Archbishop Aquila from the Archdiocese of Denver By Aleteia Image Department - CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr
CV NEWS FEED // The Archbishop of Denver explained in a recent interview why he wrote a pastoral letter on the physical and spiritual dangers of marijuana and how Catholics can articulate an intelligent argument against the popular drug that has been legalized in various states for recreational use.
The Catholic Blog “What We Need Now” published an interview with Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver on November 29, shortly after Aquila issued an in-depth pastoral letter on marijuana entitled “That They May Have Life.” Colorado was the first state in the U.S. to legalize recreational marijuana.
“I was the newly appointed Archbishop of Denver when Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012. I felt a need to speak about the devastating effects [I] witnessed firsthand, especially since many states have followed Colorado’s lead,” Aquila said. “The legalization of marijuana and cultural acceptance of drug use has been disastrous to our society, and there are limited Catholic resources about it.”
“I took great care to write [the letter] in an accessible way, so though it is written with academic precision, you don’t have to be an academic to understand it,” he said:
I approach marijuana via the natural law, Christian morality, and the findings of social science, because we need Catholics who can dialogue with everyone about this important issue.
Aquila continued, “We can only judge whether an action is good or bad for a thing when we understand its purpose. So the letter begins with man’s purpose and nature, which are foundational in assessing recreational drug use.”
“Humanity was created to know and love God. We were made to be in relationship with our Creator, and He designed us for that purpose,” Aquila said. “God gave each of us an intellect to know Him, a will to choose to love Him, and emotions to move us to actions that propel us toward Him and repel us from evils that draw us away from Him:
[Drugs] are bad for us since they hinder our ability to know and to love. Drugs diminish our self-possession by harming the very faculties that make us human: they inhibit our use of reason, weaken our will’s orientation toward the good, and train our emotions to expect quick relief from artificial pleasure. These effects severely limit our ability to freely give ourselves to another—whether it be temporarily, as in the case of occasional drug use, or regularly, as in the case of drug addiction. We say “no” to drugs so that we may fully say “yes” to our vocation to love.
He clarified that “there are many legitimate uses of therapeutic drugs.” In the pastoral letter, Aquila pointed to the contradiction of legalizing marijuana both for medicinal and recreational use:
How can the same drug be permitted in one case but immoral in another? As the Catechism notes, the morality of a human act depends on the action itself, the intention, and the circumstances. A close examination reveals that the intention behind therapeutic drugs is the exact opposite of recreational drugs: the therapeutic use of drugs seeks to return an unhealthy body back to its healthy state, whereas recreational use alters a normally functioning body solely for pleasure, potentially endangering its health.
“[Since Colorado legalized marijuana] we have witnessed a spike in addiction, with marijuana use disorder more than doubling in a span of less than twenty years. This is not surprising since Coloradans’ cannabis use has increased dramatically since legalization: the latest data show about a 25% increase,” Aquila said:
One study that tracked a major local hospital found marijuana-related emergency room visits tripled after the sale of recreational marijuana began in January 2014. Issues ranged from cannabis-induced bouts of vomiting to acute psychiatric symptoms to cardiovascular problems… Tragically, traffic deaths involving drivers who tested positive for marijuana also more than doubled. In a similarly heartrending vein, statistics show that the number of Coloradans with marijuana in their systems when they committed suicide also more than doubled.
Aquila also expressed concern for Colorado’s recent legislative actions expanding access to other drugs. “Last year Colorado voted to remove criminal penalties for psychedelic mushrooms and three other psychedelic substances, and this will inevitably increase the drugs’ harm to society, like we saw above with the legalization of marijuana,” he said.
Differentiating between the use of alcohol and the recreational use of drugs, Aquila quoted Scripture, which supports the moderate use of alcohol yet never mentions drugs.
“In the pastoral letter I also go into detail about how the average American drinks alcohol for hydration and enjoyment, while the typical use of recreational drugs is intoxication,” he added. “Both can be abused, but most Americans who drink do not binge drink; most Americans who use drugs get high.”
Aquila concluded,
What we need now are Catholics who can speak intelligently against the typical arguments in favor of recreational drug use and legalization. Learn, and then talk to your siblings, your cousins, your children, your nieces and nephews. Ask their views about the meaning of life, how to handle life’s inevitable pain, and drug use. After listening, share what you’ve learned from the pastoral letter (or share the letter itself) and most importantly, share how your life and your answer to those questions are different because of Jesus. Give them a glimpse into your own efforts to step into the abundant life offered by Christ. In the words of St. John Paul II, “Be not afraid!”
