It was a typically cold late-December afternoon, which meant the heaters inside the facility were on full blast. So much so that I shed my top layer and walked into the session wearing a simple T-shirt. I didn’t know the client with whom I was meeting; since I did crisis counseling, I often was called in randomly to meet with clients who were in distress and thinking of leaving rehab. Most of the time, I was successful in mitigating the crisis and convincing people that their stay in rehab was a blessing that they should appreciate. But from the first time I saw him, I knew that there was no way I’d be convincing him of anything. In fact, what happened convinced me that heroin addiction can DEFINITELY be a portal for demonic possession.

You read that correctly: Heroin addicts are ripe for demonic takeover. While there are many people who disagree with me and many more who think that there’s no such thing as demonic possession at all, I have no doubt that demonic possessions are real and that heroin addiction allows connection to malevolent spirits. On that particular December afternoon, I watched a man’s eyes turn blacker than obsidian when he saw me. The room should have been warm, but was at least 20 degrees colder than the hallway. But there were two (2) things that scared me in a way that I hadn’t experienced prior to that day: 1) his breath gave off the odor of rotten flesh; and, 2) the words he used coupled with the sound of his voice.

Many people who are detoxing tend to carry the most pleasant of odors, but his breath wasn’t human. It really was an odor of death and decay and was worse than anything I had ever smelled. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t just his breath, but his body stunk in a way that not even a carcass-filled dump could rival. I’ve been around a lot of gross stuff in my time, but his stench was simply evil. I did all I could to not gag and dry heave, but I wanted to.

When I asked him about leaving rehab, he simply stared at me with his black eyes. Really, they looked straight out of a cliché horror movie, but they were real and had nothing in them. I saw no semblance of life in his eyes; for a second, I thought maybe he was blind and that they were glass. But when he finally spoke, I had no doubt that he saw me because he referenced the color of my T-shirt. He said, “Your shirt is as black as the hole where my soul once was.” I got chills when I heard him speak; his voice was gravelly, deep, and harsh. I did my best to continue the session, but he only made evil comments about family and friends and I was so freaked out that I ended the session abruptly. He wasn’t just a heroin addict freaking out about detoxing; his former self was lost to what I can only describe as an evil spirit.

In the years that have followed that session, I have spent an inordinate amount of time looking for a connection between heroin and demonic possession. Because I live and work in Northern New Mexico, I have ample samples from which I can learn. And I think I have found a basis for my suspicion. Heroin addiction creates a “bizarro” version of a person that has lost personal will to the drug. That is, a long-time heroin user feels “normal” after using and becomes anxiety-ridden when not using. This anxiety creates a person whose only purpose is to use more heroin. There is no will for any other purpose. Because of the lack of personal will, a heroin addict seeking heroin is both fearful and unprotected against spiritual forces. An exorcist told me, recently, that there’s no such thing as an innocent possessed individual. In some way, the possessed person invited or allowed a demon to enter his being. A heroin addict will agree to anything to get heroin and when done through an exposed mindset, could even agree to evil.

I have quite a lot more work to do, but because I have seen many heroin addicts, I can safely say that there is definitely a link between heroin addiction and demonic possession. I will continue to gather hard evidence of this link, but I am certain that demonic possession is real. I have seen it and will probably see it again.