March 7, 2008
RELIGIOUS EXCHANGE
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Mary Jo Iozzio of the Society of Christian Ethics speaking
on needle exchange |
With the chances of repealing the federal funding ban on needle exchange programs looking better than ever, religious leaders gathered in D.C. on Tuesday for a historic meeting about the moral and religious arguments for allowing states to use federal HIV/AIDS prevention dollars for needle exchange and to make plans to lobby members of Congress on the issue.
The Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative (IDPI) and the Drug Policy Alliance organized a panel discussion called "The Moral Imperative for Needle Exchange: Religious Leaders Speak Out" that included representatives from the Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations in Washington, D.C., the Peace Baptist Church, as well as the Society of Christian Ethics which is comprised of nearly 1,000 Christian ethics professors.Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C. at large) also attended.
While many religious denominations have long supported needle exchange programs—including the Presbyterian Church USA, Union for Reform Judaism and the Unitarian Universalist Association—this was the first time that a broad array of religious leaders have come together to speak in favor of needle exchange funding. Scientists have been telling Congress for years that needle exchange decreases HIV and hepatitis C infections and doesn't increase drug use. Harm reduction advocates are hoping that having religious leaders deliver the message will make new inroads on lifting the federal ban.
"Why would anyone oppose needle exchange, except for a misguided sense of morality?" asked Charles Thomas, the executive director of the IDPI. "The only reason to oppose it would be a gut level reaction of 'It's wrong to use drugs.' When you look at a more sophisticated theological analysis, there is a primacy on human life."
'Listening to science'
The IDPI plans to organize D.C.-based religious leaders to meet with members of Congress who share their faiths and explain supporting needle exchange from a faith perspective. Thomas noted that when an IDPI intern called D.C.'s religious leaders this summer, of the 60 reached by phone, the vast majority supported needle exchange once the issue was explained to them. That response was echoed in another survey of ministers in Temple, Texas, by a student at Rice University. "Most hadn't really thought about it," said Thomas. "It's about building a critical mass."
One religious group that hasn't rallied behind needle exchange yet is evangelical Christians, according to Bill Martin a senior fellow for religion and public policy at Rice's James A. Baker III Institute, and a Billy Graham biographer. Martin, who attended Tuesday's forum, thinks the historically conservative group can be convinced to support the scientifically proven HIV prevention method.
"Creating a movement is a bit of a long shot, but there is certainly the possibility for more openness. There is an opening to listening to the science and not simply making statements," Martin said, citing the increasing support of evangelical leaders for the fight to stop global warming, as well as the trend in the last ten years from "the shunning of people with HIV/AIDS to the formation of significant AIDS organizations."
Last year, Congress repealed the ban on Washington, D.C., spending its own funds on needle exchange. Nationally, there are more than 210 needle exchange programs in place in 36 states, and approximately half of the programs receive local or state funding.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30 percent of AIDS cases in the U.S. were related to injection drug use, people having sex with injection drug users, or someone being born to a mother who was infected by a contaminated syringe. Advocates have estimated that as many as 300,000 Americans could contract HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C over the next decade unless the federal needle exchange ban is repealed.