Very rarely does a week go by that I do not receive emails on my column. But what is rare is for a column to strike such a common cord that I get multiple requests for a follow-up column. Last week’s column on A Path To Victory Over Addiction resulted in me getting grateful emails from multiple states and also multiple suggestions and requests for a follow-up. Those requests generally landed in two categories. The first was from the medical community and the physiological perspective, the second was from hurting families and the support perspective.

On the medical side of things, a column from Harvard Health does an excellent job of simplifying a complex problem. “In nature, rewards usually come only with time and effort. Addictive drugs and behaviors provide a shortcut, flooding the brain with dopamine and other neurotransmitters. Our brains do not have an easy way to withstand the onslaught.

“Addictive drugs, for example, can release two to 10 times the amount of dopamine that natural rewards do, and they do it more quickly and more reliably. In a person who becomes addicted, brain receptors become overwhelmed. The brain responds by producing less dopamine or eliminating dopamine receptors—an adaptation similar to turning the volume down on a loudspeaker when noise becomes too loud.

“As a result of these adaptations, dopamine has less impact on the brain’s reward center. People who develop an addiction typically find that, in time, the desired substance no longer gives them as much pleasure. They have to take more of it to obtain the same dopamine “high” because their brains have adapted—an effect known as tolerance.

“At this point, compulsion takes over. The pleasure associated with an addictive drug or behavior subsides—and yet the memory of the desired effect and the need to recreate it (the wanting) persists. It’s as though the normal machinery of motivation is no longer functioning.

“The learning process mentioned earlier also comes into play. The hippocampus and the amygdala store information about environmental cues associated with the desired substance, so that it can be located again. These memories help create a conditioned response—intense craving—whenever the person encounters those environmental cues.

“Cravings contribute not only to addiction but to relapse after a hard-won sobriety. A person addicted to heroin may be in danger of relapse when he sees a hypodermic needle, for example, while another person might start to drink again after seeing a bottle of whiskey. Conditioned learning helps explain why people who develop an addiction risk relapse even after years of abstinence.” (https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/how-addiction-hijacks-the-brain.htm#:~:text=In%20a%20person%20who%20becomes,when%20noise%20becomes%20too%20loud.)

In layman’s terms, as one of my medical personnel at church put it, drug addiction “rewires the brain.” Once addiction has been set in, simply telling someone not to do drugs is a losing battle. And that is why, though a daily walk with the Lord plus long-term treatment/counseling plus regular accountability is not foolproof, it is also the very best option for any addict. “Just say no” is a great plan before one ever takes drugs, but it is woefully inadequate once they have because their brain has been radically altered.

And now, let’s deal with the support perspective. One of the letters I received was from a dear mother who lost an adult child to an overdose. Mind you, both the mother and father are born-again Christians, and they raised their son both in a Christian home and in a Christian school. And yet, as she put it, “Fentanyl is a game changer, as one pill can kill.” Adding to the heartbreak, though, was, “Many of these victims are Christians, yet the stigma for families is still very strong. Please write an article to help these families as many are still grieving without the church’s support.”

I am floored to think that any church anywhere would stigmatize and/or not support the family of one who lost a battle to addiction. For starters, this is not some normal issue of morality. Again, when a child chooses to sass or lie or begins stealing, the rod of correction can normally fix that. But when a child becomes an addict, there are no “Christian parenting skills” to fix that. But beyond that, Christians are called to “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” Nothing breaks the heart of a parent more than a child that cannot seem to be rescued, and therefore nothing should cause the church to rally around a family any more than that, especially when that family is shattered by a drug-induced death.

An interesting exchange takes place at the end of the account of the Prodigal Son. In Luke 15:29, the older brother expresses his anger over the fact that the family is making merry with friends over the return of his wayward brother. In other words, there were people who had been pulling for the boy, pulling for the family; they had been there during the dark days and were, therefore, part of the celebration when he returned.

That is what the church should be, at all times, to the family of an addict.

The family of an addict already feels plenty of guilt; they already second guess every decision they ever made; they really do not need any more of that heaped onto them, any more than you or I would if it was us in their situation. They need people to truly pray for them every single day. They need texts at random times letting them know they are loved. They need to be invited out for dinner just to get them out of their seclusion.

And when a child dies, they need a church packed full of people “weeping as they weep” and totally devoid of people so proud as to imagine that it could never happen to them.

Bo Wagner is pastor of the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Mooresboro, NC, a widely traveled evangelist, and the author of several books. His books are available on Amazon and at www.wordofhismouth.com. Pastor Wagner can be contacted by email at [email protected]