Marijuana

[Lil Red]

okay, here's a question that was posed to me by one of my kids.

so marijuana is legal in Canada and other countries in the world...

if it is legal, is it a sin to smoke it?

it's basically like smoking cigarettes here in the US, it's legal, with side effects, but not necessarily a sin.

[BLAZEr]

Marijuana, actually, is nothing like smoking cigarettes.

The main active chemical in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). The membranes of certain nerve cells in the brain contain protein receptors that bind to THC. Once securely in place, THC kicks off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the high that users experience when they smoke marijuana.

Scientists have learned a great deal about how THC acts in the brain to produce its many effects. When someone smokes marijuana, THC rapidly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to organs throughout the body, including the brain.

In the brain, THC connects to specific sites called cannabinoid receptors on nerve cells and influences the activity of those cells. Some brain areas have many cannabinoid receptors; others have few or none. Many cannabinoid receptors are found in the parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thought, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement(5).

The short-term effects of marijuana can include problems with memory and learning; distorted perception; difficulty in thinking and problem solving; loss of coordination; and increased heart rate.

The plant constituent delta-9-THC has been found to produce many characteristic cognitive deficits in both human and animal subjects. It impairs the brain's functioning, particularly with regard to chronic use. Numerous investigations have found that the most pronounced impairments are reduced short-term memory, locomotion disorders, altered time sense, paranoia, fragmentation of thought, and lethargy

So what does this mean, morally speaking? Well, the fact that THC has the effect of influencing thought and concentration, that it creates "cognitive deficits" means that it alters your ability to reason. Reason is what seperates man from the animals. Reason is what allows man to make a morally licit choice or to avoid a morally illicit choice. Any act that deprives man of his rational capacity, of his ability to act in freedom, is an act contrary to human dignity.

Marijuana (and all drugs that affect the cognitive faculties) is ALWAYS morally illicit because it violates the human dignity of man by inhibiting his ability to make a moral choice. In other words, it makes you less of a man and more of an animal. Ultimately, this is always a sin, whether it is legal or not.