Morals & ethics behind supporting certain mission efforts?

[steve-in-kville]

We have a variety of folks here that like to think through things and I hope this subject can be discussed in a mature manner and not get political more than it has to be.

I was recently made aware of most likely the biggest drug problem we have in American in Kensington Philidelphia, which is closer to home for me than I care for it. Some of my coworkers that drive truck go through that area weekly and have told me the stories. I have also done some research, watched YouTube vids and so on. My heart really goes out to those folks. It is not just Fentanyl that is being used my something called "tranq" which is basically livestock tranquilizers. And they're mixing the two together and becoming zombies, hence the name "Zombieland" for that neighborhood.

Here is my dilemma: I found a mission that goes out into the streets and helps these people with food and housing, counseling, etc. The kicker is, they supply these poor folks with clean needles and crack pipes to help stop the spread HIV and such. To that end, they also distribute Narcan to people on the street. I get it, really I do, but would this qualify as "enabling" the addiction?

[Josh]

Kensington is indeed pretty horrible, although there are some (liberal) Mennonite groups trying to engage in church planting and other social services efforts there, like an Everence branch, in partnership with the community clinic there that opened as a sort of "public space" (except privately owned, so they can kick things like drug pushers out).

There is debate around needle exchange, etc. programs, but I would say that giving needles to drug addicts and crack pipes is enabling their addictions, and would not participate in such a thing. There are other ways to offer services to help someone get clean. Ultimately, stopping using drugs isn't that hard. When someone truly hits rock bottom, they'll stop using and get clean.

[steve-in-kville]

Kensington is indeed pretty horrible, although there are some (liberal) Mennonite groups trying to engage in church planting and other social services efforts there, like an Everence branch, in partnership with the community clinic there that opened as a sort of "public space" (except privately owned, so they can kick things like drug pushers out).

There is debate around needle exchange, etc. programs, but I would say that giving needles to drug addicts and crack pipes is enabling their addictions, and would not participate in such a thing. There are other ways to offer services to help someone get clean. Ultimately, stopping using drugs isn't that hard. When someone truly hits rock bottom, they'll stop using and get clean.

Thank you for your reply. Not sure I agree with all of it, but I understand your point of view. I have a special place in my heart for substance abuse addicts. I've seen both sides of drug addiction, and you're right, many times it takes a rock bottom to get clean and sober.

Wasn't aware there were Mennonite groups active in that area.

[Josh]

As far as I know, one of the things they are trying to do in Kensington is provide services for people who aren't drug addicts or criminals, but are just poor people who are stuck living there, who face a rather hard life. I think that's a good approach to take. Most of these people can't speak English and a lot don't even know Spanish either.

[Judas Maccabeus]

For the record, needle exchanges are as much to keep them from infecting others as themselves.

About Tranq- It s a veterinary drug, Xylazine. It is an animal tranquilizer, not an opiate, so if someone ODs, Narcan is ineffective, and won’t help. It causes soft tissue necrosis at injection sites, which normally get infected, requiring skin grafting to repair. People with these necrotic ulcers have a distinctive smell, that once you know what you are smelling, you won’t forget.

It is mixed with fentanyl and sold. Hit here about two years ago. Bad news.

[Ken]

We have a variety of folks here that like to think through things and I hope this subject can be discussed in a mature manner and not get political more than it has to be.

I was recently made aware of most likely the biggest drug problem we have in American in Kensington Philidelphia, which is closer to home for me than I care for it. Some of my coworkers that drive truck go through that area weekly and have told me the stories. I have also done some research, watched YouTube vids and so on. My heart really goes out to those folks. It is not just Fentanyl that is being used my something called "tranq" which is basically livestock tranquilizers. And they're mixing the two together and becoming zombies, hence the name "Zombieland" for that neighborhood.

Here is my dilemma: I found a mission that goes out into the streets and helps these people with food and housing, counseling, etc. The kicker is, they supply these poor folks with clean needles and crack pipes to help stop the spread HIV and such. To that end, they also distribute Narcan to people on the street. I get it, really I do, but would this qualify as "enabling" the addiction?

What you are talking about is what is known as the "Harm Reduction" approach. And there is a whole non-profit industry built up around harm reduction. With the advent of fentanyl (and meth) it has been pretty well discredited across the country. What might have perhaps made some sense in the days of heroin no longer makes sense with a drug as powerful as fentanyl.

Getting people off drugs should be the priority, not getting them to use drugs more safely. And yes, what you are describing is enabling the addiction.

[ABC 123]

Probably the best way to help effect change in those areas is to reach the children. The adults are often so entrenched in their habits there is no real way out for them.

Understandably, the parents need help if the children will be helped, but maybe sometimes it is just a lost cause and someone needs to step in and just parent the children, maybe through mentorships or kids clubs if not all out fostering and adopting.

[barnhart]

I don't know much about this specific community but areas of urban decay and drug abuse are often heavily populated by people who moved there from other places. I see value in searching out the push factors that drove them out of their original communities and working to stop the system on that end.

[Ken]

I don't know much about this specific community but areas of urban decay and drug abuse are often heavily populated by people who moved there from other places. I see value in searching out the push factors that drove them out of their original communities and working to stop the system on that end.

To be sure, there are those who are fleeing abuse and other egregious circumstances. But often that is not the case. It is the addiction that is pulling them into the streets.

For example, my wife has a colleague (another doctor) whose daughter has fallen into this cycle of living a violent addicted lifestyle on the streets. They have desperately tried every single remedy and intervention and have spent enormous amounts of time and money trying to rescue her from her demons and addiction. Most recently they had her enrolled in some sort of expensive private rehab center. She somehow managed to walk out of it, hooked back up with some of her criminal* druggie friends, and they showed up back home in the middle of the night to rob the parents at gunpoint to pay for more drugs.

At this point they do not know where she is or what she is doing. Is she even technically homeless? Not really. She would have a home to go back to in an instant if she chose to turn herself around. Her bedroom is empty and there waiting for her. Even with as many bridges as she has burned, her parents would probably take her back for another try because that is what parents do.

So what is driving her actions? Is it the "push" or the "pull?"

*Yes, I'm using the term in the usual descriptive sense. I do not know that any of these people have actually been convicted of felonies.

[Biblical Anabaptist]

We have a variety of folks here that like to think through things and I hope this subject can be discussed in a mature manner and not get political more than it has to be.

I was recently made aware of most likely the biggest drug problem we have in American in Kensington Philidelphia, which is closer to home for me than I care for it. Some of my coworkers that drive truck go through that area weekly and have told me the stories. I have also done some research, watched YouTube vids and so on. My heart really goes out to those folks. It is not just Fentanyl that is being used my something called "tranq" which is basically livestock tranquilizers. And they're mixing the two together and becoming zombies, hence the name "Zombieland" for that neighborhood.

Here is my dilemma: I found a mission that goes out into the streets and helps these people with food and housing, counseling, etc. The kicker is, they supply these poor folks with clean needles and crack pipes to help stop the spread HIV and such. To that end, they also distribute Narcan to people on the street. I get it, really I do, but would this qualify as "enabling" the addiction?

2 families from our congregation recently moved to 6th Street Mission in Philadelphia which is about 1 1/2 miles from Kensington