Chasing the Dragon in Understanding the Unthinkable

There’s a reason it’s called “Chasing the Dragon”. Heroin has surged once again in our community. The first hint came last night when I called to follow up on a client, who told me he’d been asked to leave the halfway house because he used again. Then my husband called to say another client (whom he’d hired) was “dope sick” and now fired. Then I heard on the afternoon news that heroin was flooding our community again.

“Dragon” is a good word for the devil we call heroin. I know so many phrases I never knew before: “dope sick”, “nodding”, “fentynol”…on and on it goes, as we lose more and more people.

It’s not about the money, although our organization cannot afford to waste over two grand. It’s not about my ego, although one former reader here told me it was (she’s history and she is wrong, but she needed a weapon to hurl). IT’S ABOUT SAVING A LIFE.

Maybe I haven’t been clear enough. Do you know how Nick died? Yes, he died of Graves disease, an inherited thyroid disease that was never diagnosed. But he had been abusing the dragon named “oxycotin” (another word I wish I didn’t know) and even though he beat his addiction, there is a very good chance that his drug abuse triggered the thyroid to go into overload.

If you are taking opioids and you’re checking your watch to see when you can take your next pill, if you are cranky and fly off the handle at others because you “need” your pills, if your pills are more important than anything else, you have a problem and you need to seek help before you do so much damage to your body that you die whether or not you’re using.

This is not a Millennial problem. I read journals here of women in their 60s who speak of their pain pills and their sleeping pills on a regular basis. Odds are good that they are addicted.

Don’t die before your time. Don’t make drugs your God. The dragon is the devil and he’s determined to claim your soul. Fight hard to get back to the God of love, the God who says you are forgiven regardless of your past, the God who knows the wrongs that man has done to you. THAT’S the God who will bring you a happy, bondage-free life.

If you have an addiction and live in the States, I think Salvation Army programs are probably the best there is, but ANY program is better than none. Start right now. Pick up the phone, call “Aunt Sal”, and tell her you are in bondage to drugs and want to break free. Nothing can happen without effort from you.

And if you can’t do that, know this: you rip the heart out of those who care deeply for you. I know the opioid is telling you nobody cares, but the opioid is the devil who lies to you. I’M telling you the truth.

I’m angry. I’m heartsick. I’m tired. Your life matters.