Condemned
To Death By Christian `Principles'
Tony
Hewison (The Age 22/4/00)
What
an inspiration to see the Primate of the Anglican
Church in Australia, Archbishop Peter Carnley, came
out in favour of trialing supervised injecting rooms
for heroin addicts, and advocating making drugs
available to addicts. How predictable the response
of his brother archbishop in Sydney, many evangelical
Christians and some politicians, including the Premier
of Western Australia.
Those
of us who profess a Christian commitment must tackle
the use of drugs from two closely related perspectives;
the first as Christians; the second, infused by
our Christian belief, as citizens.
As
Christian citizens, the truth is undeniable. First,
despite some considerable success on the part of
law enforcers, illegal drugs continue to flow into
this country.
Second,
this supply does not create the market. The market
is fuelled by the supply, but if there were no market
there would be no supply.
Third,
while we can identify various common factors that
help to explain some people's attraction to drugs,
we are not much wiser as to why some people are
attracted to drugs and others in similar circumstances
are not, and why some who are attracted become addicted,
while others do not.
The
fourth fact is so self-evident that it is distressing
it is necessary to state it. No-one chooses to become
addicted. Some people are in such a state of despair
that they appear to not care, but addiction is not
a lifestyle choice, like preferring chardonnay to
shiraz.
Fifth,
if we have learnt anything, it is that the problem
cannot be solved by law enforcement alone.
Sixth,
drugs are in some way related to 90 percent or more
of the circumstances that fill our prisons.
Seventh,
the cost to the community of law enforcement, prison
maintenance and medical and paramedical assistance
is astronomical.
Eighth,
as citizens, Christians or not, we rightly feel
oppressed by the violence often related to drugs
on our streets, by public drug use and by the litter
of used needles.
Ninth,
most of those who speak against supervised injection
trials are those whose comfort zones are least invaded
by the drug problem.
And
the 10th fact, and a very powerful fact, too, is
that those most experienced with dealing with the
problems in one-to-one situations, such as the police
and ambulance workers, are most frequently well
represented among those who recognise that so-called
`zero tolerance' and the use of the criminal justice
system simply do not work.
As
citizens we are obliged to face the problem, acknowledge
that as a society we are not solving it, and support
measures that will at least be in line with reality.
As
Christians, we have a further focus. Jesus did not
shunt the outcasts of society─the prostitutes
and the tax collectors. Each member of the Church
is obliged to seek out those who are in need of
love. It is Christian love that should drive each
one of us to help those who suffer and to help rescue
those lives. It is not surprising that it was the
Sisters of Mercy and the Uniting Church who first
offered to run injecting rooms in Sydney. The Church
cannot turn its back on the suffering on our streets.
Injecting
rooms should not be sterile hostile places, but
warm comforting centres staffed by men and women
who love, so that addicts will be attracted to them.
Heroin should be made available, not to encourage
the users in their drug taking, but to help break
the nexus between drug addiction and thefts, burglaries
and assaults, and to separate the users from the
suppliers. There is also the guarantee that the
heroin is as safe as it can be, and safely injected,
reducing the possibility of fatal injection and
of death by overdose.
With
the safe injecting environment goes counselling
and practical help, counselling not just directed
to drug taking but to the whole lifestyle and personal
problems of the addicts which underlie his or her
drug taking.
The
purpose of injecting rooms and the free supply of
heroin is to wind back the use of drugs, not to
encourage it. If a trial is not successful, then
obviously we must rack our brains and try something
else.
What
we do know is that if we continue to allow heroin
use to belong to the street, the problem will become
larger, not smaller. We have reached a point where
those of us whose comfort zones are least invaded
will not be able to continue to ignore the problem,
or pontificate about the virtues of so-called `zero
tolerance'.
If
we get heroin use off the streets and away from
the suppliers, then we can begin in our schools
to look more closely at the societal and personal
causes of addiction, before drugs take control.
Then, perhaps, someone will be able to explain to
me why those cheerful, lively children I once knew
died of overdoses in their 20s. And perhaps also,
I shall live free of the fear of hearing of another
past student whom we as a society have condemned
to die because of our neglect and because we have
put `principles' before love.
Tony
Hewison was headmaster of St Michael's Grammar School
from 1980 until his retirement last year. Email:
ahewison@primus.com.au
