Any addiction – alcohol or drugs - is dangerous. Either can trap us into thinking that we are in control. Below, two ex-addicts tell their own stories.

Mike began with small things. But gradually became hooked.

The usual reasons for drinking or drug taking are:

•   Wanting to be a part of a group

•   As a way of escape from something
     pretty bad

•   Wanting excitement

So why do people do these things if they can end up in trouble so easily?

The simple answer is – they want to do it. And if the alcohol or the drug seems unpleasant at first, it’s possible to develop the ‘taste’ and then to get to like it to the point where it takes over your thinking, your spending, your actions, your mind and your body.

If the God who made us gives this warning, it’s worth thinking over the danger of not doing it.

But supposing you take the view ‘It’s my life’ and you either don’t believe in God or you think that He has no claim on you and how you live… What happens then?  Want a simple answer?

YOU PAY THE PRICE

This isn’t how God wants it, of course. He wants people to live well. He wants everyone to live happily, confidently and freely – and to fulfil their potential. Is the power for this available? God says that with Him all things are possible.

How do you start?

With God all things are possible. Even kicking drink or drugs.  

Debbie Forrest

Debbie was once a successful nurse but she began to use cannabis. She lost everything - her job, home and even her self-respect.

She moved on to heroin. At first it seemed like the answer to her need to escape reality but it began to take its terrible toll. She became like a skeleton, lost her reason and descended to working the streets

The road back wasn't easy. She went to a drugs rehabilitation centre run by the Teen Challenge organisation and it was only with their Christian care and support from the Word of God that she found the strength to battle through the terrible time of withdrawal in which her drug-dependent body shrieked out for the drugs she had to deny it. She felt pain in every nerve-ending.

Now, as a  Christian  herself,  she  leads a

normal life and is adding to her original qualification as a nurse, the ability to speak out on drugs and to counsel those in their grip.