As The World Continues To Grow More Worrisome, People Seek Refuge In Drugs
12 September 2026: According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), Cannabis and hallucinogens stayed at historically high levels in 2023 among adults aged 19 to 30 and 35 to 50. Cigarettes and alcohol use continues to drop, however they are being replaced with drugs. The reasons for this are complex, from legalization to the alternative vaping products, people are finding easier to escape their reality using drugs.
“We have seen that people at different stages of adulthood are trending toward use of drugs like cannabis and psychedelics and away from tobacco cigarettes,” said Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). “These findings underscore the urgent need for rigorous research on the potential risks and benefits of cannabis and hallucinogens – especially as new products continue to emerge.”
The 2024 research showed that among women in 2023, for the first time, cannabis use is more prevalent than among men.
What Isn’t Being Discussed
One thing the study failed to mention even in a cursory way was the motivation. Right now, people may be thankful that the fentanyl crisis has stabilized, at least the overdose deaths are down. While fentanyl use may have decreased only slightly, thanks to the life-saving drug Narcan, deaths from overdose have been decreasing for the last three years.
The Bible Predicts This Trend
In this article, we will answer these questions:
- Is drug use mentioned in the Bible?
- What drives people to turn to drugs, according to the Bible?
- Is drug use a sign of the last days?
The motivations vary from person to person. However, the reasons are all reduced to a common denominator: Happiness. The single motivation for everything we do is happiness. That drives every decision we make; what will make us the happiest. When we’re happy, our brains releases dopamine and that makes us feel good. These drugs mimic the natural dopamine.
The Bible mentions drug use, but there are a few things that a person must understand in order to study the Bible correctly. At the time the Bible was translated into English, there wasn’t any type of modern drugs invented yet. Potions and elixirs were often made by people who indulged in witchcraft and the occult. So many times, when the Bible referenced drug use, the translators would call this ‘sorceries’.
This is proved true by a look at the original Greek. For example:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. – Revelation 9:21 KJV
When examining that text, the original Greek word behind “sorceries” is pharmakeia (φαρμακεία)—the root word from which we get our modern terms pharmacy, pharmacology, and pharmaceutical.
- Potions, Drugs, and Poisons: It literally referred to the preparation or use of medicinal herbs, drugs, potions, or intoxicating brews.
- The Occult and Magic: Because concoctions and elixirs were frequently mixed by sorcerers, ritualists, and occult practitioners to induce trances, hallucinations, or altered spiritual states, the word naturally came to describe magical arts and witchcraft.
But looking at it from this 21st century, it’s easy to see what the Bible’s actual meaning were. In fact, there are other verses in the Bible where the word sorceries is actually the word pharmakeia.
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee;
and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee:
for thy merchants were the great men of the earth;
for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. – Revelation 18:23 KJV
In the book of Galatians, the word pharmakeia is actually translated “witchcraft”.
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. – Galatians 5:20-21 KJV
The Bible calls these things ‘works of the flesh’ (Galatians 5:19). Works of the flesh are described as Lusts of the flesh, and are those things that give gratification to the mortal nature of our bodies. And that is exactly what the Bible tells us will be prevalent in the last days.
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. – 2 Timothy 3:1-5 KJV
As the time of the end draws nearer and nearer, we see a most remarkable thing: In every respect of today’s life, the Bible has accurately predicted these things. That’s because God is giving people every chance, every single opportunity, to recognize the times in which we live. The Bible is the most awesome, wonderful book in the history of man. It proves its supernatural origins by predicting the end from the beginning. Think of it: Here we are in 2026, and words written 2,000 years ago are proving true in this day and age.
The Bible predicts the future with 100% accuracy. There is no such thing as failed prophecies. There are simply prophecies that have come to pass, and those that have yet to come to pass. Once you make the decision to trust the authenticity of the Bible, it becomes miraculous to simply read the Bible. As you see the truth of the Bible unfold, you can clearly see God’s hand in the writing of this book.
Cannabis and hallucinogen use among adults remained at historic highs in 2023
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