Drug Abuse and the Mormon Church

Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Salt Lake City, UT, Source/Author David Iliff a/k/a Diliff (License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported)

In the investigative series Drugs, Inc.:  The Fix, National Geographic explores drug use in several American large cities.  The program focusing on Salt Lake City (titled “City of Saints and Sinners”), from which this post is derived, can be viewed on NatGeo TV, Sling TV, DirecTV, Amazon Prime, and elsewhere [1].

Mormonism

The Mormon religion plays a major role in Salt Lake City, which was founded in 1847 by Mormon pioneers.  Some 48-49% of Salt Lake County’s population identify as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [2].

The LDS Church is a variant on Christianity, not viewed by most Christians as a legitimate denomination.  There are significant differences which will not be detailed here [3].  LDS Church members, however, pride themselves on living sober, conservative, law-abiding lives.  The use of illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and “hot drinks” (interpreted as coffee and tea) is strictly forbidden.

Grey Area

Prescription drugs like Xanax, Hydrocodone, Percocet, and the highly prized OxyContin fall into a grey area, and are mistakenly viewed as “safe”, since they are physician recommended.  The attraction for users is that these provide chemical relaxation (until addiction develops).

When funds for costly opioids run out, there is a rapid transition by addicts to the less expensive alternatives of heroin and methamphetamine.

Secrecy and Rationalization

There is a heavy focus in the LDS Church on success, and maintaining an appearance of perfection.  For that reason, drug abuse is never acknowledged and never discussed.  For fear of public exposure, families will frequently hide drug paraphernalia before allowing EMTs to treat individuals who have overdosed.

Such secrecy protects drug users and drug dealers alike (creating a high profit/low risk environment for the latter).

The LDS Church will excommunicate known drug dealers, but offers extensive support to addicts.  The culture of secrecy around drug abuse, however, allows respected church members – even some high-ranking church leaders, who seem to be model citizens – to act anonymously as dealers.

These men rationalize that they are “doing God’s work” by providing what addicts need to counter dope sickness; and that someone else would provide the drugs, if they did not.  This is self-delusion.  The same men may actually tithe from their drug profits.

Though Mexican drug cartels like Sinaloa (formerly led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman) have now infiltrated Salt Lake City, many local gang members involved in the drug trade still claim to be churchgoing Mormons.

Religiosity and Perfection

This is a story of pain, physical and emotional.  It is not confined to Salt Lake City, to Utah, or to the LDS Church.  It does though illustrate that religiosity – the mere appearance of religious fervor – is not sufficient to transform lives.  Only God can do that, and only if we truly surrender to Him.

All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3: 23).  It is useless to adopt an appearance of perfection.  We may as well admit our flaws.  He knows our heart, in any case.  And He will be the judge — not our family, not our neighbors, not our friends.  Not any of those we may be seeking to impress.

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[1]  TVDB, Drugs, Inc.:  The Fix, S2 E17, “City of Saints and Sinners”, first aired 7/24/19,  https://thetvdb.com/series/345349-show/episodes/7293320.

[2]  Mike Gravel, “What Percent of Salt Lake is Mormon?” by Mark Anderson, 3/3/24, https://www.mikegravel.org/what-percent-of-salt-lake-is-mormon/#google_vignette.

[3]  Clearly Reformed, “7 Reasons Why Mormonism and Christianity Are Not the Same” by Kevin De Young, 6/5/23, https://clearlyreformed.org/7-reasons-why-mormonism-and-christianity-are-not-the-same/.

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https://avoicereclaimed.com