“I must also say a word concerning illicit drugs. You know how I feel about them. I don’t care what the variety may be. They will destroy you if pursued. You will become their slave. Once in their power, you will do anything to get money to buy more. ” -President Hinckley
“I was amazed while watching a television program to learn that parents introduced drugs to their children in 20 percent of the cases. I cannot understand what I regard as the stupidity of these parents. What future other than slavery for their children could they see in them? Illegal drugs will utterly destroy those who become addicted to them.”
-President Hinckley
While serving a mission I was been able to see MANY people with addictions. It is truly the hardest thing for those we taught to overcome. The addiction runs their lives and controls them completely. It can be anything from alcohol, cigarettes to hard drugs. President Hinckley is right when he says you become a slave. We taught a family about the Word of Wisdom. At the end of it they brought us all of their cigarettes. We gladly took them so it was no longer a temptation. Even though the temptation was gone they have still had problems, the addiction overcomes you and you feel you can not say no.
I was able to teach the Word of Wisdom a lot throughout my mission. After praying about a particular woman we were working with I had a dream. In my dream we had sat down with her and she had put all of her cigarettes on the table. One by one we took a sharpie and we wrote things that she was missing out on life because of her addiction. When I woke up, I realized that was my answer. Later that day we wrote on the cigarettes with her and in the end it helped her to quite smoking.If you feel the need to try something that you KNOW you shouldn’t, stop and pray. Ask your loving Heavenly Father to give you the strength to overcome the temptation…Don’t become a slave to something that will only cost you.
“My advice, my pleading to you wonderful young men and women, is to stay entirely away from them. You don’t need to experiment with them. Look about you and see the effects they have had on others. There is no need for any Latter-day Saint boy or girl, young man or young woman, to even try them. Stay clean from these mind-altering and habit-forming addictions.”
-President Hinckley
Mrs Birds Words 
Leave a Reply