How Adventists are Responding to Legalization of Marijuana in the U.S.
by Monte Sahlin
By Adventist Today News Team, January 22, 2014
Marijuana has recently become legal in Colorado and Washington, and voters may legalize it in Alaska, Arizona, California and Oregon by the end of the year. That would mean that the entire west coast of the United States and some of those states have long permitted medical use of marijuana. How are Adventists relating to this wave of change?
Nearly three out of four Americans say they favor legalizing medical marijuana, according to a 2010 Pew Research Center survey. And 41 percent think all marijuana use should be legal, up from 35 percent in 2008 and 12 percent in a 1969 Gallup Poll.
The Adventist movement from its earliest days has taken a position against the use of alcohol and tobacco, which are common practices in many cultures. The Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual, in the chapter on church standards of behavior (page 140, 2010 edition) states, "we abstain from all forms of alcohol, tobacco, and addictive drugs." This is part of the commitment that each person makes when they are baptized into membership. In the chapter on "Discipline," among the 13 items for which a member may be kicked out or put under censure is "The use or manufacture of illicit drugs or the misuse of, or trafficking in, narcotics or other drugs."
When marijuana is legalized, is it still an "illicit" drug? Is off-label prescription by a physician "misuse" of a drug? When the language in the Church Manual was originally crafted in the 1930s, these questions were likely not discussed because today's regime for regulating various substances did not exist. At least, a quick search of the online archives of the denomination did not find such a discussion.
Seventh-day Adventists with cancer are using marijuana in places where medical marijuana is legal. The widow of an Adventist who died in 2012 from cancer that included tumors in the throat told Adventist Today that it was prescribed by one of his doctors to help him deal with the pain and the discomfort of chemotherapy. He was also using other "natural therapies," as well as conventional medical treatment. She said that she really did not like it, it made him "talkative … silly," but "we grasped at everything."
This cancer patient used a liquid form of marijuana that was injected into his feeding tube as were other natural supplements. "I didn't like that it was in the house," the widow said. "I was afraid we'd get in trouble even with his license. But, if it helped him, then it was fine with me."
Did her husband consult his pastor when he was making a decision about using marijuana? "No. He didn't feel it was an ethical issue. For him, it was a need to feel better and hopefully help cure him."
It is clear that many other Adventists have had similar experiences. Adventist Today talked to a number of pastors across the country who said they had members who have used medical marijuana. "There is basically no biblical reference to this issue," said one pastor from a state where medical marijuana is legal. "People make these things religious [issues], when in reality, they are not." It is "only the opinions of people who need to draw lines and make boxes."
"If I was dealing with chronic pain, I don't think I would personally use it because I would want my mind clear," said another pastor, also in a state where it is legal. "But, if I were dying of cancer and dealing with the side effects of chemo, I think I might try it."
Another pastor stated, "If we start monitoring our peoples' medical treatments, then we either need to … start monitoring them all … or realize that it's largely none of our business." Many pastors questioned their expertise when it comes to talking to church members about substances prescribed by physicians as well as the appropriateness of intervening in this area.
At the same time Adventist experts on substance abuse expressed deep concerns on the topic. "If it is a medicine," said Dr. Duane McBride, director of the Institute for Prevention of Addictions at Andrews University, "it needs to be integrated into the medical distribution system. … Would you grow your own penicillin on bread at home if you need an antibiotic?" He pointed out that some users of marijuana, especially adolescents, have terrible consequences.
Dr. Mihran Ask, a board-certified internist and Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine who heads the Addiction Medicine Fellowship program at Loma Linda University, told Adventist Today that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, has been available in pill form through pharmacies for a long time, but he believes it has limited usefulness. It may be useful in some cases with AIDS or cancer patients who are underweight and have little appetite, or rarely for chronic pain or dementia. "This does not require any change in the law."
He sees the push for medical marijuana as a "ploy" by those who seek the legalization of recreational use of marijuana. He also points out that most people do not know that marijuana commonly available in the 1960s had a half percent to a full one percent of THC while "marijuana has now been bred to 12 to 15 percent THC" making it more dangerous.
"We need to keep educating people about the reasons to abstain from alcohol, tobacco and recreational use of mind-altering legal substances regardless of what they are," a retired church administrator told Adventist Today. "But I hope we do not get into the business of using church discipline to deal with cancer patients who use marijuana with the supervision of a physician. That would not be Christ-like. People who are seriously ill need compassion, not discipline, even if they make what we believe to be bad decisions."
The church has encroached in too many people's lives already. The doctor-patient relationship is not one that should ever involved religious authority. No physician would attempt to tell the clergy or limit their personal freedom and that goes for the use of marijuana or any prescription given patients.
The church can recommend health principles, but beyond that it's really none of their business and they should not attempt to make it so.
I’m in basic agreement with you Elaine in that medicinal marijuana really isn’t a religious issue; nor should it be one. Why should using a plant to alleviate suffering, or relieve the side effects of medical treatment for a chronic or terminal disease, be a problem for church members?
The problem with medical marijuana is the claimed benefits have been over-hyped while it has been used as a trojan horse to force repeal of prohibitions when discussion based on facts has failed. Marijuana does have some benefits. But it also has very serious side-effects that often greatly outweigh the benefits. Medical journals are increasingly reporting about patients who used medical marijuana for one expected benefit but who began suffering worse problems that were the direct result of ingesting the different chemicals in marijuana.
Whether a faith community should get involved with the doctor-patient relationship depends of course on the faith commitments of that community. Dogmatic generalizations oversimplify the sometimes fuzzy boundaries between faith and medicine. By what principle do you give the church authority to encroach in matters of health, but not in other matters?
Your condemnation of "encroachment", Elaine strikes me as incoherent and risible, given the affection you consistently display for using your values to encroach on the freedom of Church members to set Biblical behavioral boundaries for their faith community. I am always puzzled by your persistent refusal to see the church as a faith community, members of which voluntarily enter into mutual covenants by which they are corporately identified, guided, and constrained. Do you see merit in this concept of church? Didn't we agree to surrender autonomy in certain areas of our lives when we joined the Church?
What societal structures can you name that do not encroach on the lives of those who voluntarily or involuntarily come under the authority of those structures? What is disparaged as encroachment in one context is seen as protection of rights and serving the greater good in other contexts. You seem to have no problem with encroaching on other people's lives to advance causes that you believe in, Elaine.
The bumper sticker "Keep Portland Weird" certainly applies to the method used here in Oregon to certify medical use of marijuana. It would appear that the central, long-term effect of the medical marijuana program will be to introduce the drug gently to a population, study its effects, and in time to legalize it for sale, use, and distribution for comfort, relaxation and recreation by adults, without medical supervision….
Exactly! You have seen the Trojan Horse for what it is.
My question is how terrible the results will be. Our decades of liberal-socialist education have transformed American society from where a person took responsibility for their actions and made informed decisions into a society where we're each a victim of someone else's actions for which they are not responsible because they suffer from a disease. This denaturing of personal responsibility promotes taking actions without considering the potential risks and outcomes, so drug use is seen as "victimless" and "harmless" because there will be no personal accountability for the results.
Wait a minute; aren’t you a big advocate for personal freedom and individual rights?
Weren’t alcoholic beverages and tobacco products consumed in great ignorance to the detriment of millions of people for decades 'in the good ol’ days,' prior to the transformation of “American society from where a person took responsibility for their actions and made informed decisions into a society where we’re each a victim of someone else’s actions”?
With the pharmaceutical drugs we see advertised daily, manufacturers (are required to) list all of the potentially dangerous side effects—of which there clearly are very many; so the side effects of medical marijuana can’t be all that important in the overall scheme of things.
Prayer and miraculous healing do work; yet when anyone is suffering from a disease that (otherwise) is chronic or incurable, or if the side effects from their medical treatment are debilitating; their suffering should be relieved by practically any means necessary. How can the danger that some may abuse an herb for the sole purpose of inebriation really mean anything?
Yes, I am a big advocate of personal freedom and individual rights. I'm not going to defend the continued enforcement of drug laws because they obviously are not effective.
Some years ago I helped establish a community anti-drug coalition that was recognized by the President's Office of National Drug Control Policy as one of the most innovative and effective such coalitions in America. The operational model we developed provided an example that dozens of cities across the country have followed to implement effective drug prevention education programs. The biggest lesson we learned was that successful drug prevention requires that you teach personal responsibility and critical thinking so that individuals value themselves, are willing to be held accountable for the results of their choices and actions and are equipped to weigh the potential risks before making choices. But decades of liberal-socialism has largely removed those concepts from our society. That philosophy teaches that we're not responsible for the results of our actions, that we're victims of the actions of others and we don't have the power to make choices because our problem is a disease or an addiction that is outside of our control. We're not allowed to make choices based on what is in our own best interests because that contrary to what our leaders say is best for society.
If you look at substance abuse recovery programs you will find that success depends on accepting personal responsibility and accountability for the results of your choices.
The problem with drug legalization is that it removes the last obvious barrier to unlimited consumption and it opens the door to wider use of other, still-illegal substances. This creates interest with the natural result that consumption will increase. The unknown is just what results we will see when that lack of restraint combines with the absence of personal responsibility. I am fearful the natural result will be the most terrible results of substance abuse our nation has ever witnessed.
You will pardon me for again pointing out that alcoholic beverages had long been consumed to the detriment of millions for decades—decades before “liberal-socialism” had supposedly somehow “largely removed” the concepts of personal responsibility, accountability, and critical thinking from American society.
In other words, back in the so-called good ol’ days, before “liberal-socialism” had allegedly ruined everything for certain ways of doing things, people were getting drunk on alcoholic beverages nationwide; even in the antebellum “land of cotton,” which let’s face it, has never quite been known as a bastion of “liberal-socialism.”
If marijuana can relieve the suffering of those who will not be cured by any means other than a miracle of God, or helps those who are gradually being blinded by glaucoma, or alleviates the side effects of chemotherapy treatments, then isn't it cruel to forbid it?
It seems the fear that drug legalization or decriminalization “removes the last obvious barrier to unlimited consumption and it opens the door to wider use of other, still-illegal substances” is somewhat contradictory to your disinclination to “defend the continued enforcement of drug laws because they obviously are not effective.” In any case, a defense of the continued enactment and enforcement of such laws without any doubt runs counter to principled advocacy of personal freedom and individual rights.
Granted, this is not an easy issue. At this point the church probably shouldn’t be involved in the medical marijuana issue. It’s a no-win issue on multiple fronts.
Stephen,
Yes, people have concumed alcoholic beverages for as long as there has been history. The point you're missing is how liberal-socialism has directly attacked the pillars of society in ways that remove personal inhibition and motivation to be in control. For example, take the ancient Jewish culture. Alcoholic beverages have been part of that culture from the beginning yet historic alcoholism rates are a fraction of what we seen in America. What accounts for the difference? First and foremost, strong cultural emphasis on personal responsibility for making informed choices and accountability for the results from a person's actions. There is no blaming society. There is no concept of being a victim of society controlled by the rich as Karl Marx and others taught. If you're at an event where it is possible you will be getting drunk your friends know it ahead of time and prevent you from doing things that will get you into trouble or cause harm to others.
Medical journals are increasingly reporting that the widely-reported "benefits" of medical marijuana are few and limited and the consumption typically brings with it a cluster of other ill effects. So, is it not more cruel to offer a person medical marijuana to relieve something like glaucoma while knowing the cluster of poisons in the marijuana will cause them to suffer things like cancers of the esophagus and lungs in far shorter periods than if they were smoking multiple packs of cigarettes a day? Is promoting supposed benefits while dismissing the far greater risks that come with it not deceptive and evil?
In my view, people should be left free to make their own informed choices and reap the rewards or risks that naturally result. But the problem is they do not suffer the consequences alone. Marijuana users often suffer debilitating effects that they do not recognize because their thought processes and decision-making powers have become impaired. That's when you find situations like a young man I met a few years back who had been smoking marijuana for claimed medical purposes and was so impaired that he couldn't pass a field sobriety test. But he was not drinking alcohol so he thought it was safe for him to drive. On his way home from work one night he ran a red light and collided with two other cars, killing three people and leaving another permanently disabled. He was not seriously injured, but the normal intoxicating effect of the marijuana left his mind so clouded that it was nearly a month before he was able to understand what he had done.
My mother was killed in a head-on collision caused by the other driver's medical impairment. I survived but had a very painful recovery and am reminded continually of that day by the pain in my back. So I hope you can understand my fears about what will happen when we remove the last barriers to consumption of substances in a society that has become disarmed of the life skills and inhibitions enabling them to manage the consumption of those substances.
Isn't morphine the drug of choice amongst terminally ill patients, or in emergency situations (like war casaulties)? And isn't morphine related to heroine?
And hasn't modern Western soceity been able to distinguish the idea of opium houses vs medical morphine? We probably don't remember but 100 years ago people smoked opium in public opium houses in a recreational way that is now associated with marijana.
Isn't cough medicine alcohol? Don't we all distinguish the difference between a beer and cough medicine?
So what's the big deal with marijuana for medical uses? Especially, as the story outlined in the article, talks about it administered in a very medical way, through injection? But if doctors believe smoking it is the most effective way to administer this medicine, because it is medicine for people with cancer, then so what?
And don't hospitals have a problem with people (including on occasion medical staff) stealing medicine designed for medical uses to be used for recreational use? Just because some people misuse medicines for recreational use, do we then ban morphine, or sleeping tablets, or pain medication, or any other medicine that can be misused by some?
For an SDA Church to discipline a person with cancer over use of marijuana is as absurd as disciplining another member for taking pain medication for a broken arm, or a person with a bad cough who takes cough medicine, or a person who has chronic insomnia taking sleeping tablets, or a person with a terminal illness taking morphine.
And should drugs be banned anyway? In Australia, we have one of the lowest rates of smoking in the world (but alcohol is a completely different story). The way we did it was not prohibition, but to introduce laws over time that regulated its use, so that it became less and less cool or hip with people – especially young people.
All our cigarette packages are in the same poor-brown plain package – not labels whatsoever! The government even did a scientific study to determine which colour most turned people off psychologically. The only thing on the packet is a graffic picture with someone with a chronic smoking-related disease, such as tongue and mouth cancer – up close and personal.
Now if you smoke, you are considered a social pariah. Banning a drug usually just does the opposite – it makes it cool.
If you look at the Bible, God seems to have two approaches to many things. One is to aim and extol a higher ideal standard. The other is to acknowledge human failure, and mitigate the adverse impacts. So for example, the Bible extols the abolition of slavery as the highest virtue, and yet also regulates its use where it does exist (as it still does actually today). Many Christian disputes happen, I believe, because we get the two concepts mixed up.
Stephen,
You make some excellent observations that are on-point. There are better ways that law enforcement. But, how do you produce a positive result when you are transitioning away from an enforcement mentality in a society where the dominant social concept is that no one is responsible for their actions because everyone is a victim of the actions of others and the results of avoiding personal responsibility has been classified as a disease? I fear there will be terrible and tragic results. Yet in that transition I see new opportunities for presenting Gospel themes and introducing people to the power of God. For example, Is the power of God not greater than the potential medicinal potency of a plant? What if we were ministering the healing power of the Holy Spirit? Would that not be a far better and more attractive alternative to medical marijuana?
William: 'What if we were ministering the healing power of the Holy Spirit? Would that not be a far better and more attractive alternative to medical marijuana?'
The Puritan leader of the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell, had a well-known saying. He was a devout godly man – in that old puritan streak, which would eventually leave England to found your country (the American Revolution was just the English Civil War part II but I degress). Cromwell said:
"Put your trust in God, my boys, but keep your powder dry"
I do believe in the power of prayer – I really do. But sometimes God works through human beings, and medicines given by human beings. God says he will do nothing except through His prophets.
Yes. But we habitually overlook that Jesus sent His disciples out with a specific instruction to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out demons. That was at least two years before Pentecost. Plus, the power of the Holy Spirit is promised to all who believe and the promise is they will be performing even greater miracles than Jesus did. When are we going to start obeying the command of Jesus?
Right now using medical marijuana is a popular concept, but makes about as much sense as using old chemotherapies that killed the patient faster than they killed the cancer in the patient.
William,
Sounds to me like you are saying that people who pray for and follow the Biblical guidelines for healing but are not healed are ( unbelievers)???
Steve,
No, I wasn't talking about people who practice healthy habits but still get sick. I was talking about people ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit, including performing miracles of healing. Scripture clearly states that all who believe are empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit equips us to minister in various ways, including performing miracles of healing. So if a person claims to be a believer in God but they're not letting God empower them and minister through them, they are denying the power of God and are not a believer.
Imagine how quickly the Gospel would be spreading and the church growing if more people were ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit. Read the stories in the Bible about what happened in the early church when they were guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Imagine that happening today. That is exactly what God wants to do through us.
William,
I believe you are right but my question is: Where are these people that are empowered by the Holy Spirit with the gift of healing?
So many times I have witnessed and even participated in annointings. I guess those of us at these events are not powered by the Holy Spirit as healings have not taken place the way we would expect. I have seen changes but not complete healings.
You have sparked my interest by your statement earlier.
Steve,
Your question illustrates the desperate need for professed followers of Jesus to discover the real truth and power of the Gospel. Unfortunately, empowered believers are few and far between and, if my recent research is even remotely accurate, mostly in other churches.
Our disbelief in God's power to accomplish His objectives through us does not diminish the power and presence of His promise to do what He said He would do. Discovering the power of God and learning how He wanted me to minister His love has been the most transformative experience of my entire life. There is nothing like the adventure of going on God's errands and watching Him work. There is no experience that compares to being His hands.
Ask God to show you what He wants you to be doing for Him. I'll give you at least a 95% probability that it has nothing to do with preaching, teaching, giving Bible studies, passing-out literature or any of the other things the church has defined as "evangelism" or "spreading the Gospel." He will make you aware of a need. You won't be able to get that need off your mind. You will feel compelled to do something to minister to that need. But you will also feel inadequate to do what He is asking you to do. Never fear! That is your opportunity to step-out in faith and discover God's power to do things through you that you could never do by yourself.
If you are willing, the greatest adventure of your spiritual life can begin today.
Steve Furgeson:
"For an SDA Church to discipline a person with cancer over use of marijuana is as absurd as disciplining another member for taking pain medication for a broken arm, or a person with a bad cough who takes cough medicine, or a person who has chronic insomnia taking sleeping tablets, or a person with a terminal illness taking morphine."
As usual,Steve, you are the most rational voice on this blog! Shouldn't the drug be treated like any other one on a regulated prescription basis in a pharmacy? Those against it are like the ones who think a mentally ill person–anywhere from depression, anxiety, to bipolar, schizophrenic–should not take medicine to control their symptoms. Just like physical pain these people are not less spiritual but suffer from neurological problems and should be treated with both natural and medical means.
No dangerous drug should be legal for public use, but it is irrational that so many are not even available for medical research.
Thank you Ella for the compliment. I often find myself 'squeezed' in this place.
A peculiar challenge with marijuana (or perhaps a not-so-peculiar one, given what the tobacco companies have done to enhance nicotine content in cigarettes) is that there appears to be no "standard" weed from which to project any kind of standard dosage (in a medicinal sense).
The psychotropic aspect of marijuana appears to vary wildly from one variety of the plant to another; the medicinal aspect that decreases nausea and brings relief from terrible aches and pains likewise is highly inconsistent patch to patch. No question that it is the psychotropic property that mainly attracts the recreational user; to a large degree it is the pain-relieving aspect that's held dear by the chronically ill.
If medically prescribed marijuana is to achieve status as a reputably prescribed drug, these discrepancies must at least be partially addressed. It's not the woman with multiple sclerosis whose pain is being assuaged by marijuana as she drives the hairpins of the country road in front of your house who concerns us. It's the wild experimenter at the wheel who happens to have smoked an extra-powerful dose of hallucinogenic properties in his batch and is enjoying a religious out-of-body experience as the car he's driving just seems to guide itself of its own free will as it straddles the meridian line on the road between Estacada and Colton, southeast of weird old Portland…. Marijuana is by no means a one-ingredient proposition; as in tobacco, there appear to be hundreds of wildly varying agents at work, singly and in complementarity to produce various designer effects. By this standard, marijuana is still largely a recreational drug whose major medicinal effect, in the long haul, will probably be the revenue it someday brings into ailing state coffers. I have interviewed individuals from the Adventist culture who do use marijuana to help them cope with chronic pain. They do not smoke the substance; they include it as a measured ingredient in certain recipes they use, and stick largely to marijuana varieties very high in the chemical elements that brings them relief from chronic afflictions, such as MS. They claim that by knowing the source and controlling the dosage, they are able to enjoy a much higher quality of life. That said, I am relying in this comment on a limited information source; not an aggregate of scientific studies…..
Edwin,
Thank you for those observations. You've illustrated the complexity of the issue.
About two years ago I began considering building a greenhouse and using hydroponics to grow vegetables. So I turned to YouTube to see what I could learn from the experience of others about how to grow plants in a nutrient solution instead of soil. To my considerable surprise, a great many of the videos were about how to cultivate marijuana! Included in the details were some nuggets about how the effects for the user could be manipulated by adjusting the fertilizer balance, raising the level of certain minerals and similar. So when you take the hundreds of varieties of marijuana that are grown, multiply them by the different moisture, temperature and nutrient conditions under which they are grown, I can only imagine the range of end products on the market.
The common theme in the defense of medical marijuana is the claim of beneficial effects. Are you aware of any research being done to identify the particular chemicals producing those effects so they can be turned into a medication without the potential effects from the variety of other chemicals found in marijuana?
While I am not a pro-marijuana use person, we have to be careful and our attitude and legalistic approach to medical usage. Many Adventists have had to "go under" to have surgery. The source of the drug is illegal but medically it is legal. And we have no problem with that. Let's be careful.
Does anyone really think that the SDA Church is even considering coming out with a position against medical use of marijuana, under physician supervision? Why are we even talking about this question?
The more interesting question is why, when it comes to legalization/decriminalization of marijuana, has the Church retreated from its historic eagerness to take political positions on vices like alcohol and tobacco. I think it was wrong for the Church to use its influence to politically impose its health doctrine positions on society then. And I think it is wise for the institutional Church today to remain disengaged from political issues unless religious freedom or church/state separation are at risk from the State.
Members should of course feel free to influence legislation according to the dictates of their consciences and political convictions. But Jesus Kingdom was not of this world. He did not enlist the power of Caesar to facilitate His moral or religious agendas or to frustrate the agendas of those who opposed Him.
Nathan all very good and sensible points. I too get a little worried when the institutional Church enlists Caesar to support our own pet moral issue. Because it is only a matter of time before some other Church's pet moral issue is actually against our own beliefs and practices.
Perhaps a few statistics would be helpful here.
Federal stats report 40%of US pop. 12 yrs & over identify as having used cannabis at some point in their lives. Few acknowledge having suffered any significant deleterious health beffects due to use.
UCLA states POT smokers smoke many times less the number of joints than cigarette & tobacco product smokers. Some studies indicate Pot can inhibit growth of cancerous tumors.
Pot doesn't generally unleash aggression, like alcohol, and rarely linked to violence. About 9%of users become clinically dependent (NIH).
Much POT violence occurs when police encounter growers in remote locations,and both police & growers have been killed.
Six million Americans over 12 yrs age use POT on a daily basis.
POT users have fewer auto accidents than alcohol users (NIH).
Much less harmful than alcohol & tobacco or hard drugs (AMA).
In 2005 the Dept of Justice reported over a Bill. $$ cost for Fed.incarceration ofPOT offenders.
The incarceration of POT offenders were 12.7% of States prisoners, & 12.4% ofFederal. And County & local jail offenders were not included in the above.
Approx. 800,000 are arrested each year for violating POT laws, costing an additional eight (8) billion $$ in criminal justice costs.
In 2005, the FBI reported 786,545 were arrested for POT violations and 88% werecharged w/possession only.
Self reported POT use by adults indicate use and availibility on Black Market remains generally the same, year after year. Unchanged.
Risk to the user and society are far fewer than tobacco or alcohol, (both legal)and do not warrant the expense that society pays for.
This is only a minimal report of the cost to society of marijauna.
Now just a few words regarding the church dictating to members how the churchviews POT usage by members. i believe if the church belives POT to be a significant hazard to physical or mental or spiritual health, they should alert members to avoid usage (other than as a Professional Medic prescription for Med. purposes), not as a FB. The church has no authority to dictate what a member puts in their mouths, only the responsibility of alerting the members ofa possible harm to good health. Let no one judge you on what you shall eat or drink. We are each responsible for God's temple on Earth.
Earl,
Statistics are interesting but useless because they don't motivate people to do what is right or good. Motivation comes from things like a person's relationship with God, the value they put on maintaining their own health and ability to work, the ability to weigh risks and make informed personal choices and similar that produce lasting, positive life choices.
Lots of good comments.
The Bible tells us in Revelation 12:11 that “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” While I am not proud to admit past drug use, it is part of my testimony of Christ’s ability to deliver His children from bondage.
Humans have a natural hunger for the supernatural. They always desire to fill the “God shaped vacuum” in their hearts. When I was a teenager I became enthralled with using marijuana. Besides the desired alteration to my thinking, on occasion I would have strange experiences such as moments of mental telepathy where I would “hear” in my mind what my friends were about to speak and I would tell them before their words came out. However these moments I could never conjure and seemingly occurred out of nowhere. I became curious about this phenomenon and began to dabble in hypnotism and guided dream imagery among other things. Marijuana was my new God, and like a religion, I was happy to introduce people to this drug and make new converts. Thankfully the Lord got a hold of me and I knew that I could no longer be involved with this drug.
Several of my drug buddies also came to know the Lord around the same time I did, but sadly a few of them got sucked back into the world by the lure of pot. Some would claim that they could not sleep without it, but it was not hard to see the dark side was using this temptation to steal the sheep. Now they despise Christianity and are aligned with opposing belief systems, some of which are quite dark.
I am convinced marijuana and other mind altering drugs are linked to the occult—just look at the drug culture and its fascinations. Occult activity is not necessarily like other forms of disobedience to God. To engage in occult activity you must align yourself with the spiritual enemies of God. This is why the pot user will resist surrendering to Christ in favor of worshiping his idol. In short, the degree of confrontation with God is the real issue at hand, and drugs of this nature amplify this hostility. “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft” (I Sam. 15:23).”
Granted marijuana is a mild drug compared to many, but it is not a harmless drug and it troubles me that our country is heading towards legalizing it. I find it disturbing that some Christians are okay with this. To those of you who are okay with legalizing marijuana I pose this question:
Do you know of any serious born again Christian who uses pot?
I don’t.
As believers, why would we want to encourage anything in society could possibly keep someone from coming to Christ? We are engaged in a spiritual battle in our stay down here and that includes the fighting for the spiritual lives of others. On this topic, we ought not to listen to the voices of popular culture and the wisdom of man.
"Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light." Ephesians 5:6-8.
Wayne,
Well said! I think this discussion needed your perspective because it reminds us of the dangers we face when we do what is not good for us. I particularly appreciated your focus on the power of God because it contrasts so greatly with the remarks of those who somehow claim they are followers of God while making endless excuses for not allowing His power to transform them or empower them for ministry.
Promoters of legalization have hijacked the issue with their claims about supposed benefits while overlooking the risks and dismissing critics by accusing them of lacking compassion. They conveniently ignore people like the son of a friend who was able to get a prescription for medical marijuana to treat supposed anxiety. Yes, it helped him relax and become less anxious. Today, less than two years later, he has gone from earning a six-figure income as a software designer to unemployed. He got so relaxed that he couldn't bother to go to work. Then his brain got so fried that he couldn't think.
What a surprise! Ostensibly religious people are against the use of marijuana; and are especially against the misuse of controlled substances!
It is clear that for some this is a political ideological issue over and against any and all other possible considerations (under any and all possible, conceivable circumstances).
Again, this is a no-win issue for the church—well, at least for our church—unless and until medical research definitively supersedes anecdotal evidence with regard to risks/benefits. (Even then, there will be ideological resistance. Alas, political ideology is as retractable as poverty; it will always be with us.)
i am not convinced that in todays environment of additives in farming, in food for animals, in medicinal dosages, atmospheric contamination, that we have any chance to exclude harmful substances from entering our food chain.
We use many varieties of weeds and grain. Some more harmful than others. Have you seen photos of a blackened lung from smoking tobacco? Hundreds of thousands die of this. Have you seen the effects of Warnekes disease in a person from decades of alcohol abuse? Also the hundreds of thousands that are mangled and killed from drunken drivers loaded up with alcohol, many innocent victims in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet, the Nat Inst of Health, and the AMA issue statements that Pot is not even close to tobacco or alcohol in deleterious effect on humans, or cause any great amount of death or serious health problems, and much less hallucinosis than most all other drugs available to seekers, and are available to anyone with the means to purchase. Have you ever suffered from a continuous pain, that only a medicinal ingredient could offer relief?? As Ferguson suggested, Morphine is the deadener of choice, and Pot is nowhere in Morphines league. So if MD's prescribe it, Why should the church have any interest in it. Should the church have authority to have the right to have all prescriptions go past them for approval? Should FB 29 list the hazards of Pot?
i agree with others here that this is a non issue in comparison of the many ills and dangers faced on the global scene.
Need some help. I have read thru the posts. Our daughter is in Eng 103 (Argumentative & Research Essay)….her professor is having the class write an to Argument to Mediate, Convince and Persuade on the I-502 in WA- regarding the legalization of marijuana. She is not to argue to abolish or overturn, nor praise or uncritically defend the laws as they are. Instead, the goal is to propose ways to make the program better. Where there are flaws, formulate improvements. Where there are strengths of the program, highlight the strengths to the public and persuade the audience that these are strengths should be perserved or even enhanced. Basically Listen, Mediate and then Conclude the best decision for most of the group.
We are really struggling with all of this and iffff it is even possible to go about this as an SDA. Our take is that marijuana has proven to be dangerous, with limited benefits. Really looking for solid comments to follow to help us on this topic. Thanks in advance.
That sounds like a timely topic and a personal challenge. I hope she does well.
Because of the low probability of being caught and facing a civil or criminal penalty for possession and/or use, most people make their decision to use or not use based on other factors. As a friend who is a counselor at a drug recovery center says, "There biggest issue in drug abuse isn't the drug, it's the person using the drug." My suggestion is that she may find value in looking at a couple factors. First is how capable a person is at a particular age to make an informed decision and what information is available to them. Second is if a person at a particular age is equipped and/or willing to take responsibility for their decision and be held accountable for the potential results.
I might clarify regarding our stand- we are very much against the use of marijuana regardless of the 'benefits'.
However, we do respect others choices in this area.
Seventh-day Adventists should have been on the forefront of calling for the legalization of scientific research in the medical uses of non-psychoactive cannabinoids but God has by passed them by and has given that honor to others.
I am just going to throw in my two cents here.. My name is Andy Jensen and I have been raised an Adventists my whole life, I have atteneded an Adventist school from Pre-K to 11th (took my GED so I cold skip senior year and go to college earlier). I am currently at an 3.8 GPA junior at an Adventist college and am working towards my Master in prosthetic and orthotic design. And I have personaly used medical marijuana.
Like I said I dropped ou of highschool so that I could go off to college, but the week before I was going to pack up and leave for college my mom had me go to the family docter to get a check up. Half way through the phyisical my docter palpated my abdomin and noticed something wrong. The next day I got a CAT scan, the day after that I was told that I had had a unspecified form of Non-Hodgkins, T-cell Lymphoma. It had most likely been growing slowly for the last several years. I went home and unpacked. After some docter visits with my new oncologists I was starting several forms of chemo therapy. I receieved multiple rounds of chemo and some radiation but nothing seemed to work.
Started loseing hair and weight and appatite.Threw up often, Slept a lot. I started using every day to research my cancer online and possible natural remedies. I sifted through tons of ideas and double checked them with science journals online to see if any of it was true.. sadly most of it was a hoax of some sort. I tried to go vegan and juiced a lot, the juicing was do able but the only foods that I could really keep down at all were processed foods.
I started researching medical marijuana and made up my mind. I printed out the form and took it to my docter and mailed it in. about two months later I had a medical card in my hand and was able to registar at a dispensary (users must be registared members at a marijuana dispensary before they can purchase, this way everything is on the record and they can moniter to see if one person is going around to all the shops and buying large amounts to then sell. In all the research that I have done, both medical and biblical, I have not found anything that raised any real red flags. Most information about majuana truely is influenced by the media and the government. There are many medical journals that have studied cancer and marijuana and found it to actually be helpful in killing cancer cells and helping with many other issues. The only thing I found that was bad was the effects from actually smoking it. When vaporized it does not have those negative effects. Any time you breath smoke at all its healthy. When I started using medical marijuana I almost imideatly started eating again, and not just eating, but keeping it down. During the span of my treatment I went from 240 to 140 pounds in a rather short time. and when I found something that made me able to eat some food more than twice a week I was sold! But not just my eating improved, my stress levels improved, I wouldn't recommend using marijuana to simply help you unwind, but when you are going through something like this, I don't feel shame in saything that I needed something to take the edge off.
My nights were more restful, I often had very bad bone and muscle pain from some of my chemo drugs and would roll round all night. Since my treatment was not very succesful I ended up recieving a bone marrow transplant after getting a very heavy round of chemo and some full body radiation treatment. For about a month my right eye was stuck looking slighly left and would not trn to the right at all. My docters had no idea what it was from and said I had cancer in my spine and gave me some chemo in my spinal fluid, I had horrible migrans after the spinal chemo for days. Through all this the only thing that really honestly helped me was medical marijuana. I had bottles of ativan, oiate pain killers and muscle relaxers. And in regards to the mention in the artical about marijuana in a pill form available in your pharmacy. I have also used that drug and it is not near as helpful. when marijuana is introduced into the body though ingestion it acts much different than when it is inhaled. So when someone eats something like a brownie with marijuan baked into it they react different than when they smoke. When THC is ingested you are much less clear mentally, and can be just plain confused for several hours. I became very chatty and strange acting. And the "THC pill" is even worse than eating a pot brownies. There are other chemcicals in marijuane besides THC, they seem to help balance each other out, when you take the THC pills all you get is the THC and it seems to amplify bad and decrease the good. Inhaled marijuana can not cause you to overdose or start having bad side affects. But when you ingest to much marijuana you can have a very confusing day, I had lower strenght THC pills and I am a pretty big guy so I typically took two at a time. But I took three once, and it was not fun. I felt confused, had spatial issues, felt very uncomfortable and stressed.
That is why cancer patients still will just use marijuana in its natural form like God made it and not the processed version. People argue that bad things can come from plants, like cocaine or opium from poppy seeds. Cocaine is also from a plant but cocaine is a highly processed version, closer to the THC pills than marijuana it self. The leaves that cocaine is made out of have been found to have very good effects on the body when you chew them like gum. God made these plants for a reason, we just abuse them. Marijuana is simply planted, watered and given light and grows in the wild.
In case you are wondering and to wrap up this story that became far to lengthy, my bone marrow transplant eneded up succesful, I am in remission and after being annointed my eye slowly regained its range of motion. My only long term affect was that the full body radiation damaged my lungs so I only have about 40% lung capacity. I never once felt addicted to marijuana or suffered any side effects by stopping. The people close to me know all this but I have never really explained the whole story to anyone before. It took a lot of searching in my heart but I have no regrets or doubts now. It is useful medically. Maybe not everyone sees it this way and if you feel convicted, by all means, follow your convictions.
If anyone actually reads this far down, I am sorry for the typos that I am sure are in the post.