Argentinean bishops denounce scourge of drugs and propose anti-drug strategy

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov 14, 2007 / 11:12 am

The Bishops’ Conference of Argentina issued a statement this week addressing the problem of drug use in the country, saying, “We have heard the pain of many families throughout the country whose children are trapped by the effects of drugs and its consequences of death and destruction.” In their document the bishops propose a strategy for dealing with the problem of drugs.

The bishops noted that the drug trade has been established in Argentina and “destroys families and kills.  Our land has ceased to be only a country of passage.”  “Everything related to drugs is de-humanizing, erodes the gift of freedom, submerges in failure life’s projects and submits families to harsh trials.”
 
In speaking about the causes of drug addiction, the bishops note that currently, “Young people feel they are without roots and are forced to confront a fleeting present and an uncertain future.  In addition to this, they often do not find adults who are willing to listen and understand.”

This serious problem, they continued, is “an expression of a profound malady that some call ‘existential emptiness.’  Thus, for a growing number of young people, there is a conviction that life has no meaning and is not worth it,” a perspective that comes from the devil, who “seeks allies to spread this venom like a pest.  It generates true structures of sin that scorn love and human dignity.” 

The bishops said that the way to confront the problem of drugs has three aspects: “promoting a culture of life, founded on the transcendent dignity of every human person, called to be happy and live free of all enslavement,” “dispelling the false illusion one can easily enter and leave addiction,” and “denouncing and pursuing the merchants of death who are destroying humanity with the scandalous business of drugs.”

These measures must be strengthened by a social network that discourages anything that fosters addictions, as well as by a strategy of prevention based on education all levels, especially in the family, the parish, schools and places of work.  The bishops also said there should be an increase in the number of rehabilitation centers to help individuals overcome drug addiction and rejoin society.

“As the Church, with the strength that comes from the Gospel of Life,” the bishops stated, “and with the humble means at our disposal, we renew our desire to be at the service of society in a commitment of solidarity to confront this evil.”