The Catholic bishops of B.C. and the Yukon in Canada have issued an open letter warning that while cannabis may now be legal, using it recreationally remains sinful.
The letter, posted online at the end of November, is signed by the Archbishop of Vancouver along with the bishops of Victoria, Nelson, New Westminster, Prince George, Kamloops and Whitehorse.
The mere fact that an activity is made legal by the government does not automatically mean that it is morally acceptable,
reads the letter.
The document acknowledges that there are legitimate therapeutic uses for medical cannabis but argues that even in those cases it shouldn’t be smoked, if possible, for health reasons.
But when it comes to getting high for fun, the letter argues that Catholics should abstain.
In the Catholic tradition, the recreational use of a substance merely for its intoxicating effects, rather than therapeutically, is not permitted. Deliberate intoxication, whether through alcohol or marijuana, is wrong for several reasons,
it reads.
Those reasons, according to the letter, include the loss of good judgment and inhibition, which it argues can lead to doing harm or making immoral choices.
When there is no genuine medical need for using a drug and it is used merely to cause inebriation, it is sinful behaviour.
Greg Bittman, Bishop of Nelson, told Global News that he signed the letter because he’s seen first-hand the effect addiction has had on his ministries.
Personally, I’m against it because I have dealt with people who have been addicted to marijuana and their lives are a trainwreck, and I’ve also dealt with people who are alcoholics,
he said.
To use stuff that might impair our judgment or escape from reality, is that something we really should be doing?
Bittman said the church also has concerns about the effects of drugs on the development of young people’s brains, along with the mixed message he believes kids are getting in the transition from a “just say no” world to one where the product is suddenly legal.
But why is the church taking such a public stance against cannabis when other addictive products like beer and cigarettes are on the shelf?
Alcohol has been around a longer time than marijuana, probably. I can’t answer that question, why we’re not… I mean, we could say the same thing about alcohol in that it’s addictive, it can impair your judgment, you can hurt yourself by drinking too much — or other people.
he said.
Regarding whether it is possible for people to responsibly use recreational cannabis in moderation or in the same context as a beer after work, Bittman said he’d have to “leave that up to the people who are going to use it.”
Ranking clergy in B.C. and the Yukon are not alone within the church in opposing cannabis use.
In June, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement expressing “disappointment” in the legalization of recreational cannabis and warning that health risks and risks to use make cannabis “potentially dangerous.”
Catholic Church head Pope Francis has also come out strongly against drug use, arguing in 2014 that “the legalization, even partial, of so-called ‘soft drugs’ — beyond being at least questionable from the legislative point of view — does not produce the desired results.”
Funny but you protect the pedophiles and that is not a sin???? FFS
Outside of the stink of cannabis, people who use it for recreational use are more tolerable than some people on alcohol. What I find totally intolerable is when the Roman Catholic clergy think they owe us a say on it’s use by telling us it is sinful. But then, imagination is in the realm of their ego.
Marijuana was legal for 1000s of years intill the 1930s fish hat pagan tree treeworshipper
Nobody gives a shit what y’all feel is immoral! Nobody needs your acceptance. You rapists!
Wow…the church talking about sin, after its sinful history. Im sure the dude with the joint will have no problem getting into heaven over the priest that touches little timmy
Where were yall when slavery was legal and still not moral
I am not going to listen to a bunch of pedophiles when it comes to which forms of recreation are acceptable.
Fuck the church ,if it is a sin for me to use recreational marijuana well I will happily enter hell with pressure !!damn pedophile!
Speaking of escaping from reality, what do you think religion is, dude?
If people want to find a little happiness or to relax, why does the church have to try to spoil it? How about you mind your own business first, take care of your pedophilia problems before moralizing to others?
So Jesus turning water into wine was sinful ?
A lot of these people are smoking cause of the sinful things the priests have done to them. Or what about selling liquor at the catholic festivals? That’s ok cause it makes them money. Where do you get off judging? Isn’t that a sin too?
Raping young boys and girls is not sinful but smoking a spliff is.
Jesus Christ would spit in your filthy eyes you paedoPriests of the church
These people molest children, why bother asking them anything? Charlatans and snake oil salesmen, anyone else you want to canvas? Hitler or maybe Genkhis Khan?
Mark Anthony Di Lello given the Vatican’s track record……NUFF SAID!
So is playing in lil boys bootyholes and burying pregnant nun children in church walls. So is crusades to rape and pillage. Stealing artifacts of magic from other cultures and written history. Catholics have raped the world their opinions dont count. Worry bout your blood rituals marijuana opens minds.
🖕🏼⛪️
Fucking little boys is sinful as well.
Wow. The lack of understanding of God’s Word is profound in Roman Catholicism.
Come of of that harlot; be aware, most Protestant denominations carry over vestigial remnant of the pagan Roman Catholic church.