The time has come to outline the dangers and regression that theology presents to us, has presented to us, and will continue to present to us lest we get wiser.
Part one of this glorious series is about drugs, moreover, substances that are illegal. Marijuana is a leaf that grows naturally from the ground, and has properties that are both spiritual and medicinal. Theology and religion have infested the laws of the United States since the beginning. Some would argue that it is impossible to separate ‘morally right’ from Christianity… but those people would be wrong.
Marijuana is illegal, and in fact, in some states a felony. It would be nice to think that the reason the federal government keeps pot growers in jail for their entire lives is for the greater good, to save people from harm or danger. But the fact that cigarettes and alcohol are legal proves that that isn’t so. To date, marijuana has been known to cause zero deaths, while alcohol has NO approved medicinal use, has an easily achievable lethal dose, causes thousands of automobile related deaths alone, and can cause massive liver and heart failures. Alcohol is responsible for 100,000 deaths a year, and cigarettes are responsible for even more. In fact, it is more dangerous to drive a car, fly in an airplane, or be a park ranger than it is to use marijuana.
So why the law? Because it is a sin. Believe it or not, religious people stay awake at night concerning themselves with what you do in your own home. Its about sin! We punish sinners. There are simply certain forms of pleasures that Americans are not allowed to pursue because less than intelligent people believe them to be sinful. You see, God is all knowing and all seeing, so your privacy is just a false sense of security. The religious believe this, so they don’t feel that you deserve to be responsible for yourself. It is sheer madness! Anti-sodomy laws, anti-oral sex laws… all still valid in many states.
It doesn’t matter what logical science says about these things. Pre-marital sex has no known negative effect on humans or societies, yet some wish to concern themselves with the ’sin’ of others. Often, the harder you push, the more someone will push you back, its a basic law of Newtonian physics. The more you tell kids that sex is wrong unless ordained by a flying omnipotent being, the more they’ll want to do it, the more they will do it, and the more unwanted pregnancies due to improper education there will be. But that is for another part to this series.
More people are imprisoned for nonviolent drug offenses in the United States than are incarcerated, for any reason, in all of Western Europe (which has a larger population than the U.S.). We spend $20 billion dollars a year on this. (ONDCP Drug Data Summary March 2003). Does this seem worth it? Aren’t there Islamic extremists planning our demise because of our heathen religious beliefs? None of this makes sense really. But that is theology: non-sensible, illogical, emotional thinking. The real problem is pleasure. We all know that Christians don’t get along with pleasure very well. The fact that these drugs cause more pleasure per gram of drug than say alcohol or cigarettes is why they remain illegal. As Sam Harris put it in his book The End of Faith, “When one looks at our drug laws-indeed, at our vice laws altogether-the only organizing principle that appears to make sense of them is that anything which might radically eclipse prayer or procreative sexuality as a source of pleasure has been outlawed. In particular, any drug…to which spiritual or religious significant has been ascribed by its users has been prohibited. Concerns about the health of our citizens, or about their productivity, are red herrings in this debate, as the legality of alcohol and cigarettes attests”.
Enjoy.