OPIATE ADDICTION: CLOSEST TO THE SOUL!
I sat straight up in my chair, searched my purse for paper and pen and wrote down those striking words during a lecture by Dr. Kenison Roy, a leading addiction physician here in New Orleans. "What do you mean by that?" I asked. "Addiction to opiates is the most important thing in the world to the addict," he replied thoughtfully. "Nothing else matters."
I knew he was right, I understood what he was saying, but I had never heard it put so poignantly, “closest to the soul.” I closed
my eyes and really tried to absorb the power and the pain in those words. It was pretty unsettling.
Our soul is created by God, willed by God, not our parents. Though we are physically made of matter in the image of God, our soul gives us our greatest value, animating our body, so that we are living, breathing human beings with a spiritual nature. Unlike the body, our soul never dies…It is truly immortal!
Addiction to opiates like heroin and Oxycontin poisons human beings; destroying our physical nature; hi-jacking the brain, triggering drug dependence and then changing our behavior and who God intended us to be. Opiate addiction suffocates the light in our soul which severs the soul’s intimate connection with the will of God for our lives. Our free will is literally held hostage.
The human person-the addict-is driven by their animal nature and their survival instincts and the uncontrollable urge to continue using the very drugs that are killing them. It is as though the addict has been reduced to a zombie-like state with one goal-taking more drugs! “Nothing else matters!”
The consequences of addiction and the shame produced by this dark human bondage seeps into every level of society, cutting across all economic, social, and religious divides. Loved ones caught in the insidious path of destruction are especially vulnerable because addiction ravages and distorts the sacred intent of family life. It’s painful.
I experienced the soul binding pain when two of my sons hovered at death’s door. Opiates changed them and yes-nothing else mattered. Today, following a long hard fought battle, they are in recovery, and healing-both physically and spiritually. Their transformation from the darkness into the light is nothing short of miraculous!
That’s the good news-there is absolute hope, there is help and there is healing. A Catholic priest once told me that addiction is the 21st century sin. If that’s the case, it is imperative that we fully understand this predator because this is one sickness-one sin-that is absolutely preventable!
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