FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Charles Thomas, Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative executive director,
301-938-1577
BALTIMORE -- The Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative (IDPI) enlisted
the help of the Rev. Dr. Arnold W. Howard of Enon Baptist Church
in Baltimore to give public witness to the positions of a growing
number of religious denominations calling on Congress to make
a compassionate shift in its drug policies.
“Jesus said, you judge a tree by the fruit it bears. It
is no surprise that our punitive approach to drug abuse has bared
the fruit of chaos on our streets, insanity in our courtrooms,
and delusion in the halls of Congress,” said Rev. Howard
today at a press conference in front of U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings’
district office.
Both Rep. Cummings and Rev. Howard are members of the Progressive
National Baptist Convention (PNBC). The PNBC was made prominent
by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and has always been very
outspoken on social justice issues. Recently, the denomination
took an historic stand against some of the greatest injustices
of the misguided War on Drugs.
While applauding Rep. Cummings for supporting a bill to repeal
harsh mandatory minimum sentencing, IDPI urges Cummings to have
a change of heart on some other urgent issues: For example, last
year Cummings voted to support the White House’s raids against
medical marijuana patients and providers in California and other
states with supportive medical marijuana laws (such as Maryland).
“The federal government, in a despicable show of bravado,
is even waging war on legitimate seriously ill patients who use
medical marijuana with the approval of their doctor,” said
Rev. Howard.
IDPI Executive Director Charles Thomas said in a written statement,
“There is a crucial shift occurring among people of faith
in this country in how they view the Drug War. They are recognizing
that aggressive criminal justice approaches to drugs are not only
counterproductive, but inhumane. In droves, the faith community
is crying out for more compassionate and effective alternatives.”
[Note:
For a list of religious denominations that have taken a position
in favor of medical marijuana, restoring financial aid to college
students with drug convictions, and ending harsh mandatory minimum
drug sentencing please click here.]
“For fear of moral outrage, there has been an unspoken rule
in Congress for the last thirty years that drug laws must keep
getting harsher and more punitive, regardless of the results of
such policies,” said Rev. Howard. As the U.S. secures its
role as the leading incarcerator in the world with over two million
people behind bars, Rev. Howard points out that “these laws
are not keeping drugs off the streets, but they are making free
black men an endangered species in our communities. I pray that
we all gain the courage to challenge our retributive desires and
chart a new course toward healing, compassion, and love.”
The Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative organizes religious denominations,
clergy, and people of faith nationwide, behind more compassionate
and less coercive drug policies.
Interfaith
Drug
Policy Initiative, P.O.
Box 6299, Washington, D.C. 20015
Phone: 301-933-7681 Fax:301-933-7682 |
