*Starts naively
Takes away agencyEndangers lives
Former heart surgeon, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Council of the Twelve, challenged those suffering from a chemical dependency to have the will to follow a spiritual prescription for recovery.
Speaking Saturday morning, the apostle said those who become addicted to drugs, alcohol or tobacco surrender their God-given feedom to choose. He warned against the abuse of drugs beyond prescribed limits, and the recreational or social use of drugs so often begun naively by the ill-informed.
"From an initial experiment thought to be trivial, a vicious cycle may follow," he explained. "From trial comes a habit. From habit comes dependence. From dependence comes addiction. Its grasp is so gradual. Enslaving shackles of habit are too small to be sensed until they are too strong to be broken."
In 1982, Elder Nelson said pointing his finger in emphasis, 16 percent (314,000) of all deaths in the United States were attributed to the smoking of tobacco. The cost in 1985 for smoking-related health-care and lost productivity was $65 billion or an average of $2.17 per pack of cigarettes sold.
"Social consequences of smoking far exceed the price paid to purchase cigarettes," he exclaimed.
Elder Nelson said the U.S. government estimates that 10.6 million adults are alcoholics, and that one family in four is troubled by alcohol. "It is a factor in nearly half of the nation's murders, suicides and accidential deaths."
Continuing, he said drugs, such as LSD, marijuana, heroin and cocaine, also endanger people, often first attacking the noble attributes of reason, integrity and dignity, which distinguish men and women from other forms of life.
The solution to the drug problem depends on individual choice and commitment to seek relief. Elder Nelson shared the following six choices as a spiritual prescription for curing drug abuse:
*Choose to be Alive.
"The choice for life brings an outlook of optimism," he said. "It breathes hope. It rekindles self-esteem - regarding one's body as a timeless trust."
*Choose to Believe.> "Believe in God. Accept yourself as His child, created in His image. He loves you and wants you to be happy. He wants you to grow through life's choices and become more like Him.
*Choose to Change.
"Both spirit and body have appetites. One of life's great challenges is to develop dominance of spiritual appetites over those physical. Your willpower becomes strong when joined with the will of the Lord."
*Choose to be Different.
"Distinguish yourself from worldly crowds," he said. "Modern medical research validates the physical benefits of obedience to the Word of Wisdom."
*Choose to Exercise.
"Exercising the body and the spirit will aid in the climb toward recover. Appropriate physical activity helps to combat depression which so often accompanies addiction. But spiritual exercise is even more crucial. This battle will be more easily won with fervent prayer.
*Choose to be Free.
"Choose to be free from feigned friends who first flatter yet later despise. Drug abuse may have started with them, but you pay the price: '. . . Whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves. . . .'" (Hel. 14:30.)
