Under the influence while being confirmed?

[filter2700]

I recently had a deep conversation with a friend and learned that while this person received confirmation (was anointed/blessed by the bishop) he was high from marijuana. He was about 17 at the time. It seems very serious to me, so I didn’t really know what to say other than maybe talk to a priest. He never confessed it, and said he is on the fence as to whether or not using marijuana recreationally is sinful since it is a legitimate medicine scientifically.

I know there is certainly a difference between using marijuana medicinally (which has many benefits to those who are sick) and just for fun. Personally I can’t deny the enormous volume of scientific research showing the benefits of marijuana treating various sicknesses, but recreational use is like getting drunk. He wasn’t using it as medicine though, he was using it recreationally. I don’t know why he went to his confirmation high, it is strange and it doesn’t make sense to me.

But what should he do? What advice can I give him? And most importantly, is his confirmation invalid because he was high? Is he not confirmed because he was sinning during confirmation (assuming recreational use is sinful because its comparable to being drunk)? Thanks.

 

[devoutchristian]

His confirmation is not invalid. He needs to confess using marijuana and getting confirmed while in mortal sin.

 

[onceablasphemer]

Your friend is wrong. Using marijuana for recreation is sinful. Now we cannot know what was going through his mind and his culpability but the Church teaches it is wrong and what is bound on Earth is bound in Heaven. Drug use opens doors to the inner self but the Holy Spirit is too much of a gentleman to enter without being invited. Demons are not. Now I am not suggesting smoking marijuana will cause someone to become possessed but it will lead them away from God and deeper into a life of sin. My RCIA instructor is a retired DEA agent and he worked in Mexico for 6 years. A lot of the drugs from the big busts had satanic symbols on the packaging and the cartels would use satanic “priests” to say a black mass over particularly big shipments headed for the border.