By Deborah Gyapong
Catholic News Service
OTTAWA, Ontario — Marijuana use across Canada may soon be legal in the eyes of the law, but it will remain a sin in the eyes of the church, said Canada’s bishops.
With the exception of cannabis use for medicinal purposes, consuming marijuana violates the virtue of temperance and should be avoided, said Msgr. Frank Leo, general secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“The virtue of temperance, as explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, ‘disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco or medicine,’” said Msgr. Leo. “In a particular way, the catechism underscores that the use of any drug, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is also a ‘grave offense’ — for the use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life.”
After the Canadian government’s Cannabis Act received royal assent in the Senate June 21, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced recreational use of marijuana would cease to be a crime as of Oct. 17. Canada is the second country in the world, following Uruguay, to legalize the drug nationwide.
Under the law, adults can possess up to 30 grams of cannabis, cultivate up to four marijuana plants per household and can use cannabis to prepare edible products. It will be sold in regulated outlets.
Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, whose cathedral opens onto a view of Parliament Hill, is not “hailing” the legalization, as are many others.
“Recreational use of substances — whether marijuana, other drugs and opioids — is part of a continuum of consumption of substances that allow people to escape what they regard as the burdens and challenges of life,” said Archbishop Prendergast.
“Bishops, priests, catechists, youth and pastoral care workers will need to give teaching on temperance and how it comes into play in the decisions we take,” he said. “Guidelines for confessors should help them assist penitents with wise guidance in this matter,” he added, comparing it to “addressing other contemporary problems such as the plague of pornography.”
