3min chapter

The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie cover image

Christina Dent: The Evangelical Christian Fighting To End the Drug War

The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie

CHAPTER

Intro

This chapter explores the journey of an evangelical Christian transforming their views on addiction and drug policy. It highlights their shift from traditional beliefs to advocating for health-centered solutions and a compassionate understanding of substance abuse.

00:00
Speaker 2
This is the Reason interview with Nick Gillespie. I'm Billy Binion, guest hosting for Nick. Our guest this week is Christina Dent, whose organization, End It For Good, seeks to change the approach to addiction from a criminal justice issue to a health-centered one. But Dent is not your typical anti-drug war activist. She's an evangelical Christian who believes legalizing drugs is the conservative thing to do, a position she adopted after an encounter she had as a foster mom. Dend and I talked about her conservative religious upbringing, the surprising history of the war on drugs, how the current approach to substance abuse fuels crime, misconceptions about people struggling with addiction, and why prohibition is actually a progressive response. She has also offered to send a copy of her recent memoir, Curious, free of charge, to anyone interested in learning more, which you can request at curious at enditforgood.com. And now, to the recent interview with Christina Dent. Christina Dent, thank you for talking to Reason.
Speaker 1
Thanks, Billy. It's really great to be here.
Speaker 2
Okay, so I want to start with the low-hanging fruit. You are an evangelical Christian. Yep. You are conservative in both your politics and in your theology. Yep. You believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God. Why is ending the drug war your issue of choice then? Yeah,
Speaker 1
that was a winding journey, not something I ever thought I would be working on, for sure. I was born and raised in Mississippi. I've lived here my whole life. And yeah, all of those things are true. And as part of that, the culture I grew up in was in the 80s and 90s. Very much kind of tough on drugs, tough on crime. That all sounded great to me. I could not fathom a world where somebody wouldn't want that. I just couldn't even put that in my mind. And part of that culture was this view of people who use drugs that was they are bad people doing bad things. And if that drug use became an addiction, that that was sort of another level of moral degradation. And I don't remember anybody specifically saying that. It was just the kind of cultural winds that were part of the world and the U.S. and specifically kind of the cultures that I grew up in during that time. And so for me, that journey was one first of my own heart beginning to change through becoming a foster parent, getting closer to the issue, and then my mind beginning to change over the course of a learning journey, where I really tried to kind of take it down to the studs and say, what is happening? What's really causing harm related to drugs? And how could we get better outcomes?

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