This article was written by Harry Edwards many years before he passed on, but his wise words apply equally well today as the drug menace continues its evil and destructive influencing at all levels of society

It is a tragedy that in these enlightened days the habit of taking drugs is so largely on the increase, and this should be the concern of spiritual healers. Drugs prescribed medically are also very much on the increase, too, and at a recent medical conference this practice was strongly condemned, and was described by one eminent surgeon as a?killer.?

Healers are not responsible for what doctors may do, but they should be concerned with drug- taking by both sexes as a form of stimulant and as an escape from the monotony of every-day life.

It is perhaps natural that young people in particular are out for new sensations and a fuller life, and without thought of the consequences they first of all try a ?tablet? just to see what the effect will be. They then become aware of stimulation, erotically, and sensuously, and so on occasions, when they are with their friends, they take the drugs to help them to be more alive, more ?with it.? The danger is that as the days go by, so they become more and more prone to this harmful artificial stimulus and acquire the drug habit which, if continued, saps their personality and they become a slave to drug addiction, which in the end leads to indescribable misery and an early passing.

It is generally useless to preach to those who have become addicts, they refuse the accept advice, for they feel they are superior to their advisers, who are old-fashioned and out of touch with modern life. Some time ago a doctor who accepted the truth that spiritual healing is a vital curative force, was responsible for a home where confirmed drug addicts were under medical treatment. Whenever this doctor had a difficult and obstinate case, he would write to me, describing the person and the need, and seek absent healing to rightly influence the sufferer to overcome the habit and co-operate more fully with the medical treatment. This produced a high measure of success, and the requests for spiritual healing for the unfortunate addicts became frequent.

The influencing of the mind, of the inner-self of patients suffering conditions of mental disharmony, frustrations, deep depressions, alcoholism, and drug addiction, by means of spiritual healing, has become clearly established. In my writings I have given many examples of this. It is very seldom that an addict will go to a healer for contact healing; indeed, I question very much whether contact healing is the best method. Should, however, an addict go to a healer, then much good will follow, if only for the reason the patient recognizes his need for healing and thus the healing intention has fertile ground which will respond to corrective influencing. Furthermore, by reason of the blending of the healer?s spirit personality with that of the patient, an effective entry is established for the healing purpose. Otherwise the best method is by absent healing.

It must be remembered that, as a rule, the cause of the mental weakness lies within the spirit mind or inner-self of the sufferer and this can best be reached on the same plane as it exists, namely, the spirit plane. Thus the corrective influencing from the spirit doctors soothes and calms the frustrations, and provided this is accepted by the normal physical mind, then the change in outlook and conduct often follows. So when healers hear of anyone who has become a victim of the drug habit, the seeking of remedial guidance through absent healing can be very effective.

I am becoming more and more aware of the value of healing as a preventative of sickness; therefore, when a healer hears of, say, a young person becoming difficult and irresponsible, neglecting home life, and causing concern to the family, this is a special case for absent healing to induce a more contented outlook with a more reasonable sense of perspective. This not only applies to teenagers and young adults but to children, too.

Although there may be no real satisfaction to the healer if he is unable to obtain definite evidence of progress? For this is often imperceptible day by day? He does have the reward in hearing, later on, that the patient is happier and contented, developing a sense of good conscience... then the healer will know that through his gift he has been able to give peace of mind and thus prevent the coming of disease.

Physical diseases are bad enough, but mental disease is often far more exacting. There is great joy when a healer sees the positive result in overcoming the stress of a joint locked by arthritis, but to heal an anguished mind, while not physically observable, is indeed a greater accomplishment, and even though the healer?s physical sensing may not be aware of this, his spirit self is enriched and his gift of healing enhanced.