For a long time, drug use on our island has been ignored, but now it has risen like a hurricane over us. Every neighborhood is facing addiction.
It is not only in Playa or San Nicolas — throughout Aruba there are addicts. Many times, these are young people raised in good families, who attended good schools, some even graduated, but one day — because of friends or out of curiosity — tried drugs and became trapped.
Our foundation Fortaleza y Sosten pa Famia, which is building a Rehab Center for Women, calls upon:
– All parents
– All institutions
– All schools
– All churches
– All communities
– Everyone: children, youth, and adults
Stay far away from drugs and alcohol abuse.
Because even if you used drugs or abused alcohol and later quit, the risk remains. During the period you used, you weakened the organs in your body. That is why any illness that affects you can hit much harder, because your organs are damaged.
This is why we now see so many problems:
– mental health issues
– confusion and mental instability
– strokes
– lung cancer
– weakened immunity
The diabolical package described in John 10:10 — that the enemy comes only to steal, kill, and destroy — can be seen clearly in drug use and alcohol abuse.
In our daily lives we see how many accidents, deaths, violence, and crimes are caused by these two enemies of humanity.
Remarkably, none of these things are free, yet people — under the influence of darkness — invest in their own destruction.
Alcohol is not cheap, and drugs are not cheap. There are homes where parents teach their children to drink, and homes where parent and child use drugs together.
It does not matter whether it is a man or a woman — drug use destroys. Many parents do not give their child money to buy drugs, and when they refuse, the child becomes angry and breaks things in the home.
This is how we see drug use being tolerated, even though we know it is destructive.
This is not simply a matter of “the government does nothing”, because nowhere in the world can a government control what people allow in their own homes. Everyone knows this will grow into a social problem that affects all of us.
Drug and alcohol use on our small island should be a concern for all of us. As a tourist destination, our population must demonstrate respect and discipline.
Some so-called experts claim that drugs are medicine, that they have used them for years, and that legalization is needed.
But look at the misery we already face now, without legalization.
What would happen if it were legalized?
What would happen to our tourism?
One Happy Island? Or One Happy Flying Island?
The rise in crime and immorality on our island is heavily linked to drug use and alcohol abuse.
There are people over 60 who are still enslaved by drugs and alcohol, and still refuse to acknowledge the damage they have caused to their lives.
Let’s not allow our children and youth to follow the same path.
Let’s help them stop now.
Written by Pastor Marcel Balootje.