FOR GROWTH Cultivating Legacies
While he was often around family and friends who engaged in activities, Edward McGhee has never used drugs. “I just haven’t had that desire. I had alcohol once on my prom night but never drank it again,” he said.Though he’s maintained a personal separation from these substances, he’s had a close experience with their devastating effects. He lost his oldest son to addiction. “The most traumatic experience happened about three years ago. Ed’s wife called me saying she’d just come home from work and found him unresponsive. I jumped in my car and went over to where he lived.”When McGhee arrived, he went to his son’s room and found him lying in the bed. I stood over him and saw my son had overdosed.” In the years since his son’s death, McGhee has been starting and continuing conversations in Cleveland and surrounding areas around the detrimental effects drugs and alcohol bring to communities. “Drugs are a weapon specifically intended to subjugate certain segments of society.Three out of five people in prison are there for drug-related crimes.The prison system needs people in it, so these industries are intricately connected.” As a pastor, McGhee says he is committed to involving the faith-based community in discussions around substance abuse awareness. “On any given Sunday, I not only see people struggling because they’re on drugs, but I also see families
struggling because their loved ones are on drugs. So the church is a natural point of reference that needs to bring about solutions to the problem.” He often teaches about strategic methods behind the industries that thrive on addiction. “People are being manipulated and victimized by those in power and with seats of authority.” He references common examples like beer commercials that portray blissful scenes of amusement and harmony that can only exist with the presence of an alcoholic product. “What you see in these 30-second clips is superficial. All too often, a viewer doesn’t look at what could happen if those products are abused.”
“I want to help parents and guide them and be the support for them in ways I didn’t know how to be for my son.”
-Edward McGhee
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