Although addiction may severely weaken an individual's will and its consequences greatly restrict his freedom, his agency remains intact. The divine gift still flickers in the darkness. Elder Boyd K. Packer said, "It is contrary to the order of heaven for any soul to be locked into compulsive, immoral behavior with no way out" (Ensign, November 1986, p. 18). Thus the person in the grips of dependence who has surrendered his or her will to addictive behavior still has one final remaining freedom, one last desperate choice: the choice to cry for help.


Anne Osborn Poelman, The Amulek Alternative: Exercising Agency in a World of Choice [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1997], 42.