A
religious person’s view
of the morality of needle exchange
by
Dawn Day
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An obligation to
try to save lives?
With the best of
intentions, our legislators passed laws prohibiting people from gaining
access to sterile needles – the legislators were trying to protect
people from the harm that comes from injecting drugs.
Medical science now tells us that these laws are not effective in
stopping drug use and are causing the further spread of HIV/AIDS.
It is a tragic
irony that the laws prohibiting access to sterile needles, laws meant to
protect people, are now the cause
of people dying from AIDS. As
a religious person, I feel I have an obligation to work to correct this
deadly situation.
If a woman has a
life-threatening hemorrhage after giving birth, we want the doctor to
provide medical treatment at once. We do not want the doctor to first
inquire about the circumstances under which the woman became pregnant.
When an ambulance
goes to the scene of an accident, we want all those who need help to be
treated, even the person who caused the accident.
When medical
science has provided a way to treat an illness, we want that knowledge
used on every person it will help.
We do not wish medical care to be given only to those whose
behavior is beyond reproach – so few of us would be eligible.
Of course, medical
interventions go way beyond pills, bandages, and surgery.
In the name of public health, we remove asbestos, cover over
lead-based paint, and purify water.
Our medical experts
tell us that making sterile needles available to persons who inject
drugs will slow the spread of HIV/AIDS and not increase drug use.
Making sterile needles available to those who inject drugs is a
proven medical intervention.
God has led our
medical scientists to the knowledge of how to slow the spread of the
deadly HIV/AIDS virus – by stopping the sharing of dirty needles. We have an obligation to accept this gift of knowledge and
use it.
There is a
dangerous curve in the road. One
speeding driver dies. Then
another. Then another. They should not be speeding.
They are responsible. But
we know the curve is dangerous. Don’t
we have an obligation to post a warning sign?
Put in a stop light? Change
the traffic pattern? Perhaps
even straighten the road?
And the driver is
not always alone. Sometimes
a wife or husband is along. Sometimes
a newborn child.
And so it is with
injecting drugs in the age of AIDS.
People who inject drugs know they are taking a risk.
But we know too.
I believe we have
an obligation to permit people who inject drugs to have access to
sterile needles so they can protect their health.
Injection drug users are also God’s children.
And, like the
reckless driver in the example above, people who inject drugs have
wives, husbands, and babies. When
we abandon the person who injects drugs to HIV/AIDS, we are abandoning
their non-drug-injecting partners and babies as well.
God has given us
knowledge with which to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS to all these
people. Let us use it.
Excerpt from Dawn Day. 1996. "A religious person's view of the moral issues related to the spread of HIV/AIDS among injection drug users." The pioneers of reform: reflections + visions." Washington, D.C.: Drug Policy Foundation. October. pages 15-16.
For a list of other materials used on this website, see References.
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