What does the Catholic Church think about smoking weed?

Answer 1

This is a multi-layered answer. Firstly, the Catholic Church seeks to support the laws of the countries in which it operates, providing of course that they are not contrary to proper Faith and Morals. Most countries are very strict on the regulation of drugs and Catholics must obey the laws accordingly regarding their possession, distribution and use. Strictly speaking, outside of civil law, drugs in themselves are amoral. What makes them sinful is their ability to impair reason and cloud judgment as well as be detrimental to the body. A drug that causes unconsciousness or impairments can be taken as medicine or anesthetic when appropriate (proper place, supervision, necessity to prevent or halt illness or facilitate surgery). Regarding recreational use, again, a drug can be taken in careful amounts so as to not suspend reason or judgment or cause harm. Alcohol is classified as a drug and Catholics may certainly partake of it to a point, usually when one is beginning to feel a buzz it is an indication to stop or radically slow down one's consumption. Regarding other substances more commonly regarded as "drugs", these are usually so addictive and powerful as to be impossible to sample without falling into sin. Because of this, most drugs should not be touched in the first place and indeed, most are classified as illegal anyway by civil law in most countries.

Answer 2

Catholics view any substance that causes someone to lose control of themselves (alcohol, drugs, etc.) in a poor light. That doesn't mean that Catholics object to someone having a beer or two, but they do object to someone getting high or drunk, because that person is making themselves a risk to others as well as their own self.

And Catholics do, of course, believe that addiction to any substance such as drugs is unhealthy for both the body and the soul. ---- The Catholic Church also enjoins on her members obedience to the just laws of the land in which they live. Catholics are not free to obey God's law and disobey the laws of man. To use or distribute a a controlled substance in a manner prohibited by law would likely be an objectively serious sin.

Answer 3

The think it is bad for your health and unaccepted.

Roman Catholic AnswerThere are a couple of things from the Church's teaching that would apply. First of all, you shouldn't do anything to harm your body. Secondly, anything that would relax your inhibitions might lead to sin, so it would be sinful. Thirdly, it is a sin to disobey any laws of your country of residence, which are not, of themselves, immoral.

Answer 4

The Church has no direct teaching on marijuana that I know of, but it does have several relevant teachings, including:

1) Christians are bound to observe all laws of the state in which they live that are not immoral. In other words, if the state passed a law that said you could do something immoral (like abortion-the killing of an innocent child) you should not observe that law; but if the law is moral - like you may not use illegal drugs, then you must observe that law.

2) You body is a gift from God and the temple of the Holy Spirit, anything that you do that would injure that, or cause scandal or lead another into sin would be a sin.

However you look at it, all the teaching of the Church points to the immoral character of using marijuana.