In pharmacology, a drug is "a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being." Drugs may be used for a limited duration, or on a regular basis for chronic disorders.
Recreational drugs are chemical substances that affect the central nervous system, such as opioids or hallucinogens. Alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine are the most widely consumed psychotropic drugs worldwide.
Drug Abuse is a Mortal Sin and Against Nature
Everyone knows in their conscience that the consuming of mind altering drugs such as smoking marijuana or taking LSD or ecstasy is a mortal sin just like getting drunk is a mortal sin, because when “a man willingly and knowingly deprives himself of the use of reason, whereby he performs virtuous deeds and avoids sin... he sins mortally by running the risk of falling into sin. For [Saint] Ambrose says (De Patriarch. [De Abraham i.]): "We learn that we should shun drunkenness, which prevents us from avoiding grievous sins. For the things we avoid when sober, we unknowingly [or knowingly] commit through drunkenness." Therefore drunkenness, properly speaking, is a mortal sin.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part, Question 150, Article 2. Whether drunkenness is a mortal sin?)
A person who uses a drug that makes him intoxicated needs an absolutely necessary reason (such as a grave illness) to excuse his usage of the drug from being a sin, and when he does not have such an absolutely necessary excuse to excuse his drug usage, he commits the sin of drug abuse. A sick person is allowed by God’s permission to take drugs in order to lessen his pain. But when this sick person uses more drugs than he needs in order to get intoxicated and for mere pleasure, or continues to use the drug after he gets well, he commits the sin of drug abuse. This is a perfect example of those who use drugs for the mere sake of pleasure. They are gluttonous or overindulgent in their sensual appetite, and are thus sinning against their reason and the Natural Law. For “the sin of lust [or pleasure seeking] consists in seeking venereal pleasure not in accordance with right reason...” and “lust there signifies any kind of excess.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part, Q. 154, Art. 1)
St. Alphonsus Liguori, one of the most well known doctors of the Church, in his masterpiece “The True Spouse of Jesus Christ”, shows us the inherent evil of acting in accordance to our sensual desires: “Pope Innocent XI Odescalchi has condemned the proposition which asserts that it is not a sin to eat or to drink from the sole motive of satisfying the palate. However, it is not a fault to feel pleasure in eating: for it is, generally speaking, impossible to eat without experiencing the delight which food naturally produces. But it is a defect to eat, like beasts, through the sole motive of sensual gratification, and without any reasonable object. Hence, the most delicious meats may be eaten without sin, if the motive be good and worthy of a rational creature; and, in taking the coarsest food through attachment to pleasure, there may be a fault.” (The True Spouse of Jesus Christ, p. 282)
We don’t know if smoking in very small amounts once in a while is a sin. But we believe that smoking habitually or regularly is a sin, and it definitely cuts out graces from people’s lives. We don’t see how those who smoke habitually, for example throughout the day, would be any different from people who eat candy all day and thus try to constantly gratify themselves in that way. This is not even to get into the issue that we know it’s horrible for health and leads to death. If you are smoking, you are giving a horrible example to people, tempting them to start smoking which is highly addictive and lethal. Smoking is so addictive that medical scientists have compared the addiction to Heroin addiction. Most people who get addicted to cigarettes will never be able to stop and will be life long slaves under a most filthy, evil and grace diminishing habit.
The same can be said of all addictive substances that you don’t need to survive, such as: coffee, candy, chips, cookies, soda, good meats etc... If you can’t abstain from these substances for even a few days, then you are addicted to them and need to learn to abstain from them. Good days for learning to abstain from one’s own desires are Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Fridays has always been a day of abstinence in the Catholic Church – since Our Lord suffered and died on that day – which means that one cannot eat anything containing meat under pain of mortal sin (there is no obligation of fast or abstinence on a holy day of obligation such as Christmas, even if it falls on a Friday). One should of course also abstain from other superfluous substances. While some substances may appear to be harmless, grace is highly diminished in people who always uses things which are superfluous.
St. Francis of Assisi was well aware of the truth that seeking pleasure corrupts the soul. St. Francis even used to put ashes in his food in order to make it taste bad since he understood that the five senses and the search to gratify them made the soul weaker. Someone might ask: “Does that mean that eating good things is a sin?” The answer is of course that eating good things in itself is no sin. However, one should definitely try to avoid all things that are tasty and addictive, such as superfluous and tasty foods, meats, beverages, cigarettes, candy, chips, cakes, spices, sauces, dressings, etc. The reason why man should do his utmost to avoid pleasurable things is because the five senses of man, after the fall, was corrupted by self-love and self-gratification. That’s precisely why countless saints have refused to eat food that taste good. However, no one should get the idea that it’s sinful to eat tasty foods, but understand that people who always want to eat these foods will fall into sin, for gluttony and lack of moderation is certainly sinful.
Alcoholism is a chronic disorder or so-called disease in which your body becomes dependent on alcohol. When you have alcoholism, you lose control over your drinking. You may not be able to control when you drink, how much you drink, or how long you drink on each occasion. If you have alcoholism, you continue to drink even though you know it's causing problems with your relationships, health, work or finances. People suffering from alcoholism are often called "alcoholics". The World Health Organization estimates that there are 140 million people with alcoholism worldwide.
It's possible to have a problem with alcohol but not have all the symptoms of alcoholism. This is known as "alcohol abuse," which means you drink too much and it causes problems in your life although you aren't completely dependent on alcohol. If you have alcoholism or you abuse alcohol, you may not be able to cut back or quit without help. A number of approaches are available to help you recover from alcoholism, including prayer, medications, counseling and self-help groups.
Long-term Consequences of Alcohol Abuse
Like any drug, alcohol will affect different people in different ways. The long-term effects of alcohol therefore vary from person to person and there is no way of knowing exactly how the drug will affect an individual in the long-term.
Everyday people are putting themselves at risk of alcohol-related harm in the long-term through alcohol misuse, binge drinking and drink driving. Excessive drinking and drinking long-term can increase the health risks of alcohol, such as damage to the liver, heart or pancreas. Damage to some body organs can be permanent.
Drinking a lot of alcohol regularly over time is likely to cause physical, emotional or social problems. These may include:
- Cirrhosis of the liver
- Cancer, especially of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, bowel (in men) and breast (in women)
- A range of diseases affecting the heart and blood, and including stroke and hypertension
- Problems with the nerves of the arms and legs
- Alcohol-related brain injury
- Alcohol dependence
- Harm to the unborn baby through mixing alcohol and pregnancy or alcohol and breastfeeding
- Poor diet
- Stomach problems
- Frequent infections
- Skin problems
- Reproduction issues, such as sexual impotence and a reduction in fertility
- Concentration and term memory problems
- Depression
- Family and relationship problems
- Poor work performance
- Legal and financial difficulties
- Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse Facts
Alcohol abuse is a disorder that is characterized by the sufferer having a pattern of drinking excessively despite the negative effects of alcohol on the individual's work, medical, legal, educational, and/or social life.
Alcohol abuse affects about 10% of women and 20% of men in the United States, most beginning by their mid teens.
Signs of alcohol intoxication include the smell of alcohol on the breath or skin, glazed or bloodshot eyes, the person being unusually passive or argumentative, and/or a deterioration in the person's appearance or hygiene.
Almost 2,000 people under 21 years of age die each year in car crashes in which underage drinking is involved. Alcohol is involved in nearly half of all violent deaths involving teens.
Alcoholism is a destructive pattern of alcohol use that includes a number of symptoms, including tolerance to or withdrawal from the substance, using more alcohol and/or for a longer time than planned, and trouble reducing its use.
Alcohol, especially when consumed in excess, can affect teens, women, men, and the elderly quite differently.
Risk factors for developing a drinking problem include low self-esteem, depression, anxiety or another mood problem, as well as having parents with alcoholism.
There are thought to be five stages of alcoholism.
There are numerous individual treatments for alcoholism, including individual and group counseling, support groups, residential treatment, prayer and spiritual help, medications, drug testing, and/or relapse-prevention programs.
Some signs of a drinking problem include drinking alone, to escape problems, or for the sole purpose of getting drunk; hiding alcohol in odd places; getting irritated when you are unable to obtain alcohol to drink; and having problems because of your drinking.
While some people with alcohol dependence can cut back or stop drinking without help, most are only able to do so temporarily unless they get treatment.
There is no amount of alcohol intake that has been proven to be generally safe during pregnancy.
The long-term effects of alcohol abuse and alcoholism can be devastating and even life threatening, negatively affecting virtually every organ system.
Codependency is the tendency to interact with another person in an excessively passive or caretaking manner that negatively affects the quality of the codependent individual's life.
Adequate supervision and clear communication by parents about the negative effects of alcohol and about parental expectations regarding alcohol and other drug use can significantly decrease alcohol use in teens.
With treatment, about 70% of people with alcoholism are able to decrease the number of days they consume alcohol and improve their overall health status within six months.
The Bible and Alcohol
Scripture has much to say regarding the drinking of alcohol (Leviticus 10:9; Numbers 6:3; Deuteronomy 29:6; Judges 13:4, 7, 14; Proverbs 20:1; 31:4; Isaiah 5:11, 22; 24:9; 28:7; 29:9; 56:12). However, Scripture does not necessarily forbid a person from drinking beer, wine, or any other drink containing alcohol. In fact, some Scriptures discuss alcohol in positive terms. Ecclesiastes 9:7 instructs, "Drink your wine with a merry heart." Psalm 104:14-15 states that God gives wine "that makes glad the heart of men." Amos 9:14 discusses drinking wine from your own vineyard as a sign of God's blessing. Isaiah 55:1 encourages, "Yes, come buy wine and milk…"
What God commands all people regarding alcohol is to avoid drunkenness (Ephesians 5:18). The Bible condemns drunkenness and its effects (Proverbs 23:29-35). All people, and especially Christians, are also commanded to not allow their bodies to be "mastered" by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12; 2 Peter 2:19). Drinking alcohol in excess is undeniably addictive and unhealthy. Scripture also forbids a Christian from doing anything that might cause scandal to another believer or encourage them to sin against their conscience: "Wherefore, if meat scandalize my brother, I will never eat flesh, lest I should scandalize my brother" (1 Corinthians 8:9-13). In light of these principles, it would be extremely difficult for any believer to say he is drinking alcohol in excess to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Jesus changed water into wine. Even Jesus drank wine on occasion (John 2:1-11; Matthew 26:29). In New Testament times, the water was not very clean. Without modern sanitation, the water was often filled with bacteria, viruses, and all kinds of contaminants. The same is true in many third-world countries today. As a result, people often drank wine (or grape juice) because it was far less likely to be contaminated. In 1 Timothy 5:23, Paul was instructing Timothy to stop drinking the water (which was probably causing his stomach problems) and instead drink wine. In that day, wine was fermented (containing alcohol), but not necessarily to the degree it is today. It is incorrect to say that it was grape juice, but it is also incorrect to say that it was the same thing as the wine commonly used today. Again, Scripture does not forbid anyone from drinking beer, wine, or any other drink containing alcohol. Alcohol is not, in and of itself, tainted by sin. It is drunkenness and addiction to alcohol that all people must absolutely refrain from (Ephesians 5:18; 1 Corinthians 6:12).
Is Alcoholism and Drunkenness a Mortal Sin?
Drunkenness is definitely a mortal sin. There are about three places where St. Paul gives a list of some of the main mortal sins which exclude people from Heaven. These lists do not comprise every mortal sin, of course, but some of the main ones.
Galatians 5:19-21: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God."
1 Corinthians 6:9-11: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
Ephesians 5:5-8: "For this ye know, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of unbelief. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:"
Haydock Bible Commentary explains Ephesians 5:3-5: "Ver. 3. Covetousness. The Latin word is generally taken for a coveting or immoderate desire of money and riches. St. Jerome and others observe, that the Greek word in this and divers other places in the New Testament may signify any unsatiable desire, or the lusts of sensual pleasures [i.e., drunkenness]; and on this account, St. Jerome thinks that it is here joined with fornication and uncleanness [i.e., sexual sins]. --- Ver. 5. Nor covetous person, which is a serving of idols. It is clear enough by the Greek that the covetous man is called an idolater, whose idol is mammon; though it may be also said of other sinners, that the vices they are addicted to are their idols. (Witham)"
Now, alcohol is not evil in and of itself, but the abuse of alcohol makes it serious (grave) matter, just as if we were to abuse something else that is good (e.g., eating too much). But, alcohol also has a second effect on us. It can cause us to lose control of our free will and reason when we drink to excess. And the fact that we loose our reason--or free will if you will--does not take away our responsibilities from the sins that are committed since this action of getting drunk (or high) was by our own choosing. Thus, it is possible to freely give away the gift of our freedom by abusing alcohol. If we ever freely choose to do this, it will be gravely immoral and a mortal sin. Thus, temperance (not too much or too little) is the virtue and goal we are aiming for.
The other problem with getting drunk is that, apart from being unhealthy, it can lead you to the occasion of other sins. St. Thomas Aquinas talks about it in the Summa Theologica. He says that if a man knowingly gets drunk, it is grave matter.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II:II, Q. 150, Art. 2, Whether drunkenness is a sin?: "I answer that, The sin of drunkenness, as stated in the foregoing Article, consists in the immoderate use and concupiscence of wine. Now this may happen to a man in three ways. First, so that he knows not the drink to be immoderate and intoxicating: and then drunkenness may be without sin, as stated above (Article 1). Secondly, so that he perceives the drink to be immoderate, but without knowing it to be intoxicating, and then drunkenness may involve a venial sin. Thirdly, it may happen that a man is well aware that the drink is immoderate and intoxicating, and yet he would rather be drunk than abstain from drink. Such a man is a drunkard properly speaking, because morals take their species not from things that occur accidentally and beside the intention, but from that which is directly intended. On this way drunkenness is a mortal sin, because then a man willingly and knowingly deprives himself of the use of reason, whereby he performs virtuous deeds and avoids sin, and thus he sins mortally by running the risk of falling into sin. For Ambrose says (De Patriarch. [De Abraham i.]): "We learn that we should shun drunkenness, which prevents us from avoiding grievous sins. For the things we avoid when sober, we unknowingly commit through drunkenness." Therefore drunkenness, properly speaking, is a mortal sin."
Thus, to give up the gift of free will or reason willingly is to sin gravely. "The drunken man is a living corpse" (St. John Chrysostom).
Overcoming Alcoholism
Men and women are given over to addictions and demonic oppression/possession for inundating themselves in mortal sin, especially sins of impurity – thereby worshipping the flesh rather than God – and for this they get possessed by the demon of oppression, which takes them over, weakens their will and corrupts them.
If an alcoholic ceases to commit all mortal sins and changes his or her life; if he or she holds the fullness of the Catholic Faith without compromise, which includes a profession of faith; if he or she makes a sincere confession of all mortal sins; if he or she has a strong prayer life and a true devotion to the Mother of God and the holy Rosary, then he or she will be delivered from alcoholism without any doubt. Our Lord tells us that: "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). By knowing the truth and by employing the means to deliver themselves, alcoholics can and will be delivered from their alcoholism.
All who die in mortal sin will go to Hell forever. Mortal sins include pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, sloth, hatred, murder, fornication (i.e. sexual acts outside of marriage or acts leading up to sex outside of marriage such as lustful kisses and touches), lying, drunkenness, drug abuse, consenting to impure thoughts, masturbation, looking at pornography, adultery, cheating, taking God's name in vain, birth control (NFP) or artificial contraception, sexual sins within marriage (i.e., anal or oral sex, for-or-after play, masturbation of self or spouse, striptease, dressing/talking sensual, and all other immoral acts performed for the sole sake of enhancing pleasure such as lewd kisses and touches), assisting the propagation of heresy, funding heretics, dishonoring the Sabbath, breaking the commandments, etc. If someone were to commit a mortal sin and then go to Confession, he must have the firm resolution never to commit the sin again. This is called the firm purpose of amendment. If a person commits a mortal sin and doesn't have the firm purpose of amendment when he goes to Confession, he commits a sacrilege and the Confession is invalid. Most souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh. Those who are committing sins of the flesh need to stop immediately if they don't want to perish forever in the fires of Hell.
Regarding the Holy Rosary, the real Sister Lucia told Father Fuentes in a famous 1957 interview:
"Look, Father, the Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Holy Rosary. She has given this efficacy to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves. We will sanctify ourselves. We will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls."
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