A couple of years ago the question about the legalization of marijuana was asked on the sister site that deal with politics that is now in hiatus. California (who else) got the ball started with the process of legalizing it. Back in November Colorado became the latest battleground. And on the day that it became legal thousands of people flocked to the state to buy their share. Of course they probably never thought about the fact that they had to smoke it there because you can not take illegal substances across the state line. But they are pot heads so they probably were not able to think about that anyway. This time the question is based more on the morality of the issue. What do we do with marijuana? Do we treat it like coffee and cigarettes? Do we treat it like alcohol and medical drugs? Or do we treat it like cocaine and heroine? After all everything that has been listed here is still a drug and "has its purpose". But where is the line drawn about it usage? The answer to the poll is repeal the laws, create new ones that put a huge restriction on it. Here are the actual results to the poll about the legalization of marijuana:
Some Christians think it should be legalized for the following reasons (none of which are valid nor rational): it takes the money power out of the equation, we can't force our morality on others since we have free will, or there is nothing wrong with it. Pathetic answers. It won't take the money out of it since now they can get away with bringing a lot more into the country and will have a bigger market. Plus they will just move on to harder drugs to sell and then what do we do with those drugs? There is something wrong with it. Anytime we put things into our body that alter who we are is wrong. Medical reasons? Fine, then put it in a pill and get a real prescription for it. Some will argue that alcohol kills more brain cells that marijuana, but that is like saying could you please only cut two of my fingers off instead of three. It still kills. Some will say it is not that addictive. The government says it is but some psychologist are on the fence: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-teenage-mind/201012/is-marijuana-addictive. Think about it. If it is a drug that people feel the need to fight for then guess what? If they took coffee off the market, people would fight for it. If they took soft drinks of the market...hmmm, New York.
So what about the third reason Christians would agree about it? We shouldn't create laws that force people to listen to a moral issue? There are laws against us all the time and they don't hurt anyone. Is there a two-way street here? But perhaps there is truth about creating a law against it. If it illegal then people due to their disobedient nature will want to try it. Restricting it won't reduce the usage of it. Look what happened to alcohol. Either way there are alcoholics. Same with marijuana. There will be people using it no matter what. And that brings us to the main issue.
Actually the main issue isn't should we legalize it or not. The issue is why are people feeling the need to have it. And the answer to that is because our society is immoral. We feel the need to live in fantasy worlds. We can't take reality so we escape it. We live in a world that only cares about feeling good instead of doing good. If we look at those who support the legalization we get a better picture at how dumb it is to do so: http://www.pinterest.com/theinsider/celebs-who-support-marijuana-legalization/. Most on the list are unrespectable people living questionable lives. Don't judge? It is not a matter of judging. It is a matter of knowing right from wrong.
But here is the main problem with legalization. If no one is held accountable then people can use it recreationally at their leisure. Doctors, pilots, teachers, bus drivers, presidents (wait, never mind) will be coming to work more high. Without any boundaries the children of today are bot going to know the difference between helping your body or abusing your body. And then we will wonder why so many kids want to commit suicide and feel they have no purpose in life. Not all marijuana users will use cocaine and heroin. But all heroin and cocaine users started with marijuana. Fact. We are now getting to a point where it is becoming more and more accepted as part of our culture. Nothing seems to bother us anymore. As a teacher there are signs everyday of the culture inside the schools that show lack of motivation for anything in life. And marijuana is usually a part of those kinds of students' lives. Nice future we have built for them.
Until the culture changes, until we can turn people's thoughts around, until we can get people to understand that there are consequences for all of our actions, until we get society to believe in hope again, marijuana should remain illegal, or at least come with many restrictions. And Christians, do what is right.
