Clergy Speaks Out Against 'The War On Drugs'

Film maker and author Mike Gray in cooperation with the US-based Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative has created the following two part documentary entitled "Clergy Speaks Out Against The War On Drugs". The title is pretty self explanatory. Advocates and institutions that support prohibition often assume the hue of religious dogma, and drug warriors regularly appeal to religious morality to justify the continuation of a policy that simply cannot stand any objective scrutiny. So it is welcome to see religious leaders exercising their moral authority to speak out against the injustice and inhumanity of the drug war.

"It's so important for us, as both religious leaders... as members of congregations, to resist any sort of complicity, any sort of willingness to go along with this, because I think that ultimately really compromises our life of faith and our own morality."

- Father Earl Kooperkamp, St. Mary's Episcopal

"I would hold the religious community responsible for that. I think it's an aspect of American puritanism/ And then we got into hysteria around that -- in a way it's a projection of anxiety onto certain people, again for puritanical purposes. And so, once we went down this path, then fueled by religious communities who supported it, it just picked up steam. And now it's one of the reasons that we, as religious leaders, need to speak out against it, because we were responsible for it."

- The Very Rev. Scott Richardson, St. Paul's Episcopal, San Diego

"It needs to be repealed. It can't be just reformed. The whole system has to.. the whole drug policy and those laws have to be repealed."

- Sister Marion Defeis, Catholic prison chaplain, ret.

Part One is the main documentary and it is less than twelve minutes. Part two are edited "out takes" of greater length which expand upon the message.

part one



part two



more comment from religious leaders on drug polciy and law reform