Topic:  Is marijuana use sinful?

Source of this posting: Moderator response

Date originally posted: November 22, 2003

Moderator who originally posted this source: Father Phillip

Question:  I was wondering what the Bible and the Catholic Church say about the use of marijuana.I believe that it is a sin because it takes away your sobriety and your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit dwells.Am I close?

Answer: 

Of course, you're close -- to God anyway! And that's what matters ultimately!

Neither marijuana nor its use is mentioned in the Bible.

The Church clearly teaches that we ought to obey the just laws of society. Since use of marijuana is illegal, we ought not to use it because we would be breaking an apparently just law.

(Some could argue that medical uses of marijuana for cases of extreme pain for really sick people MIGHT be a legitimate exception to what I said just above.)

And surely you're right that the Scripture does remind us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Anything we do that could hurt the body -- drinking too much alcohol, not exercising appropriately, exercising to excess, etc. -- is not honoring the temple of God's Spirit. Clearly using marijuana would probably fall into that category as well.

However, I would add as a caveat that simply taking away one's sobriety is not, in itself, necessarily sinful. The Scriptures have a number of examples where an otherwise admirable and holy person drinks alcohol, presumably, to the point of intoxication.

Other factors, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, largely determine whether taking away one's sobriety can be or is sinful. For example, if one is not sober but drives a car; that is clearly VERY sinful. If one is not sober and uses that as an excuse to perpetrate violence against another person or even as an excuse to destroy property, those would be very sinful -- the first situation, violence against another human being, being far more serious. If one is not sober and uses that lack of sobriety as an excuse to commit other immoral acts, that is sinful.

The Catholic Church's position is a good bit more "nuanced" than simply saying that a lack of sobriety is always sinful. We would argue that being moderate, temperate, careful, and responsible are the keystones for building a life in which the use of intoxicating beverages is a part.

Make sense?

Blessings,
Father Phillip