Marijuana morally wrong?

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Presence said:
So if being Christian was illegal I guess that’s all you’d “need to know”?
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  1. Marijuana is illegal.
  2. It being illegal does not raise any moral objections.
  3. There are no compelling moral reasons supporting the breaking/ignorance of it being illegal.
  4. Christians are to obey the law if said law complies with 2 and 3.
The only reason I can see for breaking the law in regards to Marijuana is if its use is for a valid medical reason. Getting high and contemplating your navel isn’t a valid medical reason.
 
Armyvet007 said:
  1. Marijuana is illegal.
  2. It being illegal does not raise any moral objections.
  3. There are no compelling moral reasons supporting the breaking/ignorance of it being illegal.
  4. Christians are to obey the law if said law complies with 2 and 3.
The only reason I can see for breaking the law in regards to Marijuana is if its use is for a valid medical reason. Getting high and contemplating your navel isn’t a valid medical reason.
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I don’t think 2 & 3 are correct as you presented above. Surely it’s not the worst evil in the world, but I do think it is unjust that Marijuana is illegal. For quite a few reasons as outlined in my last post.
 
Presence said:
I don’t think 2 & 3 are correct as you presented above. Surely it’s not the worst evil in the world, but I do think it is unjust that Marijuana is illegal. For quite a few reasons as outlined in my last post.
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What was the Church’s stance on Prohibition? Did the Church declare the prohibition laws to be unjust and that Catholics were free to ignore them?
 
Armyvet007 said:
What was the Church’s stance on Prohibition? Did the Church declare the prohibition laws to be unjust and that Catholics were free to ignore them?
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Fascinating question. I wonder what the Church did say about this? Was it a sin to drink a beer during prohibition?
 
Personally I think marijuana is for lazy people. I can get all the “benefits” from marijuana by meditating or saying the Rosary. People just want that instant gratification they don’t want to exert control over their own bodies. A quick example is your heart rate, by simply doing a quick breathing exercise you can dramatically lower your heart rate to a more stable level. God gave us a mind and will we should use them.
 
Reep said:
Fascinating question. I wonder what the Church did say about this? Was it a sin to drink a beer during prohibition?
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Yes, it would have been a sin to drink beer during prohibition. Prohibition was a stupid law but it wasn’t an unjust law. Unjust laws are usually those that deprive someone of life or liberty unfairly or those that try to force you to act immorally.

The laws that permitted slavery were unjust as they enabled people to deprive other people of their liberty. The laws that try to force medical personal to commit abortions are unjust.

But a law that doesn’t let you drink beer or smoke pot is not unjust. Not even if it affects some people more than others or can be applied unfairly.
 
Yes! I’m 62 and over the years my experience provides me the learned wisdom to exclaim without hesitation that YES, pot smoking is morally wrong. It’s toxic for your health (mental health and infertility), relationships, and if you drive stoned, can kill.

MY EXPERIENCES:

I had my first panic attack from weed and ended up hospitalized, age 17. I was diagnosed “psychotic” because I had continuous out-of-body sensations. It was a nightmare that haunted me most of my young adult life. I continue to have panic attacks. Never smoked it again.

A recent scientific study shows a strong correlation between marijuana and psychosis; and marijuana lessens male fertility.

Pot kills relationships. Almost destroyed my marriage (husband finally stopped).

An old friend was driving stoned, I was in the back seat, and she totally missed a red light, drove straight through it at 35 mph. We could’ve all been killed.

Another former friend - I caught her getting stoned at her home. (She used pot for her MS but she was actually addicted.) She scooped up her little girl, age 3, and they got in the car and drove off. (I had to report this to her husband who hates pot.)

Finally, I’m ashamed that I did not stop a father from giving his five-year-old son a huge reefer at a party at our home in the 1970’s. The child turned bright red and almost choked to death. Not one adult there reported him to the police.

Pot affects moral judgment!

Stupid is as stupid does.
 
Dolores,

I am sorry that your experience with Marijuana has been negative. But these examples do not have anything to say about many others positive experiences. Sure, anything can be abused but pot is not addictive, habitual maybe - but there is a difference.

In any case, the point of the thread is not about how Marijuana affects you because then we’d also be talking about everything else from alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs and caffeine, which are all more lethal. It’s about the morality of consuming it in light of our shared Catholic faith.
 
Corki said:
Yes, it would have been a sin to drink beer during prohibition. Prohibition was a stupid law but it wasn’t an unjust law. Unjust laws are usually those that deprive someone of life or liberty unfairly or those that try to force you to act immorally.

The laws that permitted slavery were unjust as they enabled people to deprive other people of their liberty. The laws that try to force medical personal to commit abortions are unjust.

But a law that doesn’t let you drink beer or smoke pot is not unjust. Not even if it affects some people more than others or can be applied unfairly.
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Could you show me where you read this? I’ve been looking online and I can only find stuff about how the Catholic church was opposed to it, because it didn’t want the government deciding on the people’s morality, something the Church felt was it’s place to do.
 
Presence said:
Could you show me where you read this? I’ve been looking online and I can only find stuff about how the Catholic church was opposed to it, because it didn’t want the government deciding on the people’s morality, something the Church felt was it’s place to do.
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I learned it in moral theology class so I don’t know how you want me to “show” you. 🙂

There are two levels to discernment when it comes to unjust laws. If you feel a law is unjust, you should do everything you can to get that law changed. However, that doesn’t mean that you are free to disobey the law. You are only “allowed” to disobey a law when doing so will cause you to sin or cause you to lead another to sin.

Here’s a good article from the CA home site.

catholic.com/magazine/articles/when-is-it-okay-to-disobey
 
Reep said:
Assuming, of course, that it was illegal to drink alcohol during prohibition, which I doubt.
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Good point. I was answering the question in the spirit it was asked (comparing it to the current “prohibition” regarding marijuana). 🙂 In the US, prohibition banned the sale, manufacture and transportation of intoicating drink. It would have been possible to drink without breaking the law directly.
 
Presence said:
I don’t feel like Marijuana falls under this categorization by the Catechism. Marijuana use does not, in fact, inflict very grave damage on human health and life. It is less harmful than Alcohol, Tobacco, prescription drugs, and even caffeine. It has also been shown to be helpful to all types of medical issues besides just cancer patients.

If merely by the qualification that production and trafficking of Cannabis be clandestine then religious practice in many times throughout history could be considered scandalous. The point here being that the laws against use of Marijuana are themselves scandalous and, like the prohibition of alcohol, creates an environment that breads crime.

We’re learning more and more about this herb the more we’re able to study it (which the US gov’t hasn’t even allowed us to do for decades) and discovering quite a few benefits. I don’t think we should allow the politics and shady business of governments like the US influence our morality, in the same way we fight against Pro-Choice policies (though obviously not to the same degree).

What are your opinions and insights about this?
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Yep and how many people do you know personally that has died from Marijuana use? (rhetorical question)

Although we have 17 Legal Medical Marijuana States and DC. Its still illegal on a federal level which is just insane. A city cop can just walk by but the feds can break down the doors and arrest everyone in the smokeshop or exscuse me…“the pharmacy” 😃
 
How many pot smokers are driving under the influence? How many accidents have they caused? I doubt that there are statistics, because as far as I know there is no breathylizer test for pot. How many pot smokers have endangered others while intoxicated?
 
There are dozens of studies pointing to a relationship between marijuana use and increased incidence of psychosis. It’s beginning to look like THC isn’t as benign as once thought in the absence of data.

That said, I’m not sure at what point a mind-altering substance is considered a “drug” for purposes of the cathechism. I’d say that anyone using any kind of a drug for the purposes of experiencing a high is stepping into treacherous ground.
 
JimG said:
How many pot smokers are driving under the influence? How many accidents have they caused? I doubt that there are statistics, because as far as I know there is no breathylizer test for pot. How many pot smokers have endangered others while intoxicated?
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Theres people who get dizzy taking asprin that shouldnt drive.

People should use common sense before they get behind the wheel.
 
Zosimus41 said:
Theres people who get dizzy taking asprin that shouldnt drive.

People should use common sense before they get behind the wheel.
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Exactly. And taking drugs interferes with the exercise of common sense.
 
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