DRUG users should be treated with sympathy and sensitivity, the General Synod was told yesterday.
Michael Brown Religious Affairs Correspondent
Academic pharmacologist Helen Leathard told members of the Church of England's parliament, which was meeting in York, that people should stop "demonising" drugs and drug users.
Instead they should try to see drug addicts as Jesus saw them – as "neig
hbours in need of loving care". Anglicans and other church people must also take responsibility to ensure that they were well-informed "before making judgments about drug-related matters," Professor Leathard urged.
She was calling successfully for "informed and Christ-centred discussions" with experienced drug workers, pharmacologists and healthcare professionals on how the Church can be involved with secular agencies working in the field.
She said: "There is an urgent need to promote the application of Christ's ministry of healing, in an authentic way, to those suffering through misuse of drugs – those who misuse them, the families and friends who suffer with them and the victims of crimes committed to support their habits."
People should recognise that "most of us" take drugs – as medicines or recreationally in the form of alcohol or tea or coffee, she said.
But opposition to Prof Leathard's move was voiced by Sheila Grieve, a Chester general practitioner who runs a clinic for addicts.
Addicts were "rascals, ruffians and thieves but loveable people who make you cry and give you joy and are great fun," she said.
"But we need to be aware of a naive involvement in this sort of thing," she added, "and this kind of thing does need funding."
Bishop of Birmingham John Sentamu called for discussions on drug abuse with people of other faiths.
