Sins of smoking marijuana

[bengeorge]

Hi Folks,

I suppose I should be posting this anonymously, but my problem is as follows:

Last night I smoked marijuana with a friend. I don’t often smoke, and I haven’t smoked at all in 3 years.

I know this is a lame excuse, but I just really wasn’t thinking about it too much. I said “sure” in the same way that some might say “sure” to “Hey, wanna beer?”

The problem is that I think that my friend may have a problem, because I was told that he had been stressed at work and had taken to smoking every other day or so… So I feel that I encouraged his problem, like St Paul said, by tripping him up… Like as if someone were to have a drink with an alchoholic, I wasn’t thinking about the effect it might have on him.

Furthermore, I realized later that I had consumed the product of an evil industry, like people who accept diamonds from civil war torn African countries… my accepting of my friends “gift,” which he had bought from some unknown person, was material cooperation with an industry that is involved in global crime.

Even furthermore, it was a crime, and while I don’t think it should be, it is. And I am bound to obey all laws that don’t contradict the Law of God.

So my problem is: Am I missing anything? I’d like to make a good confession, and I’d like to do some sort of penence. I guess I’d also like to have a few posts here on this subject, for other people to see.

Thanks,
Ben

 

[Jermosh]

bengeorge:

Hi Folks,

I suppose I should be posting this anonymously, but my problem is as follows:

Last night I smoked marijuana with a friend. I don’t often smoke, and I haven’t smoked at all in 3 years.

I know this is a lame excuse, but I just really wasn’t thinking about it too much. I said “sure” in the same way that some might say “sure” to “Hey, wanna beer?”

The problem is that I think that my friend may have a problem, because I was told that he had been stressed at work and had taken to smoking every other day or so… So I feel that I encouraged his problem, like St Paul said, by tripping him up… Like as if someone were to have a drink with an alchoholic, I wasn’t thinking about the effect it might have on him.

Furthermore, I realized later that I had consumed the product of an evil industry, like people who accept diamonds from civil war torn African countries… my accepting of my friends “gift,” which he had bought from some unknown person, was material cooperation with an industry that is involved in global crime.

Even furthermore, it was a crime, and while I don’t think it should be, it is. And I am bound to obey all laws that don’t contradict the Law of God.

So my problem is: Am I missing anything? I’d like to make a good confession, and I’d like to do some sort of penence. I guess I’d also like to have a few posts here on this subject, for other people to see.

Thanks,
Ben

You did not do it willingly thinking that it was a Sin. So I do not think its a mortal sin, but it should be brought to confession of course as should all Sins.
Smoking pot is not a sin in itself. Why we are smoking it will determine that.

 

[mjdonnelly]

Since it alters your behavior and judgement almost instantly, it is sinful to use it.

Just as it is sinful to get drunk.

 

[John_of_Woking]

bengeorge:

Hi Folks,

I suppose I should be posting this anonymously, but my problem is as follows:

Last night I smoked marijuana with a friend. I don’t often smoke, and I haven’t smoked at all in 3 years.

I know this is a lame excuse, but I just really wasn’t thinking about it too much. I said “sure” in the same way that some might say “sure” to “Hey, wanna beer?”

The problem is that I think that my friend may have a problem, because I was told that he had been stressed at work and had taken to smoking every other day or so… So I feel that I encouraged his problem, like St Paul said, by tripping him up… Like as if someone were to have a drink with an alchoholic, I wasn’t thinking about the effect it might have on him.

Furthermore, I realized later that I had consumed the product of an evil industry, like people who accept diamonds from civil war torn African countries… my accepting of my friends “gift,” which he had bought from some unknown person, was material cooperation with an industry that is involved in global crime.

Even furthermore, it was a crime, and while I don’t think it should be, it is. And I am bound to obey all laws that don’t contradict the Law of God.

So my problem is: Am I missing anything? I’d like to make a good confession, and I’d like to do some sort of penence. I guess I’d also like to have a few posts here on this subject, for other people to see.

Thanks,
Ben

Hi ben, almost identical thing happened to me after I’d just converted from secular materialism to Catholicism. I saw an old mate and had a drag of a spliff that was being passed round. I think it is right its illegal because it can cause anomalies in the psyche. I’d be interested in knowing its effect on ocd/mild schizophrenia. That said I do sometimes yearn for a drag or two just to chill out. However, it is a sacrifice I am willing to make by going without for the sake of our souls!

 

[bengeorge]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies…

So, if it is sinful for us to comsume something that alters our pyches, is it also sinful for me to consume alchohol? I know alot of people will disagree with me here, but the only difference to me between alchohol and marijuana is that one is illegal and the other isn’t.

Some would say “Yeah, except you don’t get drunk every time you drink, whereas you do get high everytime you smoke”… Though most people I know DO smoke to get very high, and I think that’s gross, you don’t HAVE to smoke that much at all.

The illegality of marijuana is what makes it sinful, it would seem to me, given that it’s tied in with the drug industry, with all it’s criminality.

But by that standard, anyone buying diamonds of uncertain sources is in the same type of material cooperation.

Or, people who go to Las Vegas, even if they don’t have a gambling problem, they are giving money to a system that has known ties with the criminal underground.

Well, not trying to excuse myself or weasel out of what I know was wrong, just talking it out.

ben

 

[Jermosh]

mjdonnelly:

Since it alters your behavior and judgement almost instantly, it is sinful to use it.

Just as it is sinful to get drunk.

So do all drugs, legal ones at that. If the only reason to smoke pot is to get high, then you correct. But getting high is not the only use for marijuana.

 

[Timidity]

Jermosh:

Smoking pot is not a sin in itself.

It’s not? Are you sure?
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.

CCC 2291
​

 

[Jermosh]

Timidity:

except on strictly therapeutic grounds,

Bingo .We will gooble down welbrutrin, prosac and countless other anti depression or anti nausea drugs made from all kinds of chemicals and such. But totally shun something that God made for us already becuase some losers abuse it.

 

[Ghosty]

The sin of smokinf marijuana comes mostly from abuse and from the criminal industry. It’s hardly an extremely dangerous substance (in fact it’s far less dangerous than even moderate alcohol use in my experience in the medical field). While I would never want to see someone completely stoned out of their mind, light use of it generally impairs people less than alcohol.

Of course you should always go by Church direction on such things, and not personal views of people like me. Some day it might change, but for now, espescially due to the criminal nature of the activity, it’s not something that should be indulged in.

 

[mlchance]

Ghosty:

The sin of smokinf marijuana comes mostly from abuse and from the criminal industry. It’s hardly an extremely dangerous substance (in fact it’s far less dangerous than even moderate alcohol use in my experience in the medical field).

Nonsense. Moderate use of marijuana is far worse than moderate use of alcohol. The detrimental effects are only compounded with abuse. Even so-called recreational use of marijuana damages the brain and lungs, the latter in a way every bit comparable to cigarettes. Marijuana has no legitimate uses, not even medicinal ones. The so-called benefits of “medical” marijuana are readily available through prescription drugs such as Marinol that do not pose all of the the nasty health dangers necessarily associated with marijuana itself.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[puzzleannie]

if you have done something you consider sinful, or are worried about being sinful, please go to confession. this is a forum not a confessional and there is no such thing as absolution over the internet.

 

[Ghosty]

mlchance: I personally deal with the direct effects of using alcohol and marijuana on a daily basis, and I can tell you from experience that people who use a moderate amount of marijuana are FAR less likely to injure themselves or others than those who use alcohol. Everything you said about marijuana also applies to alcohol; both damage the brain and body. Even moderate amounts of alcohol use cause stomach and liver bleeding, as well as impairs sensory, motor fundtion, and judgement. There is no amount of alcohol that doesn’t do this and still cause mild effects. Furthermore, people who use alcohol are far MORE likely to engage in reckless activities, as the way it inhibits judgement is far more extreme than marijuana. Almost every night I deal with an assault significant enough to hospitalize, often more than one, and in almost every case, over 90%, it involves a moderate to light use of alcohol.

From an immediate medical standpoint, I would much rather see someone using marijuana than alcohol. The only major difference is that marijuana’s negative influence in the brain can build up and remain longer than alcohol, as it’s metabolized more slowly and stored in the body longer.

 

[Jermosh]

Mark,

This is not true. There is allot of studies and observations that marijuana has a very positive effect for use in theraputic uses. Its also been around for years in use of eye deseases and I seen it used allot in my AIDs charity work to help offset the nausea from the drugs, look at cemo patients who use marijuana compaired to other artifical drugs.

 

[HagiaSophia]

This is not true. There is allot of studies and observations that marijuana has a very positive effect for use in theraputic uses. Its also been around for years in use of eye deseases and I seen it used allot in my AIDs charity work to help offset the nausea from the drugs, look at cemo patients who use marijuana compaired to other artifical drugs.

Those with Parkinson’s, MS, and chemo treatments, etc. have rec’d some beneficial use. In the US some drugs are taboo mainly because physicians here are afraid of their “reputation”. Personally I see nothing different about prescribing marijuana for those under chemo or find that medicinally it is of benefit. Any drug taken for non-medicinal purposes is illegal and ought to be. Sick people need what they need.

In England for instance cancer and terminal patients suffering from it used to be allowed a heroin cocktail. This allowed at least 3-4 days per week where they could pain free visit with loved ones and be in comfort. Here in the US - they shudder in horror. It’s a very emotional subject among some but again, if one is ill, one ought to receive the palliatives they require.

 

[mlchance]

HagiaSophia:

Personally I see nothing different about prescribing marijuana for those under chemo or find that medicinally it is of benefit.

The very idea of telling someone battling cancer to smoke a known carcinogen is ludicrous. There already exist acceptable alternatives, such as marinol. The “medical” marijuana issue is just a smoke screen for pro-legalization advocates seeking to legitimize their addiction at the expense of the ill. It is similar to the chicanery of pro-embryonic stem cell research folks.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[bengeorge]

mlchance:

The “medical” marijuana issue is just a smoke screen for pro-legalization advocates seeking to legitimize their addiction at the expense of the ill.

Is everyone who advocates legalization a smoker?
Is everyone who smokes addicted?

mlchance:

It is similar to the chicanery of pro-embryonic stem cell research folks.

It is similiar in that the benefits are wildly exaggerated or simply made-up in order to push an agenda.
It is dissimilar in that the pro-emb-stem-cell folks are avocating the destruction of human life.

 

[Jermosh]

mlchance:

The very idea of telling someone battling cancer to smoke a known carcinogen is ludicrous. There already exist acceptable alternatives, such as marinol. The “medical” marijuana issue is just a smoke screen for pro-legalization advocates seeking to legitimize their addiction at the expense of the ill. It is similar to the chicanery of pro-embryonic stem cell research folks.

– Mark L. Chance.

Sorry Mark, you are way off the mark.
Most things that we consume are carcinogens. Plus useing your logic we should not use morphine, or clinical cocaine for pain medicine. Remember that next time you have nose surgery, or a kidney transplant.

 

[HagiaSophia]

mlchance:

The very idea of telling someone battling cancer to smoke a known carcinogen is ludicrous. There already exist acceptable alternatives, such as marinol. The “medical” marijuana issue is just a smoke screen for pro-legalization advocates seeking to legitimize their addiction at the expense of the ill. It is similar to the chicanery of pro-embryonic stem cell research folks.

Pray God you never need it as a pain killer then - the people sufferig aren’t so concerned about carcinogens. Have you heard the ads regarding many of the drugs now prescribed? If your heart doesn’t stop, if your liver doesn’t swell, if your vision doesn’t blur , if your stomach lining doesn’t rip, then please ask your doctor for such and so and you too can be healthy and happy.

Those who have these ailments can tell you that marinol does not work for a great many, especially Parkinson patients. It is unknown why since some receive beneficial help from it, but a great many do not.

And no, until you have had a chronic illness or are taking therapy which causes you to retch so badly as a side effect that you cannot eat and find that marijuana does aid those patients, I wouldn’t be quite so sure that drugs ought not to be prescribed aaccording to patient need.

They should be treated like every other drug, if you take’em and aren’t a patient in need, then face the legal consequences. But the sick need what they need.

 

[Feanaro_s_Wife]

HagiaSophia:

And no, until you have had a chronic illness or are taking therapy which causes you to retch so badly as a side effect that you cannot eat and find that marijuana does aid those patients, I wouldn’t be quite so sure that drugs ought not to be prescribed according to patient need.

They should be treated like every other drug, if you take’em and aren’t a patient in need, then face the legal consequences. But the sick need what they need.

Malia

 

[Chris_Jacobsen]

Smoking marijuana is not a sin.

But I won’t believe it has any medicinal value until it has been thoroughly tested and approved for medical use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.