| WEEK EIGHT
|
| TOPIC
#1: Should Government Strategies to Combat Disease, Particularly HIV
Infection, Include Programs that Allow Addicts to Exchange Dirty
Needles for Clean Ones? |
| REQUIRED
STUDY:
Listen to Debate:
"Health
or Harm: The Impact of Needle Exchange" (NPR's "Justice
Talking"
series)
Read:
 YES:
"Needle Exchange, Homosexuality, and the Church: Reflections of an AIDS Witness" (By Rev. Jon
Fuller,
S.J., M.D.) For the topic of needle exchange, read only pages 1-11.
NO:
"Killing
Them Softly" (Joe Loconte, Policy Review of the Heritage
Foundation) and"Needle
Exchange Undermines Society" (Rev. Michael Orsi, S.J., Camden
Diocesan
Center and member of N.J. Governor's Advisory Council on AIDS, Atlantic
City Press, Oct. 17, 1998)
Note:
Please do not assume that the arguments or information in any of these
sources is irrelevant because they were written in 1998.
Reference
to the Clinton administration is dated, of course, but information
given
is still factual about the government's views and practices on this
issue
at that time. Because the Bush administration is opposed to
needle
exchange programs, I tried to find some some updated, substantive
reading
reflecting that view. I found nothing other than brief news
articles
and campaign speeches. After extensive searching in my dogged
determination
to find something, I finally ran into an explanation about why there is
a dearth of such information. You can read it by clicking here.
Based on my exhaustive search, that paragraph accurately summarizes the
Bush administration's views and approach. If anyone finds some
substantive
and appropriate reading for this class, please let me know. I
will
be searching again next summer.. --J.G.
|
OPTIONAL
STUDY LINKS:
"Does
HIV Needle Exchange Work?" (Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at
the
University of California San Franciso)
"The
Public Health Impact of Needle Exchange Programs in the U.S. and Abroad"
-- Prepared for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, by the
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley and
the
Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San
Francisco
Needle
Exchange Fact Sheet (Seattle and King County Public Health)
Fact
Sheet on Needle Exchange Programs (American Civil Liberties Union)
Fact
Sheet: Needle Exchange Programs: Part of a Comprehensive HIV Prevention
Strategy (Department of Health and Human Services)
"Needle
exchange sends mixed message," N.J. Gov. Christine Todd Whitman,
Letters
to the Editor, Trenton Times, May 19, 1998)
|
| TOPIC
#2: Should Women Who Abuse Drugs or Alcohol While Pregnant Be
Prosecuted
for Child Abuse or Endangerment? |
| REQUIRED
STUDY:
Listen to Debate:
"Addiction,
Abuse and the Impact of Prenatal Drug Use Laws" (NPR's "Justice
Talking"
series)
Read:
YES:
Majority
Opinion in South Carolina Supreme Court Case, Whitner
v. State (1997).
NO:
"Punish0ing
Women for Their Behavior During Pregnancy: An Approach That Undermines
Women's Health and Children's Interests," Part I
(By Lynn M. Paltrow, J.D., The Center for Reproductive Law &
Policy).
Also available as PDF
file on the website of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
|
OPTIONAL
STUDY LINKS:
National
Advocates for Pregnant Women (Comprehensive site with wealth of
resources:
articles, reports, cases, news, suggested reading and related links)
"Punishment
and Prejudice: Judging Drug-Using Pregnant Women" (By
Lynn M. Paltrow, J.D.)
"Pregnant
Drug Users, Fetal Persons and the Threat to Roe v. Wade," 62 Albany
Law Review 999 (1999) (PDF)
The
War On Drugs And The War On Abortion: Some Initial Thoughts On The
Connections,
Intersections And The Effects," 28 Southern University Law Review
201
(2001)
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