Clearing the Air on Marijuana

Immoral Behavior

Let’s get one thing straight. Marijuana, like any other substance or object on this earth, is not good or bad in itself. Inanimate objects are nonmoral. We can all agree to this at least, right? Just as guns can be used for good or bad purposes, marijuana can also be used for good or bad purposes.

(Need it be said that Marijuana has several different uses beside recreation.)

Further, I think we can also agree that consuming marijuana is not, in itself, an immoral act. Whether it’s used for medicinal purposes or to achieve relaxation, no one is directly, immediately, or permanently injured by its use. (At least, no more than a thousand other acceptable things we do to ourselves.)

Consuming marijuana, like the consumption of any other substance, becomes immoral depending on the way we use it. Similarly, just as pain killers can be used responsibly, they can also become an addiction which begins to cost us personally and cost those who depend on us.

Moderation versus Extremism

When does consuming a substance like marijuana become moral or immoral? I tend to agree with Aristotle on this one (please excuse the pretentious reference): Moderation, guided by wisdom, can lead us to a prosperous life. That is to say, determining unhealthy extremes for ourselves demarcates appropriate and inappropriate behavior.

Incidentally, this also happens to be a theme exhibited in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and several other religious and secular philosophies.

Simply put, the use of a substance becomes inappropriate when we abuse it. When we allow it to alter our priorities, degrade our health, ruin our relationships, jeopardize our integrity, impact our choices, and make us unnecessarily dependent on it… we’ve gone too far. However, it is possible to use any substance (alcohol and pain medication included) responsibly.

The Domino Argument

I know what you’re thinking. What about the addiction factor? What about the domino effect? How can we expect people to resist such a tempting extreme or keep their defenses strong against other potential addictions?

It’s an important question. If something radically interferes with our judgment and necessarily diminishes our sense of self-control, it’s dangerous. It’s hard to imagine how we could use such a thing responsibly.

However, the question remains, is marijuana one of those things? Does any consistent use of marijuana, in whatever portion, lead to an eventual breakdown of self-control? Does it dramatically alter our judgment in a way that is dangerous?

Many would answer this question by relying on either gut instinct, anecdotal accounts, or isolated reports they happened to stumble upon. Some might even be ambitious enough to visit Google and type in the words “reasons marijuana is bad”. However, both groups haven’t really done their homework and their motives are questionable. We’re gonna have to roll up our sleeves and survey all the available research if we really want to have an informed opinion.

Research

...Yea, I’m not about to compile all that for you. But I can give you a hint on what you’ll probably find. You’ll find some studies supporting your view, and some against it. Nothing unusual there. However, to date, it seems most research concludes marijuana is generally safe. In the least, it’s far less dangerous than alcohol, and if that hasn’t already brought society to it's knees, I don’t know what would.

But have no fear concerned parents! Research doesn’t yield indisputable truths. It merely provides us with the best information available to date. Research will probably continue. That’s the nature of science.

The important point is to acknowledge the scientific consensus, include it within our assessment, and reserve at least a little bit of skepticism for the conclusions both we and the scientific community formulate. Digging in our heels and insisting we know better than every professional in the field puts us one step away from the anti-vaccine movement, and two steps away from the Westboro Baptist folks. Simple-minded dogmatism sucks.

Morality and the Law

Whatever our conclusion about marijuana, I think it’s important we recognize the distinction between what the law permits and what we actually consider moral. Morality and the law are not synonymous. They serve different purposes. What our government fails to criminalize is not a statement about what our government deems moral.

Sometimes we criminalize things that aren’t immoral by any standard (e.g. building fires in your backyard or lighting off fireworks.) Other times, we deliberately fail to criminalize an act we all agree is immoral.

For instance, we do not criminalize gluttony, laziness, arrogance, or divorce yet many people would consider these immoral qualities and behaviors. Many religious types would consider blaspheming their deity or rejecting conversion immoral, but they do not insist that the government criminalize such actions (at least not nowadays and not in this part of the world, thank the Good Lord).

We make room for certain personal freedoms for many reasons. Sometimes it’s simply impractical or superfluous to criminalize an immoral behavior. We can’t exhaust our resources attempting to beat everyone into perfection (as if that would work). Other times, criminalizing an immoral behavior incites even more immorality or makes our living conditions even worse. The balance between enforcing personal morality and actually improving the world is a hard one to strike.

Ultimately, whether or not you personally determine all uses of recreational marijuana to be immoral, consider the fact that the law is here to make life better for everyone. It is not here to futility exhaust resources in attempting to beat everyone into our ideal moral mold. Sometimes a compromise is in everyone's best interest.

My Conclusion

Officially introducing the freedom to smoke marijuana may put one more potential addiction or vice on the table for everyone, but the evidence suggests it’s far less of a concern than a dozen others things which have been on the table for much longer. We may ultimately determine it is not good for society as a whole, but we have little reason to demonize it at this point.

Further, cultivating self-control in ourselves and in our children has always been a challenging task and far from an exact science. If we can maneuver ourselves around a dozen other worse obstacles towards this goal, we’ve probably got a fighting chance. This is not to say marijuana is of no concern. But we’ll need better evidence than the proverbial, “It’s bad, Mkay.”