Until the Light Shines, Recovery’s Impossible

If you went to buy a pumpkin pie and the only one for sale had a big piece missing, would you throw down your money and convince yourself you bought a whole pie? Since it is still a free country, I’ll let you decide the answer.
In the event you just arrived on a space ship from Jupiter, there is a heroin epidemic claiming lives in Cape May County. There are many people involved in this plague crying for help and answers, not only those who take the killer drug, but their families, friends and neighbors. This is a growing problem that can no longer be left to law enforcement or physicians to cure. If we, the residents of Cape May County, have the smallest concern for the future, for children in elementary and middle school and yes, the high schools, we need to immediately take corrective action. We must make it happen or else be content to watch mournful processions carry our young to their graves. This is a life-and-death situation more serious than many realize. We have bought a pie with a vital slice missing.
I attended the county’s second seminar “Giving a Voice to Addiction” on Oct. 10. There were about 90 in attendance. The stormy night took its toll with street flooding and torrents of rain, otherwise I am convinced the evening would have duplicated the one in September when there was standing room only.
So many of those who spoke, addicts, their parents and friends, cried out for the need of a local rehabilitation center where those addicted could go for treatment. There is no such local center, they said, and because of that, many are left to suffer alone, wanting to stop but lacking the aid.
There was a mention of something that is vital to any addict’s rehabilitation that night. The mention was of two clerics who reach to those with addiction problems. Ah, as President Reagan plainly stated, “There you go again!”
Any recovering addict, whether from drugs or alcohol, will honestly tell those who want to know what caused their change. Was there a crystalline moment that made them quit? To a person, everyone I have met will admit, without being ashamed, there was a spiritual moment when life changed.
Religion is the key to recovery, yet government programs cannot and will not address that vital aspect of recovery and rehabilitation. It does not matter what one calls the higher power, but anyone who works with recovering addicts will know and underscore the importance of such an acknowledgment.
The human body is a wonderful, resilient machine, yet it has limits. Drugs, legal or otherwise, can stretch the multitude of body parts to their limit. We are amazing but not infallible.
When the body and mind are fully stretched, and reach their breaking point, there is a spiritual light that flicks on, one that no preacher, priest, rabbi or other cleric can instill. It is a message from God alone that says, in effect, “You cannot go on any longer on your own. We must do this together.” Once the person accepts that call, only then can rehabilitation truly begin.
Government programs are forbidden from acknowledging that higher power so necessary to cure an addict. Chemicals alone, potent as they may be in quenching a desire for heroin or other opiates, can never fully function until the person, and that person alone, reaches a point and honestly desires to shun the old and embrace the new.
As a result of this county’s recent acknowledgement of a heroin epidemic, can we expect the body of clergypersons to open their collective arms to hurting addicts in need of restoration? Why must we ask that question? Could it be that religion is ignored in government programs, so many believe religion is unimportant?
Clerics are the ones who hold and can offer the most needed factor in recovery and rehabilitation: hope and linking to divine power. When the addict is prepared to begin recovery, those clerics can help fill what is lacking in the addict’s life. Some may be unaccustomed to working with addicts. Others may believe it not part of their calling (not a job, since the call of a religious vocation is not an ordinary occupation). They are the ones from whom the hurting souls seek true understanding and acceptance. If they are in need of extra training to oversee that part of their calling, every house of worship ought to see to it that such skill training is undertaken.
We are talking a life-or-death matter, so it’s time to “take off the gloves” and be frank with each other. Political correctness cures nothing for an addict. Only one’s belief in God or a similarly named divine power holds the golden key to recovery. Until Cape May County comes to grasp that fact we can see what the future holds for the next generation. It is not a legacy of which to be proud.