A Thought-provoking Comparison

In some ways, drunkenness and drug abuse are similar. A person who drinks to the point of intoxication may disgrace himself in the eyes of others. Alluding to his unstable, harmful and highly irresponsible actions, the Bible says: “Who has wounds for no reason? Who has dullness of eyes? Those staying a long time with the wine . . . Do not look at wine when it exhibits a red color, when it gives off its sparkle in the cup, when it goes with a slickness [when everything looks red to the drinker and the beverage slides down the throat easily]. At its end it bites just like a serpent, and it secretes poison just like a viper [for alcohol abuse can make one physically and mentally ill, and it can actually kill]. Your own eyes will see strange things [even hallucinations are possible], and your own heart will speak perverse things [as bad motives take control].”—Prov. 23:29-33.

Comparably, a person using narcotics becomes unstable. He is being harmed physically and mentally. Certainly, addiction to narcotics is defiling and therefore Scripturally improper. (2 Cor. 7:1) Moreover, the drug user is very likely to act irresponsibly, to experience hallucinations and to yield to bad motives. Such an individual can bring disgrace on himself. Hence, just as drunkenness is wrong in God’s eyes, so is the misuse of drugs.

What About the Mind?

Continued use of narcotics may impair one’s mental processes. At least while a person is under the direct influence of narcotics, his mind is affected, often to such an extent that he is unable to reason properly.

“Satan’s Atomic Bomb”?

◆ The new drug fad is PCP, called “Angel Dust” by users. But law enforcement and drug officials are calling it “Satan’s atomic bomb” and a “demonic new dimension” in drugs. People on the drug will “march into the muzzle of a policeman’s gun or a burning house or jump off a skyscraper believing they can fly,” says a Los Angeles narcotics squad officer. “It took eight officers to subdue a 14-year-old girl under the influence . . . normal-sized men in the throes of a PCP trip broke their steel handcuffs.” To the Point International tells a number of “horror stories”: A user, who was calm in a hospital for several hours, suddenly jumped up and bit off a girl’s nose; a mother dipped her baby in steaming water; a youth shot his parents as they watched TV; another tried to rape his own mother.