Why Did God Create Substances Which Create Both Pleasure and Addiction?

Published May 19, 2010

One relatively benign example is coffee. Coffee tastes great to certain people, but if you try to go cold-turkey and quit drinking it, you’ll suffer from withdrawal symptoms for days.

Harsher examples are crack cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, morphine. Each of these cause various extremely pleasurable reactions in people, but if they’re abruptly discontinued, the user can go through extreme withdrawal.

I can understand God tempting people with sexual pleasures, adrenaline rushes like skydiving, or masturbation, because these have relatively no “strings” attached, you can choose not to have sex or not to masturbate or not to jump out of a plane. However, with addictive drugs, although you can easily choose not to try the drug, once you’re in its grip it is for some impossible to extricate themselves.

Why would God create these types of substances, dooming some with addictive tendencies to a life of drug abuse?
Wow, 3 answers and not a snippet of the Scripture in one of ’em! I’m impressed.
hasse_john: Right, so crack cocaine is medicine? I don’t see it being passed out through government-approved pharmacies. And what does it treat, a specific ailment or does it just help the user completely ignore any other symptoms whatsoever, at least until the high wears off?
wiccanhpp: Are you familiar with endorphins? If I recall correctly these are analogs of morphine which our own bodies produce. If God made us, It made endorphins. Crack, cocaine, meth, these things are God’s creations, actually, because if God exists and made this world, it made these substances possible.
Luke Weiss: Well, some people don’t get off addictive drugs until they DIE, does that count??
Victor H: You’re a lousy troll, may God help you improve your technique!
Green Eyes: Notice I haven’t blocked you? It’s tempting, but something compels me not to, perhaps it’s God?
Spacebunny’s Shadow: What about “crack babies”, born to mothers who were in the throes of addiction? They emerge from the womb suffering withdrawal symptoms among a host of other complications. Also, what about a person who is kidnapped and forcibly injected with heroin or cocaine, they may be a teetotaler and not even touch alcohol, yet someone has forced this substance (which I would argue IS in fact a creation of God, regardless of whether the chemist who “cooked” it is human).

Why Did God Create Substances Which Create Both Pleasure and Addiction?

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