Overdoses versus deaths related to drugs

 By Leiv Holstad

According to Norwegian statistics on deaths related to drugs, more than 4000 young people died from overdoses on drugs between 1980 and 2008. When I produced the first Marita movie back in 1983/84, I focused on overdoses. In one of the movie scenes we fixed a drug addict’s funeral.

The coffin was lowered into the grave, and the song “Farewell Marita” could be heard while death notices with first name and age on many of my personal friends who died from overdoses were shown. To be sure that we had the right information I contacted the Police and was given access and permission to see the files on persons who at that time had became part of this tragic statistics.

That was a sad experience. I found the names of many I already recognized and knew about, but also names on more friends I still did not know had died. Among them I also found the name of the latest girlfriend I had when I was still on drugs.

When I came to my senses I asked the policeman: Are these all?

Yes, he answered. But I did not find “Jazzen” (The jazzy one) there? Well, I do not think he died from an overdose? The policeman said. No, he died from liver failure, I replied, but his liver was damaged by drug abuse. Neither did I find his wife, Sissel. She had been shot in a drug clash. Nils was not there either; the bus ran him down after taking some LSD. “Krølle” (The curly one) hanged himself in Oslo Prison when he was on a bad comedown. None of them died from overdoses, but they died due to other reasons, the policeman said. Therefore they are part of other statistics.

So what is my conclusion after all this? The deaths due to drugs are more than the statistics tell us. To even think about this could make us all lose courage, but actually we are quite many who survived! Through the effort of Marita Foundation and similar organizations, many have been helped out of a heavy drug abuse. In our web news you can find some stories concerning this.

In this way we have made this tragic statistics look a little less than it would appear otherwise. Thank you to all who join us in this battle!

 

« David Wilkerson's last words | Main | Finally free from drugs! »
torsdag
apr282011

David Wilkerson killed in car accident

Posted on Dateapr 28, 2011 by AuthorLeiv O. Holstad

The founder of Teen Challenge, Rev. David Wilkerson (79) was killed in a car accident the 27th of April in which his wife, Gwen, was also injured and is in serious condition.

In 1958, when “Brother Dave” was 26 years, he received a calling from God to reach out to gang members in New York City. There he met Nicky Cruz, an immigrant from Puerto Rico, who was the leader for the criminal "Mau Mau gang". Nicky and many others were saved, which led to a positive revolution in many other gangs in the area. Nicky's main problem was violence. He smoked pot, but he wasn't a hardcore drug-addict. Some of the new believers were addicted to heroin, and needed more follow-up and care. To meet this need, the first rehab-center was started in Brooklyn in the beginning of 1961. They called their program for The therapy of The Holy Spirit. To day there is more than 180 Teen Challenge rehab-centers in the USA and more than 1000 Teen Challenge programs in 80 countries of the world!

In 1958, none of the academic educated professionals believed that it was possible for a hardcore heroin-addict to kick the habit, but fortunately, David Wilkerson didn't have this knowledge. He was a Pentecostal preacher from a farm town in Pennsylvania with a strong inner assurance that nothing is impossible for God. He busted the myth "once a drug-addict, forever a drug-addict". At this time it wasn't usual for Christians to have encounter with the drug- and criminal environments, but by passionately working in those areas, David created a new trend that was spread all over the world.

This amazing story was famous through the best seller "The Cross and the Switchblade" with more than 15 million copies distributed in over 30 languages.

We in The Marita Foundation (Teen Challenge Norway), are proud to be a part of this world wide movement. Today, together with the rest of the Teen Challenge family, we are in grief over the loss of our "grandfather" David. Heaven has been enriched, but we suffered a great loss.