– Mark Christopher  

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It has been said that the first casualty of war is truth. Many confuse the issue of cannabis (“dagga”, etc) by co-mingling two different aspects of the debate — medical versus recreational use of marijuana. In truth, while related, these are two 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 major pressure from the world’s media and pro-pot advocates to push for legalisation of the wizard weed for more than medicinal purposes. In part, the issue came to the fore here in South Africa 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.  

South Africa legalized dagga in 2018, based on truncated logic and blatant propaganda trotted out in hubbly-bubbly fashion to portray cannabis as a Peter-Pan panacea. It’s the same old worn-out arguments that have been in vogue since the 1960s, when the 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.   

Here are three of the many flawed arguments based on smoke-screen logic that are used by the pro-pot lobby to convince the public of the benefits of recreational dagga: 

First, they say “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? Of course not. The government’s role as laid out in Romans 13 is to preserve law and order in a way that promotes conditions for human flourishing. According to the National Library of Medicine, there is a correlation between marijuana use and “increased hostile behaviours or perceptions of hostility in others”. This is exactly the kind of behaviour that the government should be protecting its citizens from.   

Second, they say “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. This is a far cry from the sobriety of mind that God calls us to in 1 Peter 5:8. 

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?  

Third, they say “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 of 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 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. 

The sum of pro-pot logic amounts to placing a large, red juicy apple in a barrel of rotten apples hoping for the rottenness to be reversed. The result of this equation is really quite predictable.  As Christians, we must remember, not only are we called to be discerning by holding the arguments of the age against the high bar that the Bible sets, but we as believers are also called to be holy not high! (1 Peter 1:16)