By Pastor Mark Christopher
It
has been said that the first casualty of war is the truth. I was reminded of
this recently when I turned on the TV late one night, and caught a recent episode of Special Assignment singing the laurels
of legalizing that whacky weed, known in SA as “dagga”. True to form, the Special
Assignment report was anything but unbiased and objective
as they confused the issue by co-mingling two different aspects of the debate —
homogenizing medical marijuana with its recreational uses. In truth, while
related, these are 2 separate ethical issues that Christians need to approach
differently.
Ever
since the US states of Colorado and Washington legalized the recreational use
of dagga, there has been a full-court press by the world’s media and pro-pot
advocates to push for legalization of the wizard weed for more than medicinal
purposes. In part, the issue came to the fore here in SA when IFP MP Mario
Oriano-Ambrosini, who has stage four lung
cancer, told parliament he uses dagga oil for its palliative properties to help
manage the ill-effects of his treatments.
As
the issue of legalizing dagga ramps up, one can already anticipate the
truncated logic and blatant propaganda that will be trotted out in hubbly — bubbly
fashion to portray legalization of dagga as a Peter-Pan panacea. We can expect
the same old worn out arguments that have been in vogue since the 1960s, when
the counter-culture took Timothy Leary’s advice to “turn on, tune in, and drop
out.” Sadly, many who took Leary’s advice failed to ever surface back to
reality.
So
what kind of smoke-screen logic will be presented endlessly as the pro-pot
lobby marshals its forces, in effort to convince the public of the benefits of
recreational dagga? What follows is just a sample of what is in store:
1.
“Public opinion has shifted dramatically in favour of legalizing dagga”: But is
this really a compelling reason to swing the gates wide open and legalize dagga?
If public opinion overwhelmingly decides that laws related to reckless driving
and speeding are “archaic” and “ineffective”, should lawmakers throw up their
hands in defeat and concede to public sentiment?
2.
“The war on drugs has failed”: This famous dictum is normally the first salvo
fired in the debate. But the premise is flawed because it assumes, without any
empirical data, that legalization will not be attended with any negative
consequences. By the same line of reasoning one could just as easily conclude,
based on current crime stats in SA, that the war on car-jackings, rape, violent
crime, and murder have all catastrophically failed. So why not channel money
used to fight crime into more positive pursuits like social up-liftment? Since
poverty supposedly causes crime, this would reduce criminal activity. Right?
In
the US, the pro-pot forces have been using this rationale to great effect. Yet,
when one looks at the war on poverty that began with President Johnson’s “Great
Society” 50 years ago, it has epically
failed. After 50 years, 20 trillion dollars in
welfare distributed, the poverty stats today are comparable to those at the
beginning of poverty alleviation. It has amounted to a zero-sum game — if 20
trillion dollars spent is a zero-sum game. But I don’t hear any liberal-like
voices declaring, “The war on poverty has failed.” Why not?
3.
“Smoking dagga is no worse than smoking cigarettes or drinking coffee”: Such
logic is stratospherically stupefying. Cannabis is well documented to promote numerous
negative side effects — some short term, some
lasting: memory impairment and cognitive
function for starters as it induces speech impediments,
dulls thinking, limits knowledge retention, affects problem-solving, and
hampers complex motor skills — all of which is hardly the recipe to promote
safe, responsible drivers, innovative thinking, or productive workers. In a
small percentage of cases dagga produces psychotic responses like when 19 year
old Levy
Thamba, who was visiting friends in Colorado,
ate a cookie laced with dagga. He went berserk and leapt off a balcony to his
death.
Dagga
smoke has more cancer-causing toxins than cigarette smoke, damaging both brain
and lung cells. Where is the anti-smoking lobby now?
In
short, let me ask you, would you rather board an airplane knowing that the
pilot just smoked a cigarette and drank two cups of coffee, or that he just
toked two refers? Which scenario would make you feel more comfortable as that
plane barrels down the runway for take-off?
4.
“People are going to smoke anyway”: In a fallen, sin-cursed world, people are
going to do many things that are harmful to both themselves and those around
them. This is precisely why we need government and law enforcement. So do we really want to make this rationale
the cornerstone for practical ethics and morality?
5.
“Prohibition on alcohol didn’t work, so we should legalize dagga for
recreational purposes”: This argument fails to acknowledge the staggering
effects fuelled by alcohol
abuse, alcohol related crime, domestic
violence, and deaths on the streets and highways. In effect, pro-pot logic
tacitly endorses, even if unintentionally so, more destruction of lives, the
further demise of the family, the negative fallout on children, and the
economic impacts of all this. In pro-pot logic, two wrongs make it a right.
6.
“Legalizing dagga will reduce social costs”: No doubt some crime-fighting
related costs could be reduced. But this will be offset by expenses related to
enforcing government regulations legalization will require. Then, when one
calculates the price-tag placed on the social consequences of legal dagga —
dagga related crime, drugged driving, welfare costs associated with familial
breakdown, and the costs on state-sponsored rehab for the legion of new addicts
— the tax revenues harvested from this new cash crop will hardly cover society’s
THC induced coma. Can we really afford the unstated, unintended fallout from
the recreational uses of this drug?
While
a case can be made for the therapeutic and industrial benefits of dagga, it
must be acknowledged that the pro-pot forces use medicinal marijuana as a
backdoor entrance to recreational legalization. It has become a THC Trojan
horse for dishonest proponents of the weed. My home state of California
legalized medicinal dagga in 1996. According to my many law-enforcement friends
in that state, the laws surrounding the implementation of medical marijuana are
so porous and poorly enforced that California has no need to legalize pot for
recreational purposes. Californians already enjoy recreational use of dagga by
default of medicinal marijuana.
When
you add it all up, what pro-pot lobbyists advocate will only serve to extend use
of the drug. But if one dares to confuse them with the facts, they will use the
media to take pot-shots, ridiculing their opponents in a haze of
disinformation.
The
sum of pro-pot logic amounts to placing a large, red juicy Washington State
apple in a barrel of rotten apples hoping for the rottenness to be reversed. The
sum of this equation is really quite predictable.
As Christians, we must remember we are called
to be holy not high!
(Note:
In my next submission I will specifically address the biblical response to
pro-pot thinking.)
