Henry C. Lozano, 77, spent years of his youth addicted to heroin and smuggling drugs between the California-Mexico borders. Facing major charges, the former drug addict found himself in federal prison. But, despite it all, Christ changed his life and equipped him to serve.
In his book “Borderlands: One Man’s Journey from Addict to Advocate,” coming October 23, 2026, Lozano shares how for so many years he spent his life in the darkness of drug abuse, until Christ shined His light and gave him a newfound freedom to share.
“Crossing the border to buy and sell drugs became my priority, and eventually I landed in a federal penitentiary. After years of journeying into further darkness, I encountered Light and was jolted, electrified, out of my addiction…,” Lozano wrote. “I crossed into a new life of faith and freedom, determined to help others…The borderlands were my community. Addiction became my life. But Christ is the Light that eventually lit up my darkness. This is my story.”
After his release from federal prison, Lozano – like most – thought his life was irredeemable and permanently marred by his mistakes. Still facing temptations, Lozano, through his graduation from and eventual established leadership roles in the Christian Teen Challenge Ministry, accepted Christ and gained a new life perspective surrounded with like-minded believers.
“My struggles didn’t end,” Lozano wrote. “I was still vulnerable, still healing and rebuilding from all the years of heroin addiction. Sometimes I thought about the heroin in that garage, about how easy it would have been to get one more shot. But God always gave me a way to resist. One way He empowered me was the ever-present Spirit working in my life. Another way was through the community of genuine believers He surrounded me with, devoted disciples dedicated to God’s truth.”
After finding freedom from addiction through Christ, Lozano committed himself to help others struggling with addiction.
In 1985, Lozano co-founded Red Ribbon Week, the largest and longest-running drug-use prevention and awareness campaign in the United States, from October 23rd through the 31st in honor his late friend Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent who was murdered on the job.
Then, in 1996, Lozano founded Californians for Drug-free Youth, a non-profit organization working to bring parents, youth, schools and neighborhoods together to create and support safe and healthy communities. He served as the President and CEO of the organization until 2007.
Lozano’s leadership did not stop there, it extended to the White House, helping millions of U.S. and international addicts along with their families to heal from the scars of drug abuse.
In 2002, President George W. Bush announced Lozano as a co-chair of the White House Drug-Free Communities Advisory Commission. And in 2007, he was appointed as the deputy assistant to President Bush and director of the USA Freedom Corps.
In all of his many accomplishments, Lozano shared in an exclusive interview with Brian C. Nixon – the co-author of Lozano’s book “Borderlands: One Man’s Journey from Addict to Advocate” – the big hope behind his leadership and his story.
“The grandest hope I have is that this gracious God is heard about everywhere we go. This book and this issue of drug abuse opens that door because most families just don’t know how to deal with that and the people who are addicts don’t know how to deal with it,” Lozano shared. “There’s an opportunity here to reach the populations we want to reach like never before by using this world situation right now and fascination with drugs.”
For Lozano, fulfilling this grandest hope requires a commitment to and belief in the grace and power of God to clear the way to free those in the bondage of addiction.
“If we commit ourselves to actually believe that this gracious God of ours is going to go before us and open the doors, and then we look for the doors to be open and do what we know we have to do, something gracious and powerful will transpire.”
Printed copies of Lozano’s book “Borderlands: One Man’s Journey from Addict to Advocate” will be available to order, via Amazon only, on October 23, 2026, the first day of Red Ribbon Week.
The eBook version will also be available on October 23, 2026 on multiple platforms including Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, Google Play Books, and Kobo along with the Audiobook on Audible, Apple Audiobooks, Google Play Audio and Kobo Audio.
