Marijuana and christianity?

[Whadyamean]

I think this argument is more evidence that legalization could fix a lot of problems in the U.S.

It is a double edged sword. Did you see my previous post on the origin of the demonization of pot? The tobacco, cotton, and oil industries would soon have their paws in it, as the government already does. As I heard someone say on the radio, “If you want the best drugs (he was speaking at the time about LSD) go to the government” They have them in plenitude by their own manufacture/farming.

But the stuff is a common, unirradicable weed that needs little or no care to grow. That is why it is such a threat to say, oil. What would they do if they lost that fertilizer market?

 

[Robert_in_SD]

Just wondering what people’s thoughts were on this issue.

I suppose the intent of the person is what is in question here. Alcohol can be used, and it can be abused. Only the latter is sinful. So, if you are using pot to get completely stoned (i.e. the equivalent of drunkennes because of the loss of the ability to use reason) that would be sinful.

Setting aside the legal and medical issues, and speaking just about “social” use, I think it is harder as a practical matter to use pot to “relax” in the same way as having a glass of wine or a beer. With pot, you lose your capacity for reason and judgment much faster. In other words, the distance between a slight “buzz” and “getting stoned” is very short, whereas, alcohol is easier for most of us to use without losing our reasoning ability in the same way.

Plus, mariuana use puts one in a situation where he or she is likely to make very bad judgments and decisions on other matters of eternal consequence. In other words, it puts us in the near occasion to commit serious sins. For that reason, I would avoid marijuana use, but I could not say that its use in every case is per se sinful.

Just my two cents.

Peace,
Robert

 

[JHow]

Isn’t it fascinating that attention is chiefly focused on one aspect of cannabis. Marijuana was demonized along with alcohol for one reason: together or apart they were too much competition for oil companies as both could be used for manufacturing cheap fuel on farms and even in cities independently of big oil. As usual, follow the money. And marijuana is classed with heroin and other such despite it being a major and very useful part of the pharmacopoeia until it was outlawed. It is still outlawed today because hemp can and has been be mutated to yield enormous amounts of oil and seed useful in the manufacture of fuel and plastic. The rest of the plant can be used in everything from clothing to construction materials, so it has the cotton and forestry businesses against it as well. That is the reason it is so illegal, not its psychotropic qualities which are clearly less harmful than alcohol. Go figure. So if “Chrisrtianity” is interested in efficiency and the economic well being of the public, it needs to get behind the re-legalization of it for economic, health, and industrial reasons. Remember, there was a rime when the Federal Government could conscript your land to grow hemp. What do you think happened and why and who did it? Follow the money, lol!

Sounds like the 100 mpg carburetor…

 

[SteveVH]

I suppose the intent of the person is what is in question here. Alcohol can be used, and it can be abused. Only the latter is sinful. So, if you are using pot to get completely stoned (i.e. the equivalent of drunkennes because of the loss of the ability to use reason) that would be sinful.

Setting aside the legal and medical issues, and speaking just about “social” use, I think it is harder as a practical matter to use pot to “relax” in the same way as having a glass of wine or a beer. With pot, you lose your capacity for reason and judgment much faster. In other words, the distance between a slight “buzz” and “getting stoned” is very short, whereas, alcohol is easier for most of us to use without losing our reasoning ability in the same way.

Plus, mariuana use puts one in a situation where he or she is likely to make very bad judgments and decisions on other matters of eternal consequence. In other words, it puts us in the near occasion to commit serious sins. For that reason, I would avoid marijuana use, but I could not say that its use in every case is per se sinful.

Just my two cents.

Peace,
Robert

I pretty much agree with you on this. My younger brother died four years ago from cancer. The chemo made him deathly ill and the pills they gave him for nausea didn’t really do the trick. His son gave him a little marijuana which worked wonders. It completley stopped his nausea and actually gave him some what of an appetite and positive outlook. I am completely convinced of its medicinal value.

As for comparing it to alcohol use or abuse I have a hard time drawing the line. A glass of wine with dinner is still going to give you a relative buzz which is the real reason that most people drink it. Our society says this is okay and that abuse only occurs when one becomes falling down drunk. So, is it alright to have a glass of wine in the afternoon in order to get a moderate buzz, but not alright to smoke a little marijuana for the same reason?

I’m really not trying to defend either of them as I find that both interfere in my prayer life, but I think we are fooling ourselves when we can defend one over the other because of its legal status when the purpose behind both is pretty much the same; to alter our state of consciousness. If that is the purpose of a substance, it’s probably best to leave it alone.

 

[Whadyamean]

Sounds like the 100 mpg carburetor…

There was a carburetor that delivered actually more than that, but at that time gasoline was the high end fraction. the current fractioning practice defeats this carburetor. Again, follow the money!

 

[15thClub]

I’d rather not address the issue of marijuana per se. The biggest substance abused in this country just happens to be legal…alcohol. I have a drink or two each week no problem. For others it is a problem. Drugs when misused, impede us from living up to our potential. With marijuana and other pain killing pharmaceuticals, ingestion in just small amounts produces rather intense effects. Properly managed and administered in a medical environment, drugs such as morphine and propofol work wonders. Self administered creates huge problems.

 

[Whadyamean]

I’d rather not address the issue of marijuana per se. The biggest substance abused in this country just happens to be legal…alcohol. I have a drink or two each week no problem. For others it is a problem. Drugs when misused, impede us from living up to our potential. With marijuana and other pain killing pharmaceuticals, ingestion in just small amounts produces rather intense effects.

or not. Apparently you haven’t been around it much? Properly managed and administered in a medical environment, drugs such as morphine and propofol work wonders. Self administered creates huge problems.But I very much agree about alcohol!!! I would far rather trust someone loaded on weed than on alcohol. I had a job where I had to deal with both. It is alcohol that ought to be classed with heroin, not weed.

 

[puzzleannie]

I know people who grow their own for that reason. And why would you have to rely on a catechism to see that violence as a grave moral wrong?

because there are plenty of catechism-thumpers on this forum trying to justify their recreational use of pot who apparently refuse to see the connection and need a kick in the head to be reminded

 

[Whadyamean]

because there are plenty of catechism-thumpers on this forum trying to justify their recreational use of pot who apparently refuse to see the connection and need a kick in the head to be reminded

Wow…With 37K++ posts, you ought to know a bit about that !

What bothers me from what I have seen is that while drugs are neutral, the consequences of using them are relative to the user’s state of awareness to begin with, their practical uses, and the laws, reasonable or not, that have their own sort of consequences as artifices. So while I have a low opinion of alcohol use in general, and rarely use something else, it is wonderful that it is used as such a potent symbol in the Mass and tragic when used as and escape. But even in the realm of escape, or recreation, an adjective I don’t get as applied to drugs, weed is far far less of a problem than spirits. And if you know a bit about how prohibition came about and the demonization of weed, you will know as well that there are important, if underhanded, commercial reasons why these came about.

 

[spellinggirl]

Although I live in Denver (one of the most pot-friendly cities in America), I simply cannot wrap my mind around the use of marijuana for medical reasons. Maybe if it were regulated more strictly I could accept it, but I know someone who has his medical marijuana card because he broke his arm at the age of SIX and claims he’s still experiencing symptoms. People literally make up a medical issue and the cards are handed to them like candy on Halloween.

Marijuana is a gateway drug. My cousin was introduced to cocaine by his pot-smoking buddies. Maybe it’s because of that that I have such a problem with it. I have a very hard time respecting anyone who smokes pot. Praise God my cousin is clean of hard drugs now… but he still smokes dope. Sigh

 

[Whadyamean]

Although I live in Denver (one of the most pot-friendly cities in America), I simply cannot wrap my mind around the use of marijuana for medical reasons. Maybe if it were regulated more strictly I could accept it, but I know someone who has his medical marijuana card because he broke his arm at the age of SIX and claims he’s still experiencing symptoms. People literally make up a medical issue and the cards are handed to them like candy on Halloween.

Marijuana is a gateway drug. My cousin was introduced to cocaine by his pot-smoking buddies. Maybe it’s because of that that I have such a problem with it. I have a very hard time respecting anyone who smokes pot. Praise God my cousin is clean of hard drugs now… but he still smokes dope. Sigh

Statistically, your brother was not a common case. Marijuana is called a “gateway drug” primarily as a scare. And really? You might be far more usefully concerned about alcohol…

 

[John_Paul_Jones]

I know people who grow their own for that reason. And why would you have to rely on a catechism to see that violence as a grave moral wrong?

So why can’t he rely on the catechism? I see nothing wrong with backing ones argument up with the catechism. And on the flip-side why would a person have to rely on ganja?

 

[Kathryn_Ann]

:heaven:

My feeling is that just like alcohol, it has strong effects on some people. I’ve heard that Marijuana can be used medicinally, but except for that, I would not condone its use any more than I would alcohol. I’m thinking that if you asked a person who grew up in a house where anything was abused (alcohol, non prescription drugs, Marijuana or stronger drugs,) that you would get different answers. If you asked a person in great pain who is using medically prescribed Marijuana to help alleviate his or her pain, they would feel differently.

For the most part, if you don’t need it, fine. I think alcohol, which is a drug, is tragically abused today as seen in so many drunk driving deaths of innocent victims. We don’t normally hear of Marijuana causing deaths, but I’ve heard that using one drug might, (repeat might,) take hold of a person who might then go on to use something stronger. I empathize with all people struggling to get off of drugs or over the counter medications. Judging people without compassion is so opposite of what Christ showed us by His loving example. Having seen people I love hooked on different things makes me feel empathy for them. I’m sure others have differing opinions, and think this is a very good question.

 

[andrewstx]

How is marijuana use abusive to your body?

It is smoking which is always abusive. No matter if pot or cigarettes.

Both of my parents died of smoking, one lung cancer the other emphasema.

Brownies may be a different story though.

 

[Catholicpotato]

I find it interesting that a lot of people feel this way. I agree that it is generally a bad idea to do things that are against the law, but marijuana is illegal for pretty ridiculous reasons (which is a completely separate argument).

You know what I find interesting? Is all the Pot advocates insisting that it is harmless and yet risk incarceration, embarassment, shame, fines, and job loss all to smoke it because they think the law is ridiculous. If it is so harmless, why are so many lives destroyed because people risk everything to get high?

 

[15thClub]

or not. Apparently you haven’t been around it much?

Properly managed and administered in a medical environment, drugs such as morphine and propofol work wonders. Self administered creates huge problems.But I very much agree about alcohol!!! I would far rather trust someone loaded on weed than on alcohol. I had a job where I had to deal with both. It is alcohol that ought to be classed with heroin, not weed.

Such equivocation of the “lesser of two worsts” does not an argument make. I’ll take clean and sober in the work place any day. But as long as you threw the grenade on the table, here’s the hard cheese. I was more than happy and with no regrets to sign both the courts-martial and discharge papers of drug offenders under my command during my Air Force service. Drugs are incompatible with military life and around combat aircraft, the problem is only intensified. Apart from the military environment, drug abuse…ALL drug abuse to include alcohol makes us less than who we are and what God wants us to be.

 

[Whadyamean]

Properly managed and administered in a medical environment, drugs such as morphine and propofol work wonders. Self administered creates huge problems

Yes, like going to the local “watering hole” and lapping up too much.

WhadyaBut I very much agree about alcohol!!! I would far rather trust someone loaded on weed than on alcohol. I had a job where I had to deal with both. It is alcohol that ought to be classed with heroin, not weed.

Such equivocation of the “lesser of two worsts” does not an argument make.

Whoa!!! YOU try dealing with the difference in your job serving the public! Then get back to me after a coupe of years of that.

I’ll take clean and sober in the work place any day.

Well,of course! Me too.

But as long as you threw the grenade on the table, here’s the hard cheese. I was more than happy and with no regrets to sign both the courts-martial and discharge papers of drug offenders under my command during my Air Force service. Drugs are incompatible with military life and around combat aircraft,

D**n straight! Not many are in that position in civilian life, where the protocols and consequences differ somewhat, no?

(T)he problem is only intensified. Apart from the military environment, drug abuse…ALL drug abuse to include alcohol makes us less than who we are and what God wants us to be.

Not being able, as you seem to be, to speak for Deity, I completely agree with this, insofar as there is a proved medical benefit in legitimate cases for the use of marijuana. Oh, and alcohol topically used is a great disinfectant, but that’s not the kind you drink.

 

[Wesley7]

Hrrr. Legally dispensed marijuana is ok, but don’t abuse or overconsume legally dispensed marijuna

 

[Amer_Was_Amazed]

I find it interesting that a lot of people feel this way. I agree that it is generally a bad idea to do things that are against the law, but marijuana is illegal for pretty ridiculous reasons (which is a completely separate argument).

I agree. And just because something is illegal doesn’t make it wrong, and just because something is legal doesn’t make it right. I don’t subscribe to Legalism. If prayer was made illegal tomorrow, I would still pray, no thought about it.

 

[John_Paul_Jones]

I agree. And just because something is illegal doesn’t make it wrong, and just because something is legal doesn’t make it right. I don’t subscribe to Legalism. If prayer was made illegal tomorrow, I would still pray, no thought about it.

I couldn’t agree with what roothless said because he feels cannabis is illegal for “ridiculous reasons.”