In Canada’s recent history, unprecedented numbers of people have died from drug overdose, and despite various approaches, none have succeeded in mitigating this tragic epidemic. Today’s opioid crisis is especially harsh among the homeless and marginalized, but its impact supersedes our narrow assumptions, for it crosses all generations, races, and economic barriers. ‘Normal’ people like you and me, our children and our grandchildren are not immune from the grasp of addiction’s talons, but for the grace of God.
In her book “Why I Help People Take Drugs – Reflections of a Christian Addiction Medicine Physician”, Dr. Meera Bai Grover reveals that she has, like many of us, grappled with the controversy surrounding supervised injection sites. Her landed stance is based on her deep conviction of humanity’s dignity. We are made in the image of our Creator who loves us unconditionally. “I believe in a God who breaks the chains of slavery and wants freedom for us all. This is why I practice addiction medicine – I wanted to join in this work that God is doing in the world,” she writes.
Nothing new under the sun: Dr. Grover contends that addiction (substance use disorder) has always been part of the human condition, and that no one wants to be dependent on any substance. She adds, “Paul himself wrote words that echo through the hearts of many people living with addiction: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. . . For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” (Romans 7:15, 18b–20, NIV)
She ushers us into a deeper awareness that extending the same grace we’ve received is why we pray, “forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Dr. Grover was not born into this understanding of God’s grace. She grew up in a single-parent home, surviving poverty and abuse. Her mother was a staunch atheist who taught her daughter to ask hard-hitting questions about the church and faith. Over time, though, Dr. Grover met someone who gently accepted her rebellion against Christianity and invited her to church. She was ready to gather all the evidence she needed to justify her defiance, but was surprised by the integrity and love she encountered there. More than that, God met her in all her rage, and transformed her life. The transformed life deeply informs her vocation.
At first glance, the addicted people we meet in her story may appear hopeless, their deaths inconsequential – but they are a son, a daughter, a parent, a sibling, a friend. They are so much more than the illness that plagues them. Dr. Grover gives us a newer and truer lens through which to view them. They matter to their Creator and by extension, to us.
Science of addiction: The science of addiction helps us gain a greater understanding of how and why addiction can occur in anyone. “I study the science, and I use that knowledge to help the best way I can, knowing that it will be imperfect, but trusting that God is present. Facts based in science are simply a description of the world that God loves, and to deny them is to risk denying what God has put in place,” Dr. Grover states.
Imagine this: You’re in an automobile accident, which, despite surgeries and other treatments, leaves you in constant debilitating pain. You become dependent on prescribed pain medications, then progress to increasingly stronger doses to alleviate the agony, leading to addiction and the temptation to succumb to lower costing street drugs laced with fentanyl or similar high-risk chemicals. (One point of fentanyl is equivalent to 10,000 mg of morphine in pain management. Someone in acute pain who is not accustomed to taking opioids might be prescribed 5-10 mg of morphine in the emergency department. Some patients consume 30 points of fentanyl a day). By the time you realize your dependence, it’s too late to ‘just stop’ using. The pain, physical or emotional, is too great to bear. That ‘hit’ you need provides a short reprieve. There is nothing to replace it. The drugs (or maybe it’s alcohol) have rendered your brain insensitive to doses of dopamine that might be released by pleasant experiences – comforting scents, hugs, sex or exercise. Over time, you need stronger and more ‘hits’ of your substance to feel relief from the exhausting agony. Dr. Grover tells real stories about real people who, over time, need more and stronger doses just to have some moments of peace from their tormenting physical or emotional traumas.
Trauma: Much information is coming to light regarding generational trauma, passed down through the DNA of parents to children. It may have resulted from peoples’ experiences in refugee camps, residential schools, or slavery. These people, over-represented in the addiction statistics, are not only dealing with present traumas of their own, but also that of preceding generations. The healing of these traumas through reconciliation efforts and other means is crucial to the healing of the addiction crisis. “I have realized that much of what I do treats the patients in front of me, but it does not treat the circumstances they find themselves in. To do that, there needs to be a greater societal shift in understanding addiction medicine. For me, this societal shift reflects the need for the church to do a better job following God. It means remembering that each of us, regardless of how we act or what we believe, are made in the image of God, are sacred, and have an incredible worth.”
Hope: Like diabetes, heart disease and so many other medical conditions, drug addiction has no cure; it is a life-long condition. But also, like diabetes, it can be managed. Drugs are seldom a stand-alone issue in the user’s life. Trauma and/or family dysfunction are often at the root of the addiction. In order to receive help for trauma, our health system requires a level of stability that is difficult for the user to achieve because they have not yet been able to address their trauma situation. So it’s a vicious cycle. Mental health support is foundational in treating and managing addiction. Dr. Grover explains the barriers to accessing timely treatment that needs to be addressed from political and medical standpoints.
Many people with substance use disorders find themselves stuck in a cycle of using and trying to maintain a semblance of ‘normalcy’ in their life. Others struggle just to stay alive for another hour, or another day. Until they are ready (and able) to access treatment, Dr. Grover and other health practitioners in the field of addiction medicine are there to help. “The core of what supervising consumption does … is simply being present with people as they inject themselves with drugs, regardless of whether or not the drugs are good for them. It means staying with them, helping to heal them, and bringing them back if they overdose. It’s presence in the midst of the hardest times … Harm reduction sites help to bring hope.” She adds, “[Harm reduction] is a posture that communicates hope, that the patient will live, will survive, will thrive. It is one of love, of belief that there is more to [this] patient’s story than the substances.”
Far from being simple, the journey to healing is rarely straightforward. Just as a swimmer caught in a riptide must swim parallel to shore instead of directly into the exhausting waves, so an addict needs new patterns to be developed, which includes medications and other treatments to take them to safety. The waves of addiction are too strong to ‘just stop’ using. Addiction medicine continues to evolve, with new tools and strategies that bring hope to those in despair.
In the face of death
Tragically, patients who rehabilitate, then relapse, are at great risk. Their tolerance is now lower, making the likelihood of overdosing so much higher. The heart-breaking reality of working in this field is the inevitable death that occurs all too often, even when there seemed to be such hope. Dr. Grover laments the loss of her patients. Her commitment to helping and hoping for her patients is a choice that often breaks her heart. She allows this to happen over and over again, seeing the ones she’s come to cherish as God’s own, stolen by death.
In the face of this reality, she writes, “Tomorrow, I will go back to clinic. I will check my documents inbox, and prepare my heart for the lives that have been lost. I will pray, knowing that we have clear medical interventions that may have saved them, if our society had wanted to. I will grieve, both for the patient, and for the world that turned a blind eye to them. And I will continue to believe that people can change, that God can work miracles, and that society will one day grow to love these patients the way God does.”
Dr, Meera Bai Grover received the spiritual side of her training at Regent College in Vancouver. She was a nurse specializing in addiction medicine on Vancouver’s notorious Downtown East Side before completing her PhD training in the highest level of addiction medicine available in Canada. She currently works in Calgary at hospitals and community sites including shelters, street outreach, and inner-city clinics. She also speaks and teaches on the subject of addiction medicine.
Dr. Grover’s book, Why I Help People Take Drugs is available through Indigo, Amazon and on various platforms in ebook and audio book formats.
Marion Van Driel delights in her roles as a wife, mother and grandmother; her soul is fed by both composing and composting. Music, words, form and colour are ingredients on which she thrives. She considers her garden a gift where family and friends gather to visit, heal, reflect and celebrate. Called as writer, artist, worship leader, gardener and (sometimes reluctant) follower of Christ, she bears evidence of God’s abundant grace without which she’d be someone else entirely.
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