My husband and I have Netflix and have been into documentaries lately. We have watched many documentaries on 9/11, history, crime, food, sports and drugs. Today was on meth and the deadly poison in which this drug is. While watching this documentary I got sick to my stomach with how incredibly sad this drug has become and how popular it is. What takes place in our society is actually fascinating to me, but also scary how we truly don’t have a clue what goes on in our own cities; the cries for help are on our street corners. The search for something greater. Sometimes we live in our own little bubble and are naïve to what’s actually taking place down the street from us.

Some interesting facts: This drug actually keeps you high up to 12 hours for one single hit. Portland, OR is the number one capitol in the US. Bangkok actually fuels sex trafficking as the more meth consumed the more women allow their bodies to be used to gain more money enabling this vicious cycle. Gas and lithium from batteries are just a couple ingredients that are clearly poison to the average person. Meth tricks your brain and gives an illusion of power that is unstoppable and hallucinations begin; this is where crime rates rocket. In Portland alone 85% of crime comes from meth addicts. 1 in 4 inmates in our local jails are meth addicts. 90% of users relapse as it is beyond addictive and almost impossible to maintain a ‘normal’ life after rehab. These are only a couple statistics that I encountered while watching this documentary.

What kept running through my mind while watching this terrifying video was how evil drugs and alcohol truly are. Unfortunately we don’t see all the tell tale signs when interacting with someone currently on a high, the longer they use it the clearer the signs become. Dispatch calls showed that conversations simply don’t make sense when under the influence. My mind cannot wrap itself around the evil that prevails by taking drugs and alcohol to help ‘escape reality.’ My frustration is how people want to live in a euphoric state and escape their life simply by partaking in this act for social acceptance. Most cases begin in teen parties being told there is a power you will gain by taking this drug and how exciting it is and 99% of them end up addicts later on in life.

Evil seeps in and wins through many of these tragedies. Drugs and alcohol are the new norm. Alcohol especially seems to sneak in in so many hidden ways. Happy hours become a usual basis after work, a glass of wine at night to relax from the stressful day, smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes or simply feeling good and so on and so forth. Growing marijuana is entirely acceptable; these conversations about drugs are portrayed entirely nonchalant and 100% acceptable but why? These are all incredibly dangerous and the very essence of all of them are to relax which leads to escaping life and the power within them is beyond captivating. Lives destroyed, families broken and ultimately death knocking at your door.

Evil is everywhere and I know I’ve talked about this many times but it seeps in in subtle ways as alcohol seeming to be an innocent drink for casual fun that leads into wanting more and ends with poor decisions and often becoming an addict. Satan literally knows how to distract us from living a fulfilling life.  Believing that a simple drink or drug will change your life for the better and move you to the top of the food chain becoming independently wealthy and having all the material possessions you could possibly desire is the lie of meth. The logic simply doesn’t make sense. If you believe in God and the devil, do you honestly think that Satan wont interfere with your decisions when consuming one of these drugs? How many times do you hear people mention the good decisions they made while under the influence? Yes, there is the casual drink that many people can have without crossing that line but where is that line drawn? Whose to say that limits aren’t crossed more often than not? Why wouldn’t they be, realistically the point is to feel better, so what gives the motivation to stop drinking or doing drugs as you feel good. Maybe the line should never have been started. I believe that there are a lot of things in life that are not meant to harm us that end up doing that exact thing.

As you’ve seen many times my passion come out within these so called pleasures of life. I will not and do not agree with escaping life and calling this pleasure. I’ve seen too much damage come from these ‘evil escapes’ and it’s not worth losing your life over them. I’ve seen the damage occur within the lives around me and it simply isn’t worth it. The reality is social acceptance has warped our perspective and opinion on what used to be less talked about to now being looked down upon if you aren’t partaking in them. More so alcohol depending on who and where you walk.

This video showed multiple stories of first time meth users that ended their lives the very first night partaking in this dangerous drug. This simply states the power these drugs have over our body. When this occurs we are allowing the enemy to enter in without choice, taking us to lengths that even meth users would say never thought was possible. I used to think a glass of wine wasn’t wrong, but now I simply do not agree with it for many reasons. One of them being the simple fact that the only point of alcohol is for no purpose other than to take an edge off. Call it what you want, but alcohol is a drink that people drink so that they can be more relaxed, social, talkative and bold. For some reason tea and soda wont suffice. I found justification comes a lot with this drink. Every commercial promotes alcohol and sex. The legal fight to get liquor in grocery stores. Marijuana now being justified for health purposes, people who grow the drug for an income, the fight to get marijuana legalized, so on and so forth. Justification reigns so prevalently. Now let me say I live in Oregon which is the drug capital of the US so maybe I see it more prevalently then most people. Either way, our hippie city is losing the professional aspect and becoming overly complacent with far too many things. Don’t we have more things of concern than the routine fights for legalizing these drugs? How do we become so blind that disagreeing with this topic is beyond shocking to some of you!

Moment of Truth: We have one shot at life, don’t waste it. I’m not suggesting that everyone out there shouldn’t touch alcohol but I challenge each and every one of you to search truthfully deep within yourself what having that glass of alcohol does for you. What is the point if you believe you are not escaping something or trying to relax? Ponder the thought that tea, water, soda and juice don’t replace this drink and ask yourself why? Ask yourself the questions and truly search for what the ultimate benefit is for you to partake in this socially acceptable drink. Reach out and talk to people who have struggled with substance abuse and put the shoe on the other foot. There are so many laws in place to try and prevent us from crossing the line but it’s such a fine line that laws have to be in place. If it wasn’t harmful we wouldn’t have these laws. If you feel justification coming on, pick up your Bible and ask God to search your heart and give you the answers for you individually before the Lord. Don’t let the little lies become a life waster.