Do you think it is anyone’s ambition to be a smackhead?

Home Havilah Stories Do you think it is anyone’s ambition to be a smackhead?

Wednesday, September 28th, 2016 | Tags: Havilah Stories

This section by our Havliah leader, Jim McLeod, is based on conversations with one of the young men who have made Havilah their home. Give thanks as you read this that this particular young man (and there are others like him) is finding hope in life through the Havilah ministry…hope that had been entirely lost to him. He is currently free from drugs and is doing well. Of course, it is never easy and there is a long road ahead of him but he has made a start and for that we can rejoice.

Just when you think that life is going along just fine it has a nasty habit of throwing up complications and difficulties that at times you feel you just cannot cope with. That is when the door of temptation is opened and, just like Adam in the Garden of Eden, so called friends encourage and tempt you to do what you know is wrong.

With heroin it would normally be a dealer who would encourage you with promises of stopping the psychological pain, loneliness and longings. The dealer will also use the influences from other users, who are supposed to be your friends; in their desperation for the drug they will paint a glorious picture of the benefits of using the drug, pushing you towards heroin.

There is just no way of getting away from the similarities of Adam’s experience with Eve and the serpent. The temptation continues with the dealer offering the drug free of charge because he is “concerned for your wellbeing”, until little by little your defences are broken down and you accept your first hit of heroin and start on the slippery slope of addiction.

Adam blamed Eve who in turn blamed the serpent. It is all too easy for us to join in with Adam and Eve in this blaming game, pointing our finger at people who are trapped in the despair of addiction and saying that they are the reason for much that is wrong with society today. If we step back and look at people through the eyes of Jesus, it is easy to see God’s beloved children who are all special to and loved by Him and, therefore, is it not essential for us who profess to be Christians to reach out a helping hand to enable God’s children to get back on their feet? Did the Lord Jesus not say that a doctor does not come to heal the healthy?

Once you are hooked you are pulled into a horrible world full of desperation and crime, and because of this and the stigma that the world has placed on heroin use, you lose all self-respect and dignity. This forms an ever decreasing circle which continually gets harder and harder to break free from. Heroin users are, on the whole, looked on as modern day lepers with people preferring to cross the street rather than walk past one. This then contributes to the feeling of self-loathing and worthlessness which helps to drive a deeper wedge between yourself, family and real friends which then impacts on the loneliness resulting in a deeper desperation which returns to the self-loathing again.

The cycle is not just on the relationship side – there is self-loathing because of the actions of the addict in their pursuit of the drug. The drug is all consuming and takes over all rational thoughts compelling the user to do whatever it takes to be able to buy a bag. This restarts the self-loathing process because once the user has had his hit his conscience kicks in again enabling the realisation of what he has done and who he has let down to secure the heroin. Heroin becomes more important than life itself which is the root of many overdoses because users are more worried about protecting their drugs than ensuring medical attention is called for in the case of an overdose. This is not because users do not care for others or that they do not want to help. It is because they are completely consumed with the need to protect their heroin because by this point heroin is life and nothing else matters.

All users will from time to time decide to try and stop their habit. This is without fail because they absolutely hate the way they are living, but heroin will not give up its grasp on the user without an epic fight. Initially there are the “rattles” i.e. the physical withdrawal which is extremely painful causing convulsions as the body begins to restart its digestive system, bowel movements and all the other natural movements of the body that have stopped due to the heroin. The pain of this is magnified by the fact that a heroin user’s natural pain killing system has been shut down because of the large amounts of opiates they have been taking. This is, however, the easy part of stopping heroin use – believe it or not. The physical pain, as excruciating as it is, is nothing compared to breaking the psychological addiction which is constantly and relentlessly urging the addict to have another hit.

If a user does secure a place on a drug rehabilitation programme there are pressures and pitfalls that go along with the programme. The user will normally be given a methadone prescription with regular checks to ensure they are not topping this up with any other drugs and, because of the fragility of the user’s mental health, this seems like too much pressure resulting in them coping with this in the only way they know how – another hit of heroin. This takes us back to the unthinkable cycle of self loathing.

At Havilah we display the love of the Lord, welcoming and treating all who come through the doors as humans and equals. Do not get me wrong – this does not mean that we will instantly trust that everyone will be entirely honest with us, but we will give them the benefit of the doubt and forgive any mistakes that may be made. Because of this, we can build trust, both our trust in the friends we make and in our new friends’ ability to know we will always treat them with respect and never judge them for who they are or were. This then allows the support of people with addiction who have told us “If it weren’t for Havilah I would still be using drugs.”

This shows that when we trust in the Lord and follow Jesus’ commandments to love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbour as you love yourself, anything is possible. Today, new friends who have been welcomed into our fellowship – tomorrow, world peace? Who knows how much we can achieve when we all play our part in this Christian life of ours, because it is not a life of stillness, it is a life in all its fullness.