Marijuana morality

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michael-kaw

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Let’s leave civil law to one side

I know that the catechism teaches against drugs but I saw some people on other threads saying marijuana wasn’t a mortal sin, is it? Or is it venial? Or Is it no sin at all?
 
I’m a recovering heroin addict and I’ve literally smoked pounds and pounds of cannabis.

IMO, the sinfulness of pot isn’t really because of its intoxicating effects - the intoxication from Marijuana is equivalent to a couple glasses of wine.

The sinfulness of weed comes from 1) the negative health consequences of smoking 2) the illegality of the substance and 3) the potential for addiction.

So, IMO, if you have no addiction problems, are legal age and live in a place where its fully legal (which is NOWHERE in the US - US federal law trumps state and local law), and you consume it in a way other than smoking - edibles for example - then it is not sinful at all.

If you have addiction issues or use it by smoking or live somewhere it’s illegal, then using it can range anywhere between venially sinful to mortally sinful depending on context.
 
Agree with the above, minus having smoked pounds of weed.
 
BoomBoomMancini said:
minus having smoked pounds of weed.
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🐒😁

I’ve also studied the pharmacological and judicatory aspects of cannabis in depth on top of my extensive personal experience with the substance.

I’m kind of an amateur expert. 😉
 
About it being illegal, could one say that jab is potentially an unjust law, if what is unjust is determined by ones conscience, couldn’t the fact that it isn’t illegal not make a difference to if it is a sin or not? Supposing the persons conscience discerns that it is a ‘stupid’ or ‘pointless’ law
 
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michael-kaw said:
potentially an unjust law, if what is unjust is determined by ones conscience, couldn’t the fact that it isn’t illegal not make a difference to if it is a sin or not? Supposing the persons conscience discerns that
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No because law is objective, not subjective.

It doesn’t matter if the law is unjust (which I don’t think it is in theory - I believe cannabis should be rescheduled as a schedule II controlled substance instead of schedule I. I am against full legalization, at least passively so. I wouldn’t be upset if it WAS fully legalized.)

Try walking into a police station with a kilo of ganja and saying “yooo wazzup Officers?!” and see what happens. It doesn’t matter what your subjective opinion of the law is, the law is the law and that’s objective reality we must abide by and come to terms with.
 
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On the health side of things, recreational marijuana can cause health problems. The producers of legal marijuana are not talking about this. Their concern is that the ‘stigma’ gradually disappear. Morally, the human body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit - we all have a soul. Catholics and others who have good information about its health effects shouldn’t use it. As far as taking any medicine out of necessity, if we need a medicine then we use it.

However, the FDA has not approved legal marijuana as safe. It should be sold in pharmacies, not dispensaries. Otherwise, who guarantees purity and so on?
 
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I’ve commented before that, as a massive pothead, the more I’ve strived to pray and be holy, the less and less I’ve been interested in weed.

I haven’t used it in a long time, and I attribute it fully to my daily recitation of the Holy Rosary.

And I didn’t quit begrudgingly, I felt an honest draw to be done with it and be more holy.

And as someone who once made Snoop Dogg blush, I feel this was pretty profound in my life.
 
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Prayer does help. I heard a priest on the radio say, “God wants you to trust Him more.”
 
edwest said:
the health side of things, recreational marijuana can cause health problems. The producers of legal marijuana are not talking about this. Their concern is that the ‘stigma’ gradually disappear. Morally, the human body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit - we all have a soul. Catholics and others who have good information about its health effects shouldn’t use it. As far as taking any medicine out of necessity, if we need a medicine then we use it.

However, the FDA has not approved legal marijuana as safe. It should be sold in pharmacies, not dispensaries. Otherw
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I agree with you on several points - that it should be sold in pharmacies and not dispensaries, absolutely. Should be just like any other medication. Marijuana needs to be rescheduled in the US to schedule II for that to happen though.

Although like I said, the potential negative health consequences of marijuana boil down to two issues: the health effects of smoking and the potential for addiction.

If a person consumed his marijuana via edibles, and he doesn’t have an addiction to it, arguably marijuana would then have no more negative health consequences than a cup of coffee or glass of wine.
 
But are you saying we can break it if we feel it is unjust as long as we are prepared to accept the consequences?
 
Carmelite1983 said:
commented before that, as a massive pothead, the more I’ve strived to pray and be holy, the less and less I’ve been interested in weed
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That’s definitely true too.

There is a direct correlation between faith and use of weed for me as well.

The more into my faith and devout I am, the less I want to consume cannabis or anything else.

The farther away from my faith I go, the greater the pull to consume weed or overconsume alcohol, etc.
 
michael-kaw said:
But are you saying we can break it if we feel it is unjust as long as we are prepared to accept the consequences?
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I mean, you have free will. I don’t recommend you sin or break the law, but I’m not gonna sit in judgment of you if you do - heaven knows I’ve done my fair share of both.

But doing that would not only be illegal and possibly hem you up with legal issues, it’s also sinful and not good spiritually either.
 
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Edibles and how they work, are not widely known:

“The most prominent difference between ingestion and inhalation of cannabis extracts is the delayed onset of drug effect with ingestion. Consumers often do not understand this aspect of edible use and may consume a greater than intended amount of drug before the drug has taken effect, often resulting in profoundly adverse effects.” National Institutes of Health
 
edwest said:
may consume a greater than intended amount of drug before the drug has taken effect, often resulting in profoundly adverse effects
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But the same can be said of ethanol.

I emphatically reassert what I originally stated: moderate consumption of cannabis in edible form by a responsible user in a place where it’s legal is neither sinful nor anymore detrimental to health than a glass of wine or cup of coffee.

@edwest what’s your personal experience with marijuana? Have you consumed it and are familiar with its effects? Or are you imagining it to be some super intoxicating substance like it was portrayed in Hollywood for many years?

I can tell you right now, flat out, from my personal experience, as well as personally witnessing literally hundreds of other people consume cannabis: taking a dosage of marijuana (a half a joint or a couple cookies, etc) has exactly the same effect on the average persons level of consciousness as about 2 small glasses of red wine.
 
Wait but I’m confused, if you accept the risk of being caught how can it be a sin if you discern the law is unjust?
 
michael-kaw said:
catechism teaches against drugs
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The Catechism teaches against illicit drugs and also teaches moderation.

If marijuana is legal in your country, then, one would be advised to use the same moderation one would with alcohol.
 
michael-kaw said:
you accept the risk of being caught how can it be a sin if you discern the law is unjust?
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Because sin is not subjective, it’s objective.

You don’t discern what’s sinful or not based on your opinion - we are taught by God and his Church what is sinful or not and we form our conscience to that authoritative moral teaching of the Church.

There is nothing intrinsically unjust about a law against recreational cannabis usage. As such, it is objectively sinful to violate that law in order to consume cannabis in a recreational manner.

An argument COULD be made though that if you’re consuming it for medicinal purposes, in a state and locality where that consumption is legal, then the federal law prohibiting such consumption is unjust and can therefore be disregarded.

Although I’d argue against that and simply say any consumption of cannabis by anyone in the US today, due to federal law, is technically illegal and therefore at least venially sinful.
 
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