The Morality of Marijuana

Smoking pot may be against the law, but it is not necessarily a sin. That seems to be the consensus among Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy who have had any dealings with the marijuana-puffing youth of the turned-on generation.

Many churchmen are reluctant to give a definite yes or no to marijuana, on the grounds that the medical evidence as to its harmfulness is incomplete. On the other hand, Dr. Joseph F. Fletcher of Massachusetts' Episcopal Theological School, the nation's leading exponent of situation ethics, argues that "the morality of pot depends on circumstances. Social drinking is not immoral, social smoking is not immoral, social pot is not immoral--unless they are used to excess."

Cultural Rebellion. Whether or not they favor pot, many clergymen condemn strict laws against its use. Dr. James Donaldson of the Los Angeles Council of Churches believes that the severe penalties "fall not only on gangsters but on young people experimenting with cultural rebellion." Others argue that antimarijuana laws are an unfortunate attempt to legislate morality. Like the laws of Prohibition, they feel, such laws are bound to be dropped from the books as more and more people come to accept pot as simply another of life's pleasures. Questioning the morality of marijuana, says Father Richard Mann, a Catholic priest working in East Harlem, "is like asking: 'What do you think of cheesecake?'"

Not many clergymen seem to have experimented with marijuana--or at least are willing to admit having done so. Yet it is generally agreed that students in many of the nation's seminaries have experimented with pot. Says a professor at one theological school in the San Francisco area: "Are you kidding? There probably isn't a divinity school in the country that doesn't have the problem."

A few clerics go so far as to argue that the euphoric high created by marijuana may be, for some, access to instant mysticism. Mark Welsch, a graduate of the University of Chicago Divinity School who works as a social counselor in downtown Chicago, believes that pot can be "a significant vehicle to self-realization." Others suggest that the morality of pot smoking depends on whether or not it is psychologically helpful to an individual. If marijuana is a crutch or a way of escape, says Methodist Minister Terry Cooper of Los Angeles, then it is damaging for an individual to use it. If it is a stimulus to creativity or simply a means of relaxing, there is no ethical problem.

Liberated to Care. Ministers and priests still generally disapprove of pot as a way of life. The Rev. Al Carmines, associate minister of Manhattan's Judson Memorial Church, maintains that marijuana is no incentive to Christian values. "It doesn't particularly involve one with responsibility for one's fellow man," he says. "The liberation of the Gospel has to do with being liberated to care and not being liberated for ecstasy for its own sake."

In pastoral counseling, very few ministers would think of advocating pot. The reason, however, seems to be less a matter of morality than that smoking it is against the law. Jonathan Tuttle, a United Church of Christ minister who works with teen-agers on Chicago's North Side, believes that using pot should be an individual decision. In counseling a youth, Tuttle says, "I inform him of the most pervasive medical opinions and of the legal hassle. Then I tell him to be cool about it."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.