Marijuana

[Pico]

Hi, I'm new here, this is my first post.

I'm a christian, and I smoke pot. Something I've wondered is wether God put weed on the Earth for our use. The bibles says your body is a temple, and not to defile it [meaning don't do drugs]. But what exactly does God consider a drug?

One possability of the origin of the cannabis plant is that it was created by God along with every other plant on earth. Another possability is that cannabis came about as a result of Adam's sin, which--as I have read--weeds and thorns are a product of. The former makes more sense to me than the latter, because all weeds have no real purpose, they just get in the way when we try to grow plants, so we must pick them and get rid of them; they realy have no use to us at all. Cannabis on the other hand, is one of the most usefull plants known to man. Hemp (the male form of the cannabis plant) can be made into many different things, from blankets to hand moisturizer (and I hear hemp-moisturizer is the best moisturizer ever made). I forget many of the uses for hemp, but there are a lot--if you're interestetd, Google it. ;P It seems that God created the cannabis plant with multiple uses.

Cannabis also affects us differently than every other drug (that i know of) does. Other drugs--such as alcohol, tobacco, cocaine, etc.--affect the middle region of the brain that controlls motion and movement, and also affects the production of a chemical called dopamine, which is the chemical nerve cells use to communicate with other nerve cells. It's this affect on dopamine productions that causes drug addiction.

Marijuana on the other hand does not affect dopamine production, and affects the front region of the brain, which has special "canaboid receptors." Basicaly, humans "evolved" with a special section of our brain designed specificaly to detect and bond with THC and other chemicals found in marijuana (I don't believe in evolution, so God must have designed humans with this section of our brains). Our brain can switch these receptors to either "on" or "off". When our brain decides we've had enough, it simply turns off the receptors, making marijuana impossable to OD on--a nice mechanisim God implemented. Also with other drugs, especialy cocaine, prolonged use can damage nerve endings because those receptors get exposed to too much of the chenical that it gets "burnt out" so-to-speak.

Now when the brain turns these canaboid receptors off, means we're starting to grow a tolerance to marijuana. This tolerance means we need to smoke less to get high, and if we smoke too much it'll cause us to come off our high much quicker (higher amounts of THC in the blood causes the brain to shut off more receptors). I can vouch for this--that I can smoke a little and feel it alot, and smoke alot, but not feel much at all. This phenomenon seems to go hand-in-hand with something God has tought us: not to be greedy. Seems fitting that God made it so if you're greedy with the marijuana--you smoke alot--you will not get as much out of it, but if you only take a little and not be greedy with it, you get the nice affects. I guess you could say it's a reward for not being greedy.

Someone can say that smoking marijuanan defiles the body because it fills our lungs with unhealty tar, which can lead to lung cancer and other health issues. Smoking is something that man thought of doing, but there are other ways of consuming it that don't fill your lungs with tar; such as baking it in foods, or taking it in pill form.

Another thing, while smoking mairjuana does increase the rist of lung cancer, there is no report in medical history of someone getting cancer from marijuana use alone. Not only that, but also no one has ever died from marijuana--something not hard to believe considering we have a natural system to keep our THC level in check.

I read a thread yesterday where people talked about experiences they had when talking to God. When I first started smoking pot I experienced similar things that they talked about--things looking different, smiling for no reason at all, and feeling a peacefull calm inside of me. Did I mention marijuana is an anti-depressant? It also is used to treat migranes, and can help prevent memory loss for people with parkinson's disease. I belive it also helps people who get seziures too.

The only bad thing I can think about marijuana is that it causes impared memory, but that might be the result of thousands of years worth of genetic mutation to our DNA, making our brains not up to par with the perfect brain God gave Adam.

These are some things I've observed/learned about that caused me to think that God might have put the canabis plant here for our enjoyment, and use.

I'm curious if anyone else has any insight on this? I would greatly like to hear other people's opinions on this matter.

[Bandit]

well, if you want to smoke pot, then smoke pot. i am not going to try & stop you, but the law might.

& so Go made heroin, hash, wild shrooms, cocaine, tobacco & the fermentation process of fruits & veggies.
i would get a second opinion & more stats from a real Doctor., on the long term effects of cannabis.

sometimes when we have to build a case on something, there might be a little conviction there making us justify things.

2 cents

[Faithfulservant]

I believe cannabis is very important.. not only does it have medicinal purposes but hemp is undervalued and should be considered as an alternative to chopping up all our trees.. lol

but.. its something that can be abused. And Ive witnessed first hand the abuse of it. I watched a friends memory deteriorate in a 10 year span.. It was a gateway drug.. he went from that to harder things and when he couldnt get the harder things he always fell back on the pot. He used it like an alchoholic uses booze.. as a crutch to get him through bad situations like depression or anger or stress. As much as people say its not addicting.. it is very psychologically addictive.

Not to mention its against the law.. we are bound by the laws of our governments according to the bible so when we break those laws we are disobeying God.. which opens up a whole other can of worms.

We are allowed to drink wine for our stomachs sake.. but we are also not to be drunks and out of control. I have smoked pot I know what it does. You lose inhibitions when your high..

I believe its something you need to pray about and search the scriptures.. not ask a forum their opinion instead of looking to God for the answer.

I would also like to point something out.

we are warned against sorcery and witchcraft in Galatians and Revelation.. The greek word in these verses is

farmakeiva - Pharmakeia

1. the use or the administering of drugs
2. poisoning
3. sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it
4. metaph. the deceptions and seductions of idolatry

It is believed by some that we are in a sorcerous age because of the use of drugs thats so prevalent in our society.. we have a drug for just about everything and how many ppl today are addicted to these drugs or dependant upon them.. which could be considered idolatry..

Just my thoughts.

[juantoo3]

Excellent post, Faithfulservant!

You beat me to the punch. I wanted to expand on this subject because it does raise some interesting issues.

Legal issues are a given, according to the Bible we are supposed to obey the laws of the land, provided they are not in direct conflict with God's laws. 'Nuf said on that.

But on the issue of living a drugged life, ethically and spiritually speaking, what difference is there with being a pothead and being strung out on ritalin or some other mind/mood altering substance. The legality of a prescription?

Our governments stress not driving under the influence of alcohol or recreational drugs, yet how many people are driving under the influence of a prescription legally?

I find it interesting that pharmaceutical drugs have only been around for a few hundred years, yet herbal remedies that have cultural acceptance and thousands of years of history are ignored in the West. Of course, the ready reply is money. Drug companies cannot patent naturally occuring substances, so they cannot profit from them. Big Pharma has a lot at stake, so they put out a lot of propaganda downplaying the effects of natural remedies. While sometimes synthesizing compounds from those same herbs. Many medicines are derived from plant sources, aspirin and digitalis come quickly to mind. Yet our governments (in the West anyway) promote these synthetic drugs, and sometimes go out of their way to downplay and even outlaw natural remedies. Seems curious to me, especially regarding some of the progress I have heard of by nations like Germany, Russia and China in proving the effectiveness of herbal treatments. More cost effective too.

Just some things to consider, maybe expanding beyond the simple "pot: yes or no" idea.

Like, perhaps the "the use or the administering of drugs" may include prescription drugs? That is, an entire generation dependent on one drug or another?

P.S. BTW, Pico, welcome to CR! By any chance is your "name" anything to do with Pio Pico? Are you from Whittier?

[stevemb88]

I really don't have an answer but going back on the other posts, i think every drug has its consequinces sp? Tylonal- liver Ritalin- brain etc. And I haven't heared anyone dying from weed but i still wouldn't touch it.

[Faithfulservant]

Just a story.. when I was pregnant with my son the doctor found out that I had had post partum depression with my first child.. I was crying in the doctors office.. I cried all the time about everything.. She gave me a prescription for paxil.. so Im not putting anything into my body without know what it is and what it does.. so I looked it up and found that research says it can pass through breast milk but the evidence was inconclusive for it passing through tissue to unborn fetuses.. ok so why is that? because they cant test it on pregnant women.. duh.

Then I research more and find out that people werent able to get off it without using other drugs to ween themselves off... I find out that given to teenagers that are depressed .. increased the numbers of teenage suicide... I find out pharmaceutical companies actually paid the doctors for prescribing this and other drugs.

I know more people on some form of anti-depressant than not.. .thats a scary thought.. I also know way too many children on Ritalin and that disturbs me.

So yes, JT3 I believe that prescription drugs apply to those verses.. But I wonder if our society is too drugged up and dependant to care.

[Faithfulservant]

Originally Posted by stevemb88

I really don't have an answer but going back on the other posts, i think every drug has its consequinces sp? Tylonal- liver Ritalin- brain etc. And I haven't heared anyone dying from weed but i still wouldn't touch it.

there are medicinal purposes to marijuana.. my dad had cancer and wouldnt eat.. it made him hungry which made him eat which helped him to stay alive longer. As far as dying from it.. anytime you introduce a foreign substance into your body for a prolonged period of time is bound to have detrimental effects. Can they link the heart attack or cancer to it? probably not but logic suggests that its harmful if abused. Would I touch it again? yes if I needed it.

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Wow, scary story - and good for you for doing your research.

I know too many kids on Ritalin too. My eldest niece was diagnosed with ADD and given Ritalin or some such. Here was this beautiful 8-year-old child saying "People don't like me if I don't take my pills." It's heartbreaking.

Originally Posted by Faithfulservant

So yes, JT3 I believe that prescription drugs apply to those verses.. But I wonder if our society is too drugged up and dependant to care.

ouch...
well put.

[jiii]

I, personally, have smoked plenty of marijuana in my life. And although I'm sure that this can be misconstrued as reflecting a certain bias to my viewpoints, I don't believe that I am really partial to any particular preconceived argument. I speak from my own experience and from what I can observe.

Firstly, allow me to reiterate...I've smoked ALOT of weed in my life. Now to begin with, marijuana IS definitely a gateway drug in one respect. However, I think that the degree to which those 'that have gone through the gate' will continue to do harder and more unhealthy drugs is much more based on other factors in one's life besides the fact that they smoke marijuana. I, for instance, have an undeniable distaste for harder drugs like cocaine and heroine (though use of them is an indivduals choice...just as I chose to smoke marijuana). However, smoking marijuana DID lead me to experimenting with two other psychadelic drugs: pscilocybin mushrooms and salvia divinorum. These are two hallucinogenics that I have used VERY sparingly, because unlike marjiuana, they aren't addictive and typically (of course, there are always exceptions) don't produce habitual users because the experiences on them can be so incredibly profound and simultaneously unsettling. This is certainly my case.

I think our overall distaste for marijuana lies in a few specific areas:

1) It seems to me that our attitude, in general, towards marijuana is that it is, in some sense of the word, a dirty substance. We have this notion in the back of our minds that seems to say," Drugs are bad! Ummkay, don't do drugs!" Heh, pardon me for a South Park quotation, but I mention this for a distinct reason. Seriously, doesn't "drugs are bad" sound more like a childhood mantra such as "Don't talk to strangers...strangers are bad"? Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that marijuana is an entirely positive thing, either. But, what I am saying is that our nations overall distaste for a relatively harmless drug such as marijuana is honestly driven by certain childhood generalities that, because our curiousity is oftentimes repressed in America with such things, we never really let go of in favor of a learned opinion coming from personal experience rather than hearsay. The fact is, it would be very rare to hear someone that has actually used marijuana passionately denounce its use and actually mean it. I remember that my parents and those of my friends seemed to strictly oppose marijuana use as we were growing up, but as we all grew into our early twenties, they began to 'loosen' up considerably, speaking at times about their fun experiences with weed. My bottom line, the true face of our distaste for marijuana is mostly just this manufactured...its an 'act', overall.

2) I have spent many years studying religions and sacred texts. And frankly, the more I've read and contemplated the issue, the more and more I come to the conclusion that 'spiritual pride' is a huge part of organized religions problem with marijuana. There is, indeed, a certain propensity in our general mindset to reject the notion that anything in the remotest way spiritual or, at least, beneficial and enjoyable, could come out of the 'dirty and lowly practice of putting drugs in your body'. Wow...its funny how easily we can make 'drugs' sound so terrible. I mean, consider that it is precisely this kind of secret prejudice that prevents millions of average Americans from exploring their spirituality. They feel confined by this notion that if they drink or smoke weed that they 'just don't cut it' when it comes to spirituality, and that they need to 'get themselves under control first'. How ridiculous? If anything, developing our spirituality is only way that we can begin to cure what might be certain holes in our life that prompt us to fill them habitually with drugs of all kinds. I say, come off the 'religious glorification'! The moment that spirituality is misconstrued as something that is available only to people that live certain types of lifestyles, is the moment that spirituality becomes not only inaccessible, but also becomes, to a certain extent, a foe or oppressor of those that are deemed 'unworthy'.

3) Now, I don't think that we can deny the fact that most all of our laws having to do with marijuana and psychadelic drugs are, in fact, 'sumptuary' laws. That is to say, they are banned based primarily on an ecclesiastical bias that has made its way into our secular system of criminal justice. This bias is notably a viewpoint of Christianity as this is the primary religious practice in our country and because 'christian values' have become the basis for our lay attitude to the world (thus, marijuana is banned and looked down upon, whereas alcohol, which has a role in the Bible, is entirely legal). I shouldn't have to remind everyone that the use of drugs, in general, is a practice that has been occurring world-wide for a LONG TIME, and that furthermore, the use of drugs for spiritual and religious purposes, seems to predate even our written history. You see, our typical viewpoint is not much more than a cultural quirk of ours, like a middle-finger being a 'bad' gesture. I am compelled to quote an excellent commentary by Alan Watts, a religious philosopher:

"I was seriously alarmed at the psychedelic equivalents of bathtub gin, and of the prospect of these chemicals, uncontrolled in dosage and content, being bootlegged for use in inappropriate settings without any competent supervision whatsoever. I maintained that, for lack of any better solution, they should be restricted for psychiatric prescription. But the state and federal governments were as stupid as I had feared, and by passing unenforceable laws against LSD not only drove it underground but prevented proper research. Such laws are unenforceable because any competent chemist can manufacture LSD, or a close equivalent, and the substance can be disguised as anything from aspirin to blotting-paper. It has been painted on the thin pages of a small Bible, and eaten sheet by sheet. But as a result of this terror, the injudicious use of LSD (often mixed with strychnine or belladonna or quite dangerous psychedelics) has afflicted uncounted young people with paranoid, megalomanic, and schizoid symptoms."

"I see this disaster in the larger context of American prohibitionism, which has done more than anything else to corrupt the police and foster disrespect for law, and which our economic pressure has, in the special problem of drug abuse, spread to the rest of the world. Although my views on this matter may be considered extreme, I feel that in any society where the powers of Church and State are separate, the State is without either right or wisdom in enforcing sumptuary laws against crimes which have no complaining victims. When the police are asked to be armed clergymen enforcing ecclesiastical codes of morality, all the proscribed sins of the flesh, of lust and luxury, become—since we are legislating against human nature—exceedingly profitable ventures for criminal organizations which can pay both the police and the politicians to stay out of trouble. Those who cannot pay constitute about one-third of the population of our overcrowded and hopelessly mismanaged prisons, and the business of their trial by due process delays and over taxes the courts beyond all reason. These are nomogenic crimes, caused by bad laws, just as iatrogenic diseases are caused by bad doctoring. The offenders seldom feel guilty but often positively righteous in their opposition to this legal hypocrisy, and so emerge from prison loathing and despising the social order more than ever.
I speak with passion on this problem because I have often served as a consultant to the staffs of state institutions for mental and moral deviants, such as the institutional hells which the State of California maintains at San Quentin, Vacaville, Atascadero, and Napa—to mention only those I have visited, and knowing that they are considerably worse in other parts of the country, and most especially in those states afflicted with religious fanaticism. Relative to our own times, the prosecution of sumptuary laws is as tyrannical as any of the excesses of the Holy Inquisition or the Star Chamber."

[17th Angel]

I smoke and grow Cannabis, No intentions of stopping... I can do my work for the Lord and carry out my intended role and not worry about smoking.... Hey I also smoke usual cigarettes.... sue me God loves you for your heart, passion faith and soul.... the individual inside you, inside everyone, so I do not see it as sin, millions will but meh. Only in some countries is it illegal... and there that is just a mere law by man, the laws of God are far more superior.... :| There are also thousands of brilliant uses for the plant and the american military used it for rope and such in WW2, if I can be bothered later I will find the huge thread I placed on this some where else and paste it on this forum..... Go weed!

[bananabrain]

*cough*
alcohol
*cough*
tobacco
*cough*
free-will
*cough*
prohibition
*cough*
tax-base

b'shalom

bananabrain

[juantoo3]

Kindest Regards, BB!

Maybe you should take something for that cough?

[juantoo3]

Kindest Regards, all!

I am thinking about where one should draw a line.

I mean, obviously if one is ill, medication is one way of dealing with illness. Of course, I am of the mind of looking to what is causing the problem and getting rid of it, whereas it seems to me medicine is usually administered to mask or deal with symptoms. The underlying cause(s) still remain. Prescription drugs are not intended to cure or heal, as a rule. But I am heading away from where I want to go with this...

Recreational use, on the other hand, is a purely self-imposed choice. Just as with alcohol, tobacco and firearms. (OOOPS, did I really add the last part? )

Do we, ethically and spiritually speaking, have a moral right to "pick and choose" which recreational therapies are justifiable or not? What guidelines do we use? How do we answer to God when the time comes? Does it matter to Him? Are we right in criticizing someone else for their choice(s) if we have made similar but different choices ourselves? Is this not hypocritical? Can a cigarette smoker sit in moral judgement of a pot smoker? Can a Heroin user sit in moral judgement of a person with a prescription for Qualudes? Are there greater and lesser degrees of validation, or lack of? Why? How?

I have long been torn on this subject.

[Faithfulservant]

Well touching on the ritalin subject. A relative of mine had narcolepsy.. They prescribe narcoleptics with a drug called Methylphenidate which is Ritalin. I used to work nights and being a mom.. sometimes it was hard to stay up.. my relative would give me some of her pills and I took them.. and let me tell you what it does to you.. I have also experimented with drugs when I was young and I have in the past used methanphetamines.. Ritalin has the exact same effect as meth.. without the nasty side effects.. I was shocked that they were giving children a cleaner version of such a horrible soul sucking drug.

Please.... take it from someone that has tried it.. do not give your children this drug. Yes it allows you to concentrate and stay alert.. but it also lowers inhibitions of all types.. Its like theres this wall that you have in your thought process that is there to protect you and it removes that wall. I dont know how else to explain it but it scares me that children are having this happen to them.

[Bandit]

i would have to say out of them all, pot is the least harmful. over time it will take its toll on people, just like brandy & whatever.
one thing i see is that pot can become psychologically addicting & make people eat a lot of twinkies & sit in front of the bubetube all day.
i think tobacco is is more addicting than pot.
it really never made much sense to me. the law says it is ok to get plastered on bud, jack & absolute, til you puke your gutts out, just dont drive.

i do know most places are doing drug tests these days for jobs & if they find THC, well, the deal is off...so maybe become a rock star.

i am not saying ok, i just KNOW people have to do what they have to do or whatever it is they feel they have to do until they have had enough. i think most, kind of outgrow the scene over time.

that make 4 cents