Catholicism and Cannabis

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Crkroeger98

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The Catechism states and I quote “the use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They constitute direct co-operation in evil, since they encourage people to practices gravely contrary to the moral law.” I’m a medical user of cannabis and a devoted catholic but I’ve found this passage to be very vague and problematic for a number of reasons.
  1. Alcohol is a “drug” with no therapeutic grounds and stupefying effects even in moderate use(yet its permitted). So if anything cannabis(due to its medical properties) fits into the Catechism’s criteria more than alcohol and yet its condemned.
  2. When does moderate use become drunkenness or highness? 1 beer or bowl? 2? The point being if alcohol or cannabis is used even moderately, the point is still for it to have a effect on you and alter your state of mind to relax and raise your spirits or you would just drink water. Thats still a mildly stupefying effect for a recreational drug, is it not?
  3. Cannabis brought me closer to God. Before I converted to Catholicism I was a agnostic suffering from several mental health conditions and SSRIs and mood stabilizers had no effect or worsend my condition. Using cannabis once before bed fixed my appetite disorders, my depression, my anxiety, my insomnia, and even my adhd to help me focus. It cleared my mind so I could think about things and what do you know, God then pushed his way into my mind.
Overall I think that a healthy use of cannabis should not thrown into the waste bin with meth,coke, and heroine when its nothing like them and more akin to alcohol if not a better alternative.

What do you guys think?
Am I being sinful?
What does the Church mean by drug or drunk?
 
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I don’t think you can just have one puff and not be ‘high’. With alcohol you can have one drink and not get tipsy, let alone falling down, drunk dialing wasted.
 
If you are a legal user of cannabis for medical reasons, you can discuss with your doctor how much you should be using. You do not need the Church to tell you, and the Church does not give medical advice.
 
Crkroeger98 said:
What do you guys think?
Am I being sinful?
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You’re not doing anything wrong. Don’t worry about it. But it’s not some cure all, and I’d be very careful with it I had all those issues.
Crkroeger98 said:
What does the Church mean by drug or drunk?
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Your right, the catechism on this is a little vague and generalized. Your supposed to use your intellect and do what’s right for you. You seem to have a decent idea of what the catechism is trying to say.
 
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Crkroeger98 said:
What do you guys think?
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I don’t have personal experience with this, but I have read that psychedelic drugs like LSD produce an experience that feels religious. A while back, another CAF member wrote that cannabis made it easier for him to feel connected to God. I’ve also observed plenty of people under the influence of cannabis.

All this has made me wonder of cannabis, or more precisely THC, is a sort of chemical substitute for God, something that temporarily satisfies the little part of our brain that searches for God.

So here’s what I think: If it opens the door for you to sense the presence and love of God, and if that experience leads to faith that remains and grows, even after the cannabis wears off, that sounds all right. If you can only maintain faith by repeated use of cannabis, I would be worried that it is a substitute for God, and would advise you to seek God elsewhere.
 
Crkroeger98 said:
Cannabis brought me closer to God
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–I have a very hard time accepting this.

Cannabis doesn’t bring anyone closer to God. Drugs bring people to the devil. One of the visionaries at Medujorjie said the Blessed Mother showed her young people doing drugs as an example of things that make God very sad. Don’t believe those apparitions? Fine - but I’d rather not take the chance.

Respectfully, what I suspect is that you like using cannabis and you are looking for reasons to do so.

I suffer from a medical condition which cannabis can alleviate the effects of, and it was offered to me medicinally when I was hospitalized. I told them then, what I believe now: There is nothing - NOTHING - you could offer me; no sum of money; no physical pain I would not bear (and I bore a LOT of pain); that would make me take cannabis, if the end result was to cloud my reason and my ability to think clearly.

I’ll take pain if it means my brain works.

I know several psychiatrists who say using pot increases the likelihood of mental illness like schizophrenia.

I’m sorry if it’s harsh: I aspire to better things than to become a toked-out, ambition-less zombie, eating cookies and wasting my life on a couch. I know several folks - including one of the most intelligent men I know, that became that, via cannabis.

God made me for better stuff than that garbage.
 
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It’s perfectly plausible that the use of some substance might have encouraged someone to move closer to God. God works in mysterious ways, and what he does with Person A might not be the same as for Person B. Person B using the same substance might be led away from God.

There’s significant evidence that Catholics in Europe in the Middle Ages and before might have had spiritual experiences through consuming natural psychedelic substances like certain mushrooms and ergot. They didn’t know they were ingesting hallucinogenic substances and figured it was God working.

It never fails though that whenever anything the least bit edgy in society is mentioned on this forum, people come out of the trees with their own moralistic views. Best to just ignore it. If one is able to use cannabis legally, then it becomes a question of medical advice, moderation, and prudential judgment. Like everything else.
 
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Well that shows that one can be “misinformed”.
In the remote past when people did not have potable water the way water was sterilized was by adding some wine to it.
The alcohol would kill most germs responsible for Salmonella, E. coli, and norovirus which killed men but mostly the young.
Same thing goes for the beer it turns dangerous water into safe drink.

Drugs also have medical value AND if one HAS to take them I would believe it would be under medical supervision.
I myself need to take my prescriptions for my ailments and I wish I did not HAVE to take them alas it is necessary.
Therefore the Church lets us know that that is not a sin.
Some people who are in extreme pain sometimes need to be administered morphine they would probably wish they did not need to.

But taking a drug on a whim just for the pleasure of it, certainly is not condoned.
The problem resides in us. If we feel we need to be administered some drugs we should always consult a medical specialist. Many are already prescribing “medical marijuana” in some countries and several US states.
But we are never permitted to break the law.

Peace!
 
 
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I’m not a cannabis user (not even once, ever) and I do enjoy a beer from time to time, but the suggestion that cannabis is some big retreat from reality while beer is somehow not, is just plain illogical and lacks credibility.
 
  1. Comparing it to alcohol is a Weak argument. Alcohol is dosed. And in at least one case has been ordained by God as a sacramental ingredient. Pot is not
  2. You could say that about lots of illicit, dangerous and illegal drugs.
  3. When I hear someone say alcohol, pot, lsd, shrooms, coke, meth or whatever “brought them closer to God. I find that their faith is not backed by logic or the will. But rather by a mind altering substance. If you alter your mind chemically to achieve faith, you do not have faith.
Where legal, I actually don’t have a moral issue with pot. I may not like it, I may not like video games either. But to me, it’s morally acceptable in moderation where legal. The problem you have is it’s use is sinful where a just law is being disobeyed. Which in the USA is everywhere under federal law.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I’m not a cannabis user (not even once, ever) and I do enjoy a beer from time to time, but the suggestion that cannabis is some big retreat from reality while beer is somehow not, is just plain illogical and lacks credibility.
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The difference however is that one can have a beer and retain the use of their reason, while with just a little weed your reason is skewed.

I’m all for medical marijuana. I voted to legalize it here in Michigan across the board. But it’s not like weed has some moderate dose limit that one can have at a party without becoming intoxicated.

And I say that as someone who has smoked it a handful of times. Never took more than a few hits, never had a good experience.
 
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StudentMI said:
The difference however is that one can have a beer and retain the use of their reason, while with just a little weed your reason is skewed.
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This depends greatly on the person. I have seen people who cannot handle even one beer. I have also seen people who were regular cannabis users and very reasonable.

Judgments about substances are very cultural.
 
Each person has an inherent right to life and right of access to medical treatment; but, at the same time, the potential for harm to the individual and society in general also needs to be considered. Cannabis can be used therapeutically either as a treatment in itself or to help patients withstand the effects of other treatments (such as pain, nausea or seizures). Although the goal of alleviating pain or undue suffering is morally good, there is however a risk that it could be seen as “normalising” drug use which is immoral and harmful to individuals, families and communities. Proper medicinal cannabis doesn’t involve smoking a joint but is instead administered in pharmaceutical form (much like morphine which is of course an opioid).

As far as coming close to God is concerned, this is something which we can already achieved without having to resort to mind-altering / enhancing substances. After all, God came close to us in the incarnation for this very purpose!
 
If you are getting high and loosing your gift of reason then it would be gravely sinful, just as in getting drunk. Now if using marijuana is the only option to alleviate your medical condition and it would make you “high” as a side effect to the purpose you are using it, then it may not be grave sin. It is similar to someone being given morphine in hospital for pain after a surgery or injury. Yes, you would be “high” on the morphine but it is secondary to reason you were given the drug.

If you are rationalizing around your intent to get high then yes it is a mortal sin. Remember, you don’t have to justify yourself to us, you must to God.
 
VonDerTann said:
In other words, the spacey pothead sitting on his/her couch eating doritos while life goes on around him/her is absolutely true.
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I can vouch for this as true. I worked with a lot of potheads at my first job. I also encountered the ‘weed is good for you’ line there and was even assured it had cured someone of asthma. :roll_eyes:
 
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