Pubdate: Sun, 05 Dec 2004
Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
Copyright: 2004 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc.
Contact:  http://www.journalnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504

REACHING DRUG DEALERS

Only time will tell how many of the dealers and users who took part in
the "Drug Dealers' Conference" at Union Baptist Church last month
really do give up using drugs and dealing them. It won't be many, if
history is any guide. But the church is to be commended for tackling
an issue head-on that too many houses of worship tiptoe around.

"Many times in church settings, we often stigmatize people because of
something they are doing," said the Rev. Sir Walter Mack Jr., the
pastor of Union Baptist, a big congregation known for progressive
social outreach. "But what we have learned this week is that these are
some good people who got into some tight situations, made some bad
decisions and got caught. This conference was about letting them know
that we're not giving up on them."

Plenty of churches have support programs for recovering addicts, but
not enough invite those still involved in drugs into their buildings,
as Union Baptist did. Some of the participants in the four-day
conference came voluntarily, and some had already kicked drugs. Others
were sent to the program by judges and rehab counselors, who strongly
recommended that they go.

They took workshops on subjects such as "The Hip-Hop Culture and My
Life," "Cleaning Up Your Record" and "Making the Transition to Do It
the Right Way." About 40 men and women graduated from the program,
although organizers said as many as 150 attended one workshop or another.

In comments to the Journal's Jessica Guenzel, some of the drug dealers
and users said the program helped them. "I've done everything - sold
drugs, shot people," one man said. "It's time to do something else. I
hate being broke like this now, but there's got to be a better way."

Another man said he was angry at first to be sent to the program. "But
once I started coming, on that very first day, I appreciated it," he
said. "I seen what was going on, what they were trying to do, and I
started appreciating myself a little better, thinking about the bad
things I was doing that I shouldn't have been. Everybody really put a
hand out to us."

It's good that Mack says his Winston-Salem church plans to offer the
program again next year. It's worth the effort if it reaches just a
few users and dealers and turns them around. More such programs are
needed.

That's because prison terms, even repeated ones, are not stopping many
users and dealers. The drug problem's not going away. Mack said he was
moved to start the program after he saw a drug dealer operating near
his church. But whether a house of worship is near a drug-plagued
neighborhood or miles away from one, its members are affected by
drugs, whether in taxes for prisons, the threat of related crimes such
as burglary and robbery, or other societal ills.
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