Pope Francis welcomes participants to the 60th International Congress of Forensic Toxicologists: Increasing drug use among adolescents highlights the vulnerability of our society with excessive demands on performance and productivity.
(Vatican News Network)“Behind any addiction is its specific experience, loneliness, inequality, isolation and lack of integration. We should not treat it indifferently.” participants on 27 August. The Pope urged to take care of people living with drug addiction, listen to their pain and eliminate the vulnerabilities of our society.
“The Lord Jesus stopped and stepped forward to heal his wounds,” the Pope noted. “We, too, are called to act in His accessible style, to stop in front of those who are in vulnerable and suffering situations, to listen to the cries of loneliness and anxiety, to bow. Come down and raise those who have become drug slaves and bring them back to normal.”
In the letter, the Pope thanked the participants for their commitment to preventing and combating drug addiction and expressed concern about the rise in drug use among young people. Adolescence is already a critical stage, combined with the vulnerability and insecurity of today’s society, all of which makes young people prone to “dangerous choices and behaviors such as substance use, alcohol abuse” and so on.
In addition, there has been an increase in the use of doping in sports. This, according to the Pope, showed a “persistent desire” to achieve excellent results and brilliant performances “at any cost”. Such a phenomenon should prompt us to think about the “culture of efficiency and productivity” in modern society: this culture does not allow “fluctuations or failures”, but requires people to always live up to expectations, to demonstrate to others the image of success. others, rather than showing the fragility and weakness of the party. This is an insurmountable obstacle to the integral development of mankind.
The Pope last called on toxicologists to prevent and combat the drug scourge through educational, treatment and rehabilitation programs, to promote cultural models of high performance and productivity, and to encourage people, especially the young, to find meaning in life.
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