Current Events Monday: What’s the Leading Cause of Death in American Young People? It’s Not Covid.
Underneath the hype concerning both the holidays and the latest surge of the Omicron variant, a sobering piece of information almost silently came and went. Around December 21, the news broke that the leading cause of death among Americans between the ages of 18 and 45 is Fentanyl related overdoses. Depending on your source for news, it is estimated that these Fentanyl overdoses killed between 61,000 and 79,000 young adults. This is compared to 53,000 people in this age group who died from Covid related illnesses since January 2020.
It is not within the purview of this article to assess why the morbid details of Fentanyl related deaths among young Americans receives much less coverage in the media than Covid. We can say however with confidence that Christians have a responsibility to raise their level of awareness about one of the lesser talked-about issues of our time—addiction. According to the National Center on Drug Abuse, a little over 19% of Americans over age 12 have used an illegal drug within the last 30 days. If alcohol and tobacco are included, then we find that about 140 million Americans over age 12 abuse drugs—nearly half of the entire US population. Marijuana seems to be the gateway drug of choice for the majority of Americans by a large percentage, meaning that people use pot mostly for their first drug experience and move on from there to more dangerous drugs. Suffice it to say, we would estimate that nearly 40% of people who are reading this article have abused alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or opioids (like Fentanyl) within the past month.
You can find helpful information about Fentanyl at this website: Fentanyl DrugFacts | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
What are some theological and biblical implications of this disconcerting news regarding drug addiction, especially Fentanyl addiction?
- Drug addiction is nothing new. There is strong biblical evidence to illustrate that people have been struggling with addictive behaviors since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin. The Proverbs speak especially to the folly of abusing alcoholic beverages. Paul’s letters to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians specifically make mention of drunkenness and even “witchcraft” and “sorcery.” Practices of witchcraft in the Bible often refer to the use of hallucinogens or some sort of mixture of substances to induce a high or a move away from sobriety.
- Drug addiction appears to be an attempt among people to deal with vexing, or seemingly unsolvable problems. What we do as fallen human beings is most often the expression of how we understand ourselves on the deepest spiritual level. For instance, we cannot seem to break free of our finitude, no matter how much money we make or fame we acquire. A drug high apparently gives some sort of momentary escape from our anxiety about reality. The great theologian, Augustine, referred to this anxiety as a kind of “restlessness” which can only be satisfied through a reconciled relationship with God in Jesus Christ.
- Jesus ministered to addicts. God shows a deep love and care for those who are dealing with addictions to drugs. Consider how many times one finds Jesus hanging out with drunkards and those who had been relegated by society. In fact, Christ ministered so frequently to addicts that the Pharisees called him a “wine-bibber,” an ancient derogatory term for a fool. Keep in mind, however, that Jesus came not to endorse addictive behaviors but to act as a physician in treating people controlled by addictive behaviors. Perhaps it’s time that churches do more to take on the characteristics of a hospital for the sick than being an exclusive club for people who seem to have it all together.
- The biblical answer to addiction is not as simple as saying, “Don’t do drugs.” The attempts made to combat drug addictions in recent decades by government intervention through increased jail time, drug seizures, and ad campaigns may have put a dent in the worldwide drug trade, but we can argue that the intervention has not really curbed Americans’ addictions. One may even feel a sense of powerlessness at the pervasiveness of addiction among us. Some political groups (on both the Left and the Right) now argue that certain drugs should be legalized and normalized in our society. No matter where one stands on the legality of drugs, we can likely agree as believers that addictions lead us down a broad path which leads to destruction. The narrow way of Christ is much fuller and richer than a path which either normalizes addictive behaviors or attempts to stop addictive behaviors without ministering to the whole person.
Telling this generation of Americans to “Just say no” to drugs isn’t good enough and obviously doesn’t work. Perhaps we should start with saying, “Let me tell you about Jesus.”