Is the use of marijuana in moderation immoral?

[Lost_Found]

NathanCarson:

I was a pothead for about 7 years. I smoked weed every day for about 3 years. I was not just a normal smoker. Parties, etc. I smoked. That’s what I did. Everybody I knew smoked. Strangers I met in the street smoked. I smoked in the street. I smoked at work. Home. I was high…always. Not off no stress weed neither. I smoked that good Santa Fe, NM bud. I smoked that straight from mexico sticky green brick when I was cheap. I smoked that homegrown goodness. I’ve smoked that for real blueberry, I mean, the bud was BLUE. Dark blue. I smoked that REAL purple, forget what New York has. New York is garbage. I smoked that Indian weed. I’ve smoked an ounce in a day, to the head, before. 4 blunts in a day was an average thing, and that was really moderation. These weren’t small blunts neither. I’ve smoked that Cali bud. The “cat piss”. So potent, when you smoke it the room smells like cat piss. I smoked bud so strong, you could have it rolled up, sealed up, in the baggy, and put on the table 5 feet away from me and the pungent odor was still in my nose like I was sniffing the bud right to my face. I mean, so potent, you couldn’t even inhale it without choking (and that’s from someone who smoked weed CONSTANTLY, it was that strong).

My point is, I think this makes me an authority on marijuana. I’ve smoked it, grown it, sold it, philosophized about it…hell I made it into an idol and a false god.

The whole time I was smoking, first I went up…then I went down. I had lots and lots and lots of friends. ALWAYS knew where the party was at. Knew lots of girls. Lived in my own apartment. In a beautiful city in the desert mountains, in the best part of town. Yet the whole time something was missing. God. Not God…Jesus. I believed in God. I spent lots of time trying to to find God. I thought I had a pretty good understanding (I was completely delusional with my theories).

When I decided to pray to Jesus that he forgive me and come into my life, with the prompting of a minister who broke me down one day. After that, I couldn’t smoke marijuana anymore. In my mind nothing had changed. I was still gonna get high. I wasn’t changing that fact. I loved the weed. I still love weed. God made it. However, in this day and age, it’s not something good. When I started on my path to giving my life to Jesus, I could not smoke weed anymore. I wanted to. I would try. Everytime I’d get high though, I’d hear the devil laughing in my head. People would give me bud with PCP/formaldahyde/drycleaning fluid in it. When it came to smoking I was a pro. I didn’t get paranoid. I used to smoke blunts walking down the street going home from work. I’ve smoked weed right in the middle of a city plaza. So much potent weed that I would listen to music and stare at the walls in my empty apartment when I first moved in. That whole first winter, all I did was get so high that I didn’t even know where I was anymore. Like I said, on ounce in a day, by myself. Thats like 5 big blunts I smoked. I never got scared smoking weed. Gave my life to Jesus hands, suddenly I get paranoid everytime I smoke marijuana. That’s like someone who smokes a pack of cigarettes of day, having trouble inhaling a marlboro. It doesn’t happen. I used to go to a friends house, smoke their weed all day, come home and smoke my weed until the bag was gone. Just bowl after bowl, joint after joint. It took two blunts to the face just to get me high sometimes.

With God’s help I haven’t smoked marijauna or drank alcohol in 11 months.

You know what your saying in this post?

“I know smoking weed is wrong, but can you rationalize it for me so I can still do it”.

Now I have a friend who believes in Jesus and considers himself a christian. He’s a really nice guy, but he doesn’t go to church or anything. He smokes herb every day. He’s 37 years old. I love him though, he’s a good dude. He’s not catholic. If you wanna live the true gospel, you have to be catholic. You already know this I assume, that’s why your on the catholic site. You can’t smoke marijuana. Even in moderation.

Next time don’t post a message on this board, ask your priest. You were probably too scared to ask your priest though. Cause you know very well what he would say. Come on. Can you imagine Jesus and the apostles getting high? Were they passing around herb rolled up in papyrus leaves at the last supper? Man hell no.

Now, whether or not it’s mortal or venial I can’t say.

This pretty much says it all.
Nathan thanks for the great post.

 

[Celtic_Son]

Magicsilence:

If youre having to ask about taking drugs, are you sure your relationship with Christ is real??

Being Catholic requires a full devotion to Christ. Taking drugs would never be part of the equation.

Let us be harsh but fair. The “point” of smoking pot is to get high. If youre trying to escape from the world, I know of another drug thats just as good. The pill of penance.

Smoking pot is never morally ok. Whether its a venial/mortal sin depends on the person and the situation.

Christ have Mercy on us all.

In Him.

Andre.

I couldn’t agree more! I can’t believe so many people think " if I smoke only a little it won’t be sinful"

Didn’t the Bible say somewhere If you offend the law in one point then you have offended in all.

 

[mlchance]

mcliffor:

I remember from health class that the use of tobacco causes the body much more harm than marijuana…

You were misinformed. Used on a similar scale, marijuana is more harmful than tobacco. Marijuana is every bit as carcinogenic plus has serious psychological effects.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[Homebrew_roots]

Ok dudes here is my standpoint. Im 20 years old imbedded deeply within the skateboarding scene. It is common knowledge that skateboarders are often associated with pot smokers…and rightfully so in most cases. i am around smoking pot all the time and i would be lying if i said i never wanted to try it. So here is my deal: I dont know if its a sin or not. But i do know that i dont want to do anything that even MIGHT offend God, therefore i stay away from it. Later

 

[mcliffor]

Thank you fpr the comments. It seems that the immorality most people attach to the drug comes from the fact that the FDA defines it as a drug and that it’s illegal, so must be inherently immoral, but this to me seem like using secular authorities to define the law of God, which can only be done by the Church.

I completely agree that marijuana, like any recreational substance, whether it be alcohol or tobacco, can damage and even destroy lives when abused (CCC 2290) but this does not make it inherently immoral. I also believe that when the the writers say “drugs” they weren’t reffering to the FDA definition, otherwise pot and alcohol would be condemned.

I also think that the morality smoking, like drinking, would depend on someone’s state in life. I would never want to see a priest tipsy or high, but that is because their life ought to be a witness to the next life to a different degree than our own. Afterall, that is the spirit of celibacy. I was horrified to hear about a convent of nuns in Virginia who smoked pot all the time. I would have also been horrified if I heard they did it occassionally.

I didn’t put this post up because I wanted to start smoking. I put it up because I’m at the point in my life where I’m beginning to realize that my conscience, formed by a liberal and secular public school system, is not where I want it to be. I want to have a moral conscience which is based on Church teachings, not on the FDA’s or the government’s.

I asked a friend the other day why she would so willingly get drunk on weekends, but NEVER smoke pot. I reminded her that it wasn’t because it was illegal, because she’s only 20. She said it was because pot is illegal in ALL situations, and therefore wrong. She couldn’t let herself do it. This wasn’t out of respect for the civil law, since she drank. It was because as a secular person, she had no other moral authority than the federal government, which at present, is a horrible moral compass.

I’ll ask my confessor though if smoking marijuana recreationally is inherently sinful, but considering all of the thought and analysis which went into these posts, I don’t think he will be able to provide an answer.

 

[mcliffor]

mlchance:

You were misinformed. Used on a similar scale, marijuana is more harmful than tobacco. Marijuana is every bit as carcinogenic plus has serious psychological effects.

– Mark L. Chance.

I was reffering to the fact, or what I was told was a fact, that even the touch of tobacco on the lips is enough to cause cancer later in life. I don’t think the same is true of marijuana.