stronger substances because soon they need something stronger to get the euphoria that they desire. So what is next? Yes, alcohol. Just picture the bar scene----a smoke filled room (or so it used to be until waitresses demanded better working conditions) with some alcoholic substance in the hand of the smoker. Oh, they say, "Just one drink." But the body develops a tolerance for the poison and soon they "can hold their liquor"---aka. "survive the poisoning". Well, what is the harm? As long as they are doing it in their own home. Well, they don't just affect themselves. No drinker is an island. Children are affected by the parent that drinks. The smallest child has an understanding of what is normal and I have seen the effects of alcohol on a child. My husband and I tried to help a man that claimed to want to give up the alcohol. He was a single parent with two sons. The oldest one was about 6 and his brother was about 3 or 4. We went to see this man to help him get to an AA meeting and I was going to take care of his sons. When we arrived the father had a glass of "water" that didn't smell right. While the father and my husband were gone to the meeting I discovered that these two boys were so traumatized by just being around their father that the youngest would have a screaming fit if he was asked to brush his teeth. He was so accustomed to his father being out of his head from the alcohol that he didn't expect the person taking care of him to act rationally. His older brother explained the problem and told me that the best I could do is just forget the tooth brushing--which we did. It broke my heart to see these sweet children so mentally disturbed by their fathers alcohol abuse. They had no consistent human that they could rely on. They lived in expectation that their father would become an insane, stumbling, unpredictable giant that they could not control or avoid. I will never forget that night wishing I could take these dear children home with me away from this insane inebriate who thought he had everything under control. And that is what everyone that drinks thinks---I can handle it. No drunk ever says, "I'm out of control. I better not drink"

Another person we tried to help was the son of a very dear old woman. He had moved in with his mom after the death of his father so that he could take care of her. But he brought with him the bottle that he was never weaned off of. He would tell us a hundred times how he was going to give it up. He would tell us a hundred times how he "poured it down the drain" as he would stagger around and slur his words. Everyone in the room knew he was drunk but he thought he hid it. The only person that it was hidden from was himself. His mother was in very frail condition in her 80s and in need of help with meals, yard care and general things but because of his alcohol problem he was the one that was being cared for---not her. At one point we got a call that she needed help. We went to check on them and here is the story we learned about when we arrived. He had gotten so drunk that he couldn't stand up anymore and fell in the doorway from the kitchen into the rest of the house. His mother had been eating at the table in the kitchen and with her unconscious son in her way she was unable to leave the kitchen. Before we arrived he had messed in his pants and his mother helped clean him up. But he didn't have a problem! No, he could handle his liquor. Excuse me? Everyone that drinks thinks this very same thing. NO THEY CAN'T HANDLE IT---it has control of them.

Both of these men had so destroyed their brains that they could not see the facts for what they were. They were abusing their families and both of them had lost their ability to be a parent or a son.

People that drink alcohol are responsible for what they do while drunk! Oh, how can you say such a thing? They didn't know what they were doing!! Let's not judge them to harshly! They were under the influence and can't be held responsible! Right?! WRONG---VERY WRONG. They took it upon themselves to drink a substance that would render them incapable of making right decisions. They are responsible because they chose to drink and make themselves stupid. They should be held responsible for everything they do while under the influence.

Oh, but life is just so hard on them---they need something to help them deal with their problems. RIGHT? AGAIN, VERY WRONG---alcohol never solves problems. When they sober up the original problem is still there and more problems have been added to the situation. ALCOHOL is in most cases the only problem. If it were not consumed about 99 percent of the "problems" of the alcoholic would be gone. It only creates problems.

Alcohol destroys the frontal lobe of the brain---and all the brain for that matter. It dehydrates the body and destroys the liver. It is a slow poison and causes a slow and painful death. By the way, the mixture of sugar and milk (as in puddings, ice cream and etc) cause alcohol to form in the digestive tract and a person that consumes these substances can die of the same diseases as an alcoholic. I have seen it. A man I know that never touched alcohol in his life died of cirrhosis of  the liver---as if he had been an alcoholic.

Alcohol like the above mentioned substances is another gateway substance which leads to the use of stronger substances. The next on the list is marijuana and after that comes cocaine and heroin. As the person takes this downhill spiral they begin losing weight, their teeth, larger portions of the brain and other organs. If you have ever seen an addict you know a little of what I'm talking about. They get to where they weigh maybe 90-100 lbs and are missing most of their teeth. That same effect that causes the teeth to fall out cause every other organ of the body to be eaten. You can see it on body scans like CAT and MRI scans---holes where body tissue should be. It might be in the brain, liver, heart, lungs, muscles, skin or other organs. Unless they stop the drug and allow the body to heal it will kill them.

The idea that drug use----or any of these gateway substances can be done in the home without it affecting anyone is a serious fallacy. It is a lie that all users would like to believe but every one of them affects the family, friends and society. No man or woman is an island.

If you dear reader use these things, or if you have a family member that is using---please pray and ask the Lord to help you. If a family member is using these things take the subject very serious and pray every day that the Lord will bring the person out of the mess they are in. Pray also that you will have wisdom to know what to do. Don't help them by giving them money---they will just use it to buy the substance. The Lord may use their poverty to help them out of the addiction. I would be happy to pray with you so let me know if you would like help. God wants His children to have freedom.