An alcoholic friend of famed author and speaker Philip Yancey was once purported to have said:

When I'm late to church, people turn around and stare at me with frowns of disapproval. I get the clear message that I m not as responsible as they are.

But when I'm late to AA, the meeting comes to a halt and everyone jumps up to hug and welcome me. They realize that my lateness may be a sign that I almost didn t make it. When I show up, it proves that my desperate need for them won out over my desperate need for alcohol.

If there was ever a David and Goliath battle, this is it. A pinhead-sized beetle, no more than a couple of millimetres long, versus a giant sequoia tree, taller than a football field and older than the Bible. And the tiny beetle, well, swarming armies of beetles, are winning. — Mark Saunokonoko, Senior Journalist, reporting for 9News.

And now, on the Western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, a giant Sequoia — one of many — lies rotting.

It was a growing sapling when Christ walked the shores of Galilee. When Columbus discovered America, it was reaching maturity, and it looked down from lofty heights during the American Civil War. It seemed destined to live many centuries more. 

Then, a few years ago, a tiny beetle started to burrow into its bark and lay eggs that would produce other beetles. It seemed like an unequal battle at first, but the few beetles multiplied into hundreds, then into thousands, and finally into millions. First they attacked the bark, then they worked deeper into the trunk, and finally, they were eating the very heart and strength of that magnificent forest giant. 

Then one day, after withstanding the elements for centuries, the rain came, the winds blew, the lightning flashed, and the giant tree fell. Not because of the elements, but because of the weakening effects of those tiny beetles. — Author Unknown

"The beetles," Saunokonoko continues, "Phloeosinus punctatus, bury inside the bark of the sequoias, eating the giants from the inside out, until they topple over and fall to the forest floor." 

Click into the article here to watch a video about the plight of the mighty Sequoias.

The drug problem has gotten so bad in our major cities, that Kyle Clark, a journalist and newscaster on 9News, Denver, Colorado, tweeted out this week that he has decided to carry Narcan* with him at all times.

“It’s a simple thing that we can do to save lives, as fentanyl kills hundreds of Coloradans a year. The City of Denver is now mailing Narcan to any resident who asks for it. … All across Colorado, you can ask for Narcan at a pharmacy and get it without a prescription. 

"If you know someone who is having an opioid overdose, you can easily administer Narcan as easily as you do an allergy spray, and potentially save their life. And it can’t hurt them or someone else accidentally. 

"We learn how to do the Heimlich Maneuver on the off chance that we could someday use it to save a life. Same thing with CPR. 

“I’m gonna carry Narcan; and I ask you to consider it, too.”

Note that Narcan does NOTHING to stop substance abuse. In fact, even its lifesaving, overdose-reversing effects are strikingly temporary, and further medical intervention has to be immediately sought, following its administration. 

As such, some commentators were quick to point out that such efforts might save a life “in the moment,” but the person will still die if their addiction is not permanently addressed.

*[Narcan according to the SAMHSA, is “a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. It is an opioid antagonist—meaning that it binds to opioid receptors and can reverse and block the effects of other opioids, such as heroin, morphine, and oxycodone, [and fentanyl."]