“The downside comes from further normalizing cannabis as the country downplays its harmful effects, especially for those with developing brains,” Staudt noted.
A Catholic moral perspective
While the Catholic Church does not teach that the use of marijuana specifically is inherently sinful, paragraph 2291 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear about the use of drugs in general, describing as a “grave offense” their use apart from strictly therapeutic reasons. It also states in paragraph 2211 that the political community has a duty to protect the security and health of families, especially with respect to drugs.
Pope Francis, for his part, has spoken out against even the partial legalization of so-called “soft drugs,” stating in 2014 that “the problem of drug use is not solved with drugs.”
E. Christian Brugger, a Catholic moral theologian living in Virginia, told CNA in late 2022 that smoking marijuana with the intention of getting high means putting your use of reason at risk. Human reason is necessary to commune with God and avoid sin, he said.
“Like intentional drunkenness, getting high is the intentional altering of one’s consciousness. And when a person without necessity, and merely for the sake of pleasure, makes themself less able to use their reason … they do something that’s contrary to virtue,” Brugger said.
In the numerous U.S. states where marijuana legalization has been considered or has passed, Catholic bishops have urged voters to reject marijuana legalization, citing the physical and spiritual harms of drug use.
Notably, in November 2023 Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver released a pastoral letter on the Church’s teaching on recreational drugs, with a particular focus on marijuana. (Colorado and its capital, Denver, have long been the epicenter of marijuana culture in the United States, the state having legalized its recreational use in 2012, one of the first states to do so.)
Laying out “foundation reasons” for the Church’s teaching that the use of drugs is immoral, Aquila in his letter first proposed that because the human person is of eternal value, it is wrong to use any substance that is harmful to human life.
“[D]rugs diminish our self-possession by harming the very faculties that make us human: Drugs inhibit our use of reason, weaken our will’s orientation toward the good, and train our emotions to expect quick relief from artificial pleasure,” he continued.
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“These effects severely limit our ability to freely give ourselves to another — whether it be temporarily, as in the case of occasional drug use, or regularly, as in the case of drug addiction.”
On the contrary, “rather than reaching for chemicals when we are feeling weary and burdened, Jesus invites us to turn to him, who promises rest and abundance.”
Continuing, Aquila said Christians are called to “fully embrace Christ’s invitation to leave behind unhealthy attachments and coping mechanisms, like drugs … honoring God with our bodies.”
Addressing a possible objection, Aquila noted later in the letter that temperate use of alcohol is not the same as using drugs such as marijuana. Scripture, while describing alcohol as a gift from God, nevertheless strongly condemns drunkenness, he wrote.
Is marijuana dangerous?
Setting aside the purported medicinal or social benefits of marijuana, ample scientific evidence exists on the physical risks of using it, especially for the developing brains of young people. Reports from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) have found that marijuana impairs short-term memory and judgment and distorts perception, meaning it can impair performance in school or at work and make it dangerous to drive.
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