A Ferrari or Heroin?

About 15 years ago at an NA meeting in Parker, Colorado I heard someone say they've put about the cost of a Ferrari in their arm. At the time, I laughed at this and thought there was no way such a statement could be true. Then what followed in my life was a decade of hard substance abuse of the opiate variety. I can now say, without a doubt, I put a Ferrari, Range Rover, and BMW in my body via opiate use. The money you will lose from life on drugs is staggering. The time you will see slip away is depressing. The experience you get if you can make it through addiction is priceless.

It makes perfect sense to me why so many people spend the money they do on drugs. Nowhere else on the planet will you find the type of comfort and relief drugs can provide. It's just the truth. As addicts, we face quite the predicament. We know how to escape to a luxury 5-star hotel located on the Rodeo Drive of Heaven with some street smarts and twenty bucks. Unfortunately, while we are here on this planet, learning to live free from our vices and connected to something bigger than ourselves is the only way to find some type of salvation or relief. It's not enough to just get off drugs. All you'll be stuck with is a longing for what you spent all those years chasing. A feeling the average person could never relate to. It is what it is. We have a gift most the planet doesn't. A gift that comes with a massive price tag and a huge responsibility.

Learning to find peace of mind is the only way someone of the daily using narcotic variety will ever exist in this environment. Otherwise, we'll chase that feeling we cherish so much until we find ourselves in Heaven. I see it day in and day out either in my personal life or on the news. That journey to peace begins with recognizing what you are doing is actually worshipping a substance. Drugs are your God, and you will do whatever they say. No matter the cost. For me, I found finding something worth worshipping led to me replacing drugs with something much bigger than myself. I discovered a deity that was able to provide that euphoria and peace of mind I chased and desired. If there was an easy answer to addiction, it would've been presented decades ago. The reality is, it takes some soul searching and open-mindedness to make any type of headway.