No, the measure legalizing pot smoking does not change my mind about the morality of either Cannabis Sativa or its use. I don’t think any drugs are in and of themselves moral or immoral, but the purposes for which they are produced tell a different story.
Heroin and all the opiates are wonderful pain killers, and in England heroin is used for pain control with terminal patients. That is clearly a moral use of the drug. On the other hand, to produce heroin for the purpose of making millions of dollars off of addicts, that is clearly an immoral use of heroin. Same thing with cocaine. Same thing with pot.
Left unsaid here is any comment about excessive use of these things by people. Rather than get too far into that one, I will end by saying that after 30 years of talking with people addicted to all different sorts of drugs, mostly alcohol of course, I am entirely convinced that addiction is not a moral issue at all. Addiction really is a disease, and with very few exceptions victims of diseases mostly are not at fault for getting the disease itself. However, victims of diseases are responsible for recognizing their symptoms and getting treatment for their disease, and that is as true of addictive patterns as it is of cancer. Turning the use of any mood altering substances into a moral question, and as a society we tend to do that, inhibits recognition of diseases of addiction, and makes the problem of addiction worse.
So again, to end where I began, the morality of drugs of any type is mostly not wrapped up in their use; the morality of drugs is mostly wrapped in the purposes for which they are produced. If we could get that straight as a society, we would be much better off.
