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CV NEWS FEED // The executive director of the South Dakota Catholic Conference recently spoke about recreational marijuana’s terrible effects on health and society for a podcast episode on why voters this November should reject a measure that would legalize the drug’s recreational use in the state.
On Catholic Views, a Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, podcast, Michael Pauley discussed Church teaching against recreational drug usage, the consequences of legalizing marijuana in the state, as well as various issues with the drug’s recreational use. The drug’s medical use in the state became legal in 2021.
In a September column, Pauley reminded Catholic voters of the moral obligation to vote against a pro-abortion amendment that will also be on the state’s ballot this November.
The marijuana-related measure, Initiated Measure 29, would enable adults over 21 years old in the state “to possess, grow, ingest, and distribute marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia,” Pauley explained on the podcast.
Despite the measure’s age restrictions, Pauley warned that once legalized, the drug will likely cause youth usage of the drug to rise.
Based on data from states like Colorado that have already legalized the drug’s recreational use, Pauley said in the podcast that “the evidence is now, in my opinion, indisputable, that in the states that have legalized marijuana – for adults – nevertheless the rates of youth usage increase.”
He said “that the 33 billion dollar marijuana industry wants to tell you… ‘Move along, nothing to see here. There’s no problem.’”
“But the reality is that when you legalize it, it’s everywhere,” Pauley said. “It’s far more accessible, just like alcohol, and the children are getting access to it.”
A 2020 study found that the legalization of marijuana “is associated with a 25% increase in marijuana use disorder amongst 12 to 17 year olds,” Pauley warned, adding that in 2021, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration published a report stating that youth and young adult usage of marijuana “is a major public health concern.”
He said that according to the report, “early youth marijuana use is associated with… neuropsychological and neurodevelopmental decline; poor school performance; increased school dropout rates; increased risk of psychotic disorders in adulthood; [and] increased risk for later depression and suicidal ideation or behavior.”
Along with the risks posed to children and young adults, the state’s Catholic Conference recently warned in a statement that “legalizing marijuana is throwing fuel on the fire of our mental health crisis in this country,” Pauley said. Marijuana is worsening the mental health crisis, rather than helping it.
Pauley noted that in states that have already passed laws legalizing marijuana’s recreational use, there is “a significant increase in drugged driving accidents” and “more traffic fatalities resulting from people driving while impaired,” as well as “a huge increase in calls to Poison Control Centers,” which Pauley said is largely related to marijuana edibles.
Pauley explained that “edibles” can be brownies or chocolate, for example, that have tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) laced in them. THC is what causes the narcotic and psychoactive effects of the drug. Given that legalizing the drug increases children’s exposure to it, a child could visit a friend’s house, for example, and consume an edible that looks like chocolate unknowingly, causing him or her to end up in the ER shortly after due to the “enormous” levels of THC in the edible.
THC levels in marijuana today are far higher than they were in the 1970’s, Pauley also explained.
“I would say marijuana has never been a harmless drug, but what people don’t realize is that it’s changed over the decades, it’s become a far more toxic drug,” Pauley warned, later citing a Mayo Clinic assertion that explains that the THC content “is 5 to 15 times more potent today,” because the drug has been genetically enhanced.
There are also moral arguments against the use of recreational marijuana. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that ‘”the use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use except on strictly therapeutic grounds is a grave offense,” Pauley quoted.
Drug usage is “a grave offense” because “Life and physical health are precious gifts and trusted to us by God,” Pauley quoted again. He noted that Church leaders in other states have also been vocal against marijuana legalization.
This summer, the bishops of Minnesota issued pastoral guidelines against recreational marijuana usage.
Archbishop Samuel Aquila of the Archdiocese of Denver wrote a 60-page pastoral letter in November 2023 against recreational marijuana, stating that he “write[s]… out of pastoral concern for the salvation of souls,” noting that he is “convinced of the need to address the impact … marijuana use is having on individuals, families, and society in general.”
Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2012.
“In Colorado, we are now a decade into this experiment,” Aquila stated in 2023. “As more studies come out and more deaths from fentanyl pile up, we now have an overwhelming amount of data that reinforces what we have known to be true all along: the legalization of marijuana and cultural acceptance of drug use have been disastrous to our society.”
Those interested in learning more about Initiated Measure 29 can find more information here.
