Interview with Lee Hertel Director of Morpheus Project (pt 1)
(Freedom) Thanks for joining us today. I understand that you took over the position from Sue Purchase as The Director of Morpheus Project in Minneapolis earlier in the year.
Can I start by congratulating you on your promotion?
(Lee Hertel) Thank you, Freedom. I appreciate it. I was made Program Director of Morpheus Project this past winter. Sue remains the executive director.
Can you give me a ‘snapshot’ of The Morpheus Project, its history and it’s clientele?
Morpheus Project was started in 2010 and is a street-based syringe exchange/harm reduction/overdose prevention effort. We also provide limited advocacy and case management for a few of our participants.
Morpheus was born out of the closure of Minneapolis' first syringe exchange site, Access Works!, in 2009. Our clientele includes anyone who uses drugs but people who inject drugs are our core clientele. Along with that, let me say that we work with people who are homeless, those who do have housing, sex workers, gay men on the party scene – anyone who requests our services.
What is the political landscape like in the US at this point in time and what is the impact on people who use drugs, particularly those who inject?
Right now the political landscape is not favorable to people who use drugs, especially IDUs. As some of your readers may be aware, the U.S. had a policy of not allowing any federal dollars to be used for syringe exchange services. This had a crippling effect on programs that had to then rely on dollars st the state and municipal levels, as well as grants from private foundations and donations from individuals.
The syringe access ban is the main reason why the HIV infection rate among people who inject drugs was so high during the early years of the AIDS pandemic. Unlike the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. The ban was instigated during the Clinton Administration in 1988 and remained in effect until 2009. That year, the Obama Administration was successful in pressing for the ban to be lifted. The feeling of hope and the joy that precipitated cannot be underestimated. Finally, the U.S. Congress was legislating according to science, not fear mongering and ignorance.
Unfortunately, the ban was reinstated in 2012. The movement to reinstate the ban was spearheaded by the Tea Party faction of the Republican Party and its representatives in the House of Representatives, chief among them was John Boehner (R – Ohio) and Hal Rogers (R – Kentucky). Needless to say, the returned ban has hurt every SEP in the country. Many have had to slash their payrolls and shed all but one or two paid positions and rely very heavily on volunteers to meet the demand for their services.
Thankfully, activists and policy makers are not giving up and have already begun writing legislation to life the ban once again.
