JAILED FOR MINISTRY

Prosecution On Drug Charges A Ridiculous Misuse Of
Law

There are all kinds of Christian ministries and some of them go beyond
the "norm." Some minister in prisons, some go to bars, others go to
foreign countries, some work in small rooms just translating Bibles
into rare languages.

Bill Day, goes along the streets of San Antonio trying to ease the
suffering of "the least" and now he and members of his group are
threatened with going to jail themselves.

Day, 73 and a retired real estate appraiser, co-founded the Bexar Area
Harm Reduction Center some years back, with the idea of handing out
clean syringes to poor diabetics and, yes, intravenous drug users.

The idea was to stop (or at least slow) the spread of hepatitis C and
HIV and, thus, to decrease suffering.

As it turns out, however, Texas is the only state in the union which
does not allow needle-exchange programs. There is some bi-partisan
support in the Texas legislature for the programs, but apparently not
enough to get the bill passed.

Some believe that needle exchanges encourage drug use. We don't know
what scientific studies would show, but we doubt that conclusion.

If dirty needles discouraged drug use, it would drop precipitously in
areas where there were no clean needles and rise greatly in other
areas. We don't think there is any evidence for that.

In any case Day and others on his board - mostly retired Christian
business people - have never made any secret about the fact that they
were giving away clean needles and picking up dirty ones. They would
go down the line of people at local soup kitchens and ask if anyone
needed a clean syringe.

Not only that, but Day met with the police to explain his mission and
give the license number of his van, all this according to the San
Antonio Express-News.

Then, earlier in January, a police officer saw Day and two members of
his board standing with a group of known prostitutes. Since what Day
is doing is against the law - he won't deny that - he was cited for
possession of drug paraphernalia, a class C misdemeanor punishable by
a fine of up to $500.

But it gets worse.

News reports from San Antonio now indicate that Day and the board
members are going to be charged with distribution of paraphernalia,
which can get them a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

What a ridiculous misuse of the law.

Intent is all-important in the law. If Day and his organization were
intending to make money from the sale of needles, or were
intentionally promoting drug use in any way, we would be the first to
call for their prosecution.

But Day is working both to ease suffering and to promote the general
public health. For that, he and his group are not being prosecuted,
they are being persecuted.

This points out that Texas needs to have some provision that allows
needle exchange programs - at the very least as a pilot project and
with responsible groups such as the Bexar Area Harm Reduction Coalition.

Bill Day is no criminal, he is closer to being a hero who is following
his faith and taking care of people when no one else wants to bother
with them.

He probably doesn't mind if that leads him to prison, but we do. We
all should.