How Many People Does Illicit Drug Use Kill Each Year?
When I think of the staggering number of people who have died from overdoses, I imagine their families when they found the body. I imagine the hurt, the desperation, and the wailing and tears. I think of the abundance of emptiness that must’ve haunted their families for months and years afterwards. I think how easily it could’ve been me; when my friends overdosed, I felt like it should’ve been me. According to the 2020 World Drug Report, drug use is increasing in everyone ages 15-65 across the globe. Collectively, smoking, alcohol, and illicit drug use kill 11.8 million people each year. This is more than the number of deaths from all cancers combined [12].
We fly towards drugs, alcohol, and nicotine like a moth towards a flame, not realizing the closer we get and the longer we stay, the more damage will be done. The world markets us poison, and we believe its lies. “This substance will make you feel so great.” “Everyone who's anyone is clubbing, drinking, jacking off, and getting lit.” We chase the little blip of pleasure, not comprehending or caring how much the momentary short term gain will cost us in the long run. Not realizing that living on poison now will kill us later, we take the bait, as clueless as a fly in a trap.
Hardships can take from our life or they can add to it. Usually, they do both. Hardships produce the inky gray and black pigments which contrast upon the otherwise blank canvas of our lives. The dark, black, empty moments of life are very rarely enjoyable, but they are not worthless. In the hands of a loving God, they can and will serve a purpose.
“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
—Colossians 1:15-20 (NIV)
Discussion Questions
If the number of deaths from smoking, alcohol, and illicit drug use is greater than the number of deaths from all cancers combined, why do you think the numbers keep rising year after year?
What do you think is contributing to the fact that drug use in all ages, everywhere across the globe, is rising?
Can you think of any trauma in your past that could have contributed to your questionable decisions, bad habits, or addictions?
Have you ever had a miracle happen in your life or the life of someone you love? Did you attribute the miracle to God?
When you face hard times do you tend to blame God for allowing them to happen or do you usually see His kindness in giving you life in the first place and allowing you to exist by holding your cells together and giving you each breath of life?
Do you think it is fair, logical, or helpful to ignore God’s existence except in order to blame Him when things go wrong?
If He gave us everything, isn’t it also His to take away? Why do you think He continues to give us life and hold us together even when we rebel against Him and spit in His face? Why do you think the eternal King of Glory, the Creator of the Universe, and the Giver of Life cares so much about you?