A Sticky Subject
Blog — By BWC on April 21, 2009 at 1:19 pm
On Monday, NPR ran a long piece on the legalization of marijuana. With a slightly convoluted structure, the piece imagined a world where marijuana had been legalized for two years already, repeatedly reminding the listener that it was still fantasy, lest a War of the Worlds-style hysteria break out.
Possibly cannabis-driven format aside, the piece is worth a listen. It runs over most of the arguments for and against legalization.
Over the past few months, I’ve informally polled some folks, Christians and non-Christians from a variety of backgrounds and ages. I’ve been surprised at the responses. One family friend, in her mid-60s and a devout charismatic Christian, told me cannabis should be legal, and alcohol should be banned. Marijuana is not something widely discussed within Christianity, and I’m curious what other believers really think.
So I created some poll questions, which will run until June 1st. They’re down at the bottom of this post.
The NPR piece covers most of the arguments for and against, but I’ll go over them very briefly here.
Arguments ForTax Revenue – Marijuana is the largest cash crop in Alaska, Alabama, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. It is in the top three in 27 others. The tax revenue from marijuana sales would, if not fix, then alleviate the budget crises of states like California.
Impact on Mexican Cartels – Marijuana, not cocaine or heroin, is the largest source of income for the Mexican drug cartels, and legalizing it would hinder their operations greatly. While drug trafficking would continue (along with other nasty cartel business, like kidnapping), it would be dramatically reduced.
Advantages Over Current Drugs – For medicinal use, marijuana is arguably better than prescription pain medication. It is less physically addictive than opiates, and less harmful over time. Additionally, it could be argued marijuana is safer than alcohol…it’s less addictive, less harmful and less likely to result in dangerous or violent behavior and overdosing.
A Less Burdened Legal System – Courts would be freed of prosecuting marijuana-related offenses. Prisons and jails would have more room.
Arguments Against
A Rise in Marijuana Use – Whether or not marijuana is safer than alcohol and prescription drugs doesn’t make it a good thing. More widespread use would likely result in a less productive society, along with a whole host of negative health effects.
Gateway – Lax laws on a formerly illicit drug would open the door for further experimentation with harder, more dangerous drugs.
Big Business – While marijuana growing might not reach the levels of Big Tobacco, it would certainly open a cultural floodgate and would, at some point, be marketed to children. (Though some would argue children’s television has been drug-induced since the Sixties.)
Biblical Viewpoint – While I’m sure plenty of hippies disagree, there isn’t much Biblical support for using marijuana. At the very least, Scripture’s order to avoid drunkenness and definition of sloth and gluttony as sin harshen the buzz. In other words, when it comes to the weed itself, there isn’t much reason for Christians to advocate legalization.
I’m sure there are many other arguments, but I’ll use these as a starting point. What do you think? I’d love to hear about any points I’m missing in the comments. I’d also like to get a wide array of feedback, so please invite anyone else you know to weigh in, or at least take our poll.
Should marijuana be legalized?
Have you ever smoked or otherwise consumed marijuana?
If marijuana was legal, would you consume it?
37 Comments
@karen zach
Well, those in search of self-medication have quite a long list of legal options as it is. Is it really worth the massive cost of prohibition to keep marijuana off that list?
I think our tax dollars would be far better spent focused on much more destructive drugs like meth and heroine. The cost in human lives (e.g. notice what’s happening in Mexican border towns these days), quality of life for non-violent pot smokers and their families (prison, criminal records, etc), reduced law enforcement time for more serious problems, and sheer tax dollars (spending vs earning billions) seems like an awful high cost just to keep marijuana off the list of legal ways for troubled individuals to self-medicate.
And if it really is worth it, then why isn’t it worth it to ban alcohol? It seems inconsistent to me to be ok with one and not the other.
@nathan’s comment about classification of pot:
I seem to remember hearing somewhere that marijuana first became vilified when cotton plantation owners first perceived the production of hemp as a threat to their business. These plantation owners, in essence, created a whole wave of propaganda decrying the evils of marijuana, which led to it being outlawed, which conveniently led to financial stability for those growing cotton…
No idea if this is true or not, and I can’t remember where I heard/read it… But interesting.
Personally, I’ve spent a sizable amount of time around people who were smoking pot. I’ve even smoked it myself on occasion. What I have noticed, however, is that attitudes towards marijuana seem to be closely connected to class and life prospects in general. When I was going to a poor, rural high school, many of my peers smoked weed to escape, to self-medicate, etc. Today, most of them are still doing so. In college (and therefore, FAR further up the financial ladder), my peers seemed to treat smoking pot as something much more recreational; the attitude was “It’s fun to go hang out with friends and smoke pot every once in a while, but I’d never do this regularly. I’ve got school and work and life to look after.”
Obviously, this doesn’t reflect the attitudes of all college students, but I think the important point here is that the social environment is just as influential in pushing a person into “addiction” as is the substance itself.
YES, there most certainly is a reason for Christians to want to see it legalized. It’s called getting this very important medicine into the hands of people that need it. For example, my mom who has no cartilage in her knees and can’t hardly walk at 60 years old and needs two knee replacements….how about her? Weed is the only medicine that really helps her, when she can get it. She’s been on numerous LEGAL drugs for pain which make her sick and addicted. (Hear that? How about monitoring the toxicity levels for the multiple FDA approved medications these well-meaning but ignorant doctors prescribe that cause thousands of toxic combinations and sometimes FATAL reactions every year?) Codeine and narcotic prescriptions that she’s addicted to, but can’t live without because she lives in a state that doesn’t allow her to get a far less dangerous medicine that you CAN’T overdose on and is a lot more natural than all the chemicals she has to take. All of her teeth have broken off…a side effect of these amazingly ineffective legal pain killers. And her Orthopaedic doctor said to her, “why don’t you do pot? That would help. I don’t want to do surgery on you because I’m afraid you would die on the operating table.” Of course it would help. She knows that, and her doctor knows that. So government, why the problem here?
A stumbling block? Sure for some, but so is free, legal downloadable porn. Porn doesn’t take away excruciating pain though. Or maybe it does for some…I don’t know. You take away the freedoms of people for the sake of safety, you end up sacrificing so much more than you could ever imagine. Personally, I rely on the Holy Spirit to keep me away from porn. So, don’t go on the street corner and get pot, if it’s a stumbling block. If it’s legal, then don’t go lie to your doctor and get him to write a prescription for it. Oh, but if you get an illness where you may really need it, well then…..
And yes, I’m angry. It’s the most painful thing in the world to watch someone you love in so much pain and know that the only substance that helps is out of reach. I’m furious at that. I can pray. I can speak up. But I know how easy it would be to see her pain free, and it kills me. And the government tells me I can’t. Come on Barack. If you do one thing in office….please let this be it.
As for the productivity argument, when my mom smoked before she worked third shift as a data entry secretary some 30 years ago, she could type 120-130 words a minute and make close to zero mistakes. If she did make a mistake she could pick out exactly where she made it. You try doing that on alcohol or even totally sober. I’m not saying it’s like that for everyone, but that’s bull that it would decrease productivity. How about an INCREASE in productivity because people who have severe illness now can work and WANT to work because they feel better? People who feel better and want to work and now no longer have to be on disability because of the pain/illness that keeps them from working. A MORE productive America? I think so. Now, I hear you. Not everyone is going to use it that way. But, not everyone “enjoys responsibly” that lovely brew of alcohol either. How much productivity is lost because of DUI’s? Hangovers? Car accidents from alcohol? How many accidents do people get in because of pot use? A LOT less….no where near the numbers of alcohol users. hmm…..
Gateway drug???? BULL!!! Pot smokers don’t want that other crap! That’s a lie, pure and simple. I truly believe that if someone wants to try a substance and they like pot, and it’s legal, why would they want to then move on to coke or crack that’s illegal and has a much different effect on your body? No, I haven’t done crack, but when I was a lot younger I had a boyfriend that did. He didn’t like pot. He liked crack. People are going to like what they like. Do what they do. But when the government steps in and tells me they’re protecting me from going into harder drugs by making pot legal, that infuriates me. I have a brain. I know how to use it to not do crack, thank you very much. But, if I really wanted to do it, I could find a way to do it no matter how illegal you make it.
Let’s also take into account that when you tell someone not to do something, it makes it that much more appealing. It’s a Biblical principle too. Romans 5:20, “The law was added so that the trespass might increase.” emphasis mine. So, take away the forbiddenness. It just might loose it’s appeal for some. Just an idea.
By the way, I’ve been a Christian for 17 years, I work at a major hospital, have a degree in medical assisting, don’t smoke or drink or anything harder….and I wish I could sit with all of my patients with pain or any diagnosis for that matter….pray for them, and then get them a script for some real “traditional” medicine.
Some informative history on the subject:
http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/12/22/whyIsMarijuanaIllegal.html
I find this whole discussion so interesting. I have a brother who is a doctor and he is 100% behind the legalization of Marijuana for pain treatment, as was most of the students in his medical school. And so for me, making pot legal for medicinal purposes is kind of a no-brainer. But as far as legalizing it for the general population. I think it should be decriminalized (b/c frankly the punishment doesn’t fit the crime) but not legal.
As far as the “addictive” elements of pot go, there’s just nothing to back that up. I’ve personally smoked it and, mew, it didn’t really do much so maybe that’s why I think about it that way. I DO think tho it can be debilitating for people’s lives. And making it legal WOULD increase the number of people who would have access to the drug, hence there would be more ppl debilitated.
NPR basically said, the most immediate effect would be that it’d be in the hands of a bunch more kids, which I think is bad. But on the other hand, I am a BIG fan of temperance and if you teach kids that moderation is really the key, things like pot and alcohol are FAR less likely to be debilitating. So, I’m basically on the fence with this.
I appreciate the information that was in the blog, taken from the show. To me, I see that legalizing something does not mean we are making it into a healthy and good thing to use/do for all people. It just means that we can control it differently than when it’s illegal and that those who will use it for medicinal purposes (considering that all medicines alter the body/mind in some way) can do so without jumping through hoops. In my job, I see kids who don’t get that there are unhealthy side affects to their use of marijuana and in fact use it to self-medicate to the point of it messing with their ability to function.
I also agree with the person who said there should be a toxicity limit like there is with alcohol.
This was a great subject to cover. Thanks Jordan.