The Church seems to see legal marijuana as a foundational threat to its social services—and theologically suspect. “The argument here would be that if you’re using money to buy marijuana to get high, instead of using the money for other purposes, then that’s wrong,” said Father Richard McGowan, a Jesuit priest who studies drug and tobacco legalization at Boston College. “Remember: The big thing theologically for the Church is that no matter what gifts you have, they should be for the greater glory of God.”
The Church presumably believes that if recreational marijuana is legal, people will consume more of it, undermining the Church’s efforts to build families and communities. “They’re trying to ... alleviate poverty and improve family welfare,” said McGowan. “This is gong to make it that much more difficult.” As the Knights of Columbus added in an emailed statement, “The focus of the state of Massachusetts should be on helping people, not giving them easier access to the false hope inherent in drug use, which does not solve problems but compounds them.”
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