The official catholic stance on marijuana

[BobObob]

People say you can’t become addicted to it, but I had a few friends who were. Eventually they stopped having it and replaced it with alcohol, but one of them went on to worse drugs and he ended up committing suicide.

When it is said that marijuana is not addictive, it is usually meant that it is not CHEMICALLY addictive. Virtually anything can be PSYCHOLOGICALLY addictive. Caffeine is more chemically addicting than marijuana.

drugtext.org/sub/marmyt1.html
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100329170600AAYKpU9

It sounds like your friends had bigger but perhaps more subtle problems than marijuana use. A lot of times when people use narcotics (alcohol, marijuana, etc.) excessively, they are trying to numb pain they may be experiencing (perhaps depression).

However, I ended up having a panic attack- this was caused by a chemical it contains called TLC…

It seems that your panic attacks may not have much to do with THC (which is I think what you meant). I’ve heard that THC can cause panic attack in some people, but I don’t think it’s likely to have any effect on the brain 5 years after use.

When using any drug (caffeine, alcohol, marijuana, etc.) one must reasonably educate themselves on the possible risks associated with taking such drugs, and act responsibly.

 

[BobObob]

On the contrary, the State wishes to control the use of narcotics precisely to preserve the moral order, and has deemed that alcohol and tobacco are the only two permissible addictive/mind-altering substances for non-medicinal use.

Laws against marijuana were originally made because Congressmen gave in to lobbyists from DuPont and due to racism.

Marijuana was made illegal in part because members of Congress were told that marijuana was what made Mexicans crazy. In fact, a Texas Senator said, on the floor of the Senate, “All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff [marijuana] is what makes them crazy.” (drugwarrant.com/articles/why-is-marijuana-illegal/) (druglibrary.org/olsen/dpf/whitebread05.html )

Also, marijuana was also made illegal in part because DuPont lobbied Congress to make it illegal. This was because DuPont couldn’t compete with hemp, so instead they used Congress to artificially crush the competition.(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_history_of_cannabis_in_the_United_States#Marijuana_Tax_Act_.281937.29)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuPont(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuPont) )

Marijuana has remained illegal in part because it tends to be easier to make new laws than to repeal bad ones. It has also remained illegal because the fact that it’s illegal makes people view marijuana as if it’s evil.

It seems to me that the legal status of marijuana has little to do with morality. Even if it did, the purpose of government is to secure liberty (as mentioned in the Declaration of Independence) rather than to enforce morality, but that’s for another thread…

 

[BobObob]

Marinol is legal medical marijuana but it’s more expensive than marijuana so it is not available to those who might need it.

Marinol has more problems than marijuana. It’s more dangerous and doesn’t have all the medicinal uses than one might use marijuana for.

I have yet to see one negative reader response in the Detroit News about marijuana, medical or otherwise. The old, “Hey. What’s the big deal?” concept is at work here again. People should choose, we’re told. As I understand it, a lot of people are choosing right now.

Do people really need one more drug to add to the current stockpile?

treatment-center.com/drug-alcohol-info/marijuana.php

This article didn’t mention that marijuana can be vaporized. When marijuana is vaporized, the lung cancer risk mentioned in the article drops down to virtually zero.

Regarding the dangers of marijuana use, Lester Grinspoon MD, professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, said, “Marijuana is remarkably non toxic. In all the years that marijuana has been used, there’s not been one single documented death from it. I don’t know that you can say the same thing about any other drug.” (abc.net.au/quantum/poison/marijuan/lester.htm ) Alcohol is a LOT more harmful to one’s body than marijuana.

 

[OraLabora]

Laws against marijuana were originally made because Congressmen gave in to lobbyists from DuPont and due to racism.

Marijuana was made illegal in part because members of Congress were told that marijuana was what made Mexicans crazy. In fact, a Texas Senator said, on the floor of the Senate, “All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff [marijuana] is what makes them crazy.” (drugwarrant.com/articles/why-is-marijuana-illegal/) (druglibrary.org/olsen/dpf/whitebread05.html )

Also, marijuana was also made illegal in part because DuPont lobbied Congress to make it illegal. This was because DuPont couldn’t compete with hemp, so instead they used Congress to artificially crush the competition.(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_history_of_cannabis_in_the_United_States#Marijuana_Tax_Act_.281937.29)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuPont(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuPont) )

Marijuana has remained illegal in part because it tends to be easier to make new laws than to repeal bad ones. It has also remained illegal because the fact that it’s illegal makes people view marijuana as if it’s evil.

It seems to me that the legal status of marijuana has little to do with morality. Even if it did, the purpose of government is to secure liberty (as mentioned in the Declaration of Independence) rather than to enforce morality, but that’s for another thread…

The world is bigger than the US. Marijuana is illegal in many places, on other continents.

The Dutch have experimented with making marijuana legal in some places. It has not been a 100% happy experience.

The law against marijuana, though you may disagree with it, is not immoral, unjust or unfair as it does not affect basic human rights.

We are therefore bound to obey it, as Catholics. Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s.

 

[Thyme]

Perhaps it’s your lack of sleep, but that doesn’t make any sense. To me, harmful and damaging mean the same thing.

Sorry, I was tired, but I will clarify what I meant now:

Are you committing a sin when you’re addicted to/consuming something harmful? Harmful as in psychological, influence on peers and physical harm.

Are you committing a sin when you consume something that you know can be damaging? For example, it can increase your heart rate from 20-100 percent for up to three hours after smoking it and people claim that one joint of cannabis can be just as harmful to the lungs as five cigarettes.

When it is said that marijuana is not addictive, it is usually meant that it is not CHEMICALLY addictive. Virtually anything can be PSYCHOLOGICALLY addictive. Caffeine is more chemically addicting than marijuana.

Anything can be psychologically addictive, but some things are more addictive than others. I can’t comment on the effects of caffeine as I haven’t learnt much about it. My friends were addicted none-the-less and after stopping, they went on to other drugs as a replacement- unfortunately, one went onto something much worse. If they hadn’t been smoking marijuana in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened.

It sounds like your friends had bigger but perhaps more subtle problems than marijuana use. A lot of times when people use narcotics (alcohol, marijuana, etc.) excessively, they are trying to numb pain they may be experiencing (perhaps depression).

Only one of them had bigger issues- the one who killed himself. After the others switched to alcohol, they were so much happier and outgoing when sober. When they were smoking marijuana, it seemed like their personalities had died.

It seems that your panic attacks may not have much to do with THC (which is I think what you meant). I’ve heard that THC can cause panic attack in some people, but I don’t think it’s likely to have any effect on the brain 5 years after use.

Sorry, I did mean THC lol. I don’t believe that it does continue to have an effect on your brain that long after use, but the fear I felt when I had my first (and worst ever) panic attack has stayed with me and I’m hoping that councilling will help me to stop having panic attacks.

When using any drug (caffeine, alcohol, marijuana, etc.) one must reasonably educate themselves on the possible risks associated with taking such drugs, and act responsibly.

I agree. All I had heard about was how safe marijuana is compared to other drugs etc… The effects of the panic attack that it caused made me want to do really stupid things at one point and if my friend never smoked it, he would never have gone onto harder drugs and his mental state would have been better.

I can’t imagine that God has no feeling about us consuming marijuana. I think that he does get annoyed at us when we consume stupid things.

 

[BobObob]

The world is bigger than the US. Marijuana is illegal in many places, on other continents.

I’d suspect that that has a lot to do with the influence of the US (but I’m not sure). It would be an interesting thing to research.

The Dutch have experimented with making marijuana legal in some places. It has not been a 100% happy experience.

The percentage of Americans who use marijuana is at least twice as high (and by some accounts four times as high) as the percentage of Dutch who use marijuana.

drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/67
drugwarfacts.org/cms/The+Netherlands

Also, the use of more dangerous drugs are lower in the Netherlands than in the US across the board, which is arguably due to the use of marijuana being permitted there.

The law against marijuana, though you may disagree with it, is not immoral, unjust or unfair as it does not affect basic human rights.

Just like the evil intention of an otherwise good action makes the act evil, the evil intention of a law makes it a bad law.

We are therefore bound to obey it, as Catholics. Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s.

As a theology major at a conservative Catholic college who is entering my senior year, I understand that the Catechism of the Catholic Church isn’t by any means infallible in itself, but rather is like a compendium of Catholic teaching that is based largely off of documents it cites which often contain authoritative, and sometimes even infallible, teachings. It is to be “[A] sure norm for teaching the faith (vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19921011_fidei-depositum_en.html ) rather than a dogmatic proclimation of new teachings. I don’t want to get into this here and now (because this would be getting off-topic), but not everything in the CCC is absolute.

Regarding the teaching of the Catholic Church on obeying laws, there is nothing that reaches the level of dogma, and not even anything that I know of that all Catholics are absolutely bound to.

A lot of what influences what the CCC says regarding governing authorities came from the philosophy of divine rule, the idea that a government’s temporal power comes from God. This is extremely problematic since all governments, except for ancient Israel, were founded by man, and any government that claims otherwise may deny being accountable to anyone but God. It’s extremely dangerous because in it’s most radical forms can be ideal conditions for tyranny.

The more important thing that influences what the CCC says regarding governing authorities is doing what’s best for society. Generally, it’s best for society for people to obey almost all laws.

If one isn’t doing something immoral in itself (like wreckless driving or getting drunk) then IMHO it is moral to break the law if you are capable of taking the risk of the civil penalties. This is why one may morally drive drive 70 mph on a road with a speed limit of 65 and risk getting a ticket if it’s safe to drive at that speed in that situation. On the other hand, if one has children who are dependent on him, one may not risk being put in jail (since doing so would be risking the welfare of the children), even for something that is not immoral in itself (unless it is a double effect situation).

I apologizes for getting sidetracked. Now back to the thread on marijuana…