North Dakota bishops call for rejection of recreational cannabis measure on state ballot

CNA Staff, Sep 12, 2024 / 13:05 pm

The bishops of North Dakota condemned a state ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana in a Tuesday statement, citing Church teaching on the harms of drug use as well as its negative physical and societal effects. 

Measure 5, if approved, would allow adults 21 and over to grow, sell, and use marijuana for recreational purposes. A similar ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana was rejected by North Dakota voters in 2018 and 2022.

“We believe individuals, families, and communities will be significantly harmed if recreational marijuana is legalized in our state,” the bishops wrote in the Sept. 10 statement. “We therefore strongly encourage Catholics and all other people of goodwill in North Dakota to vote ‘NO’ on Measure 5.”

Though cannabis is illegal on the federal level, recreational use of it is currently legal in 24 states and is on the ballot in three states: North Dakota, South Dakota, and Florida. 

The bishops noted that the substance can have harmful physical effects. 

“Marijuana is not the harmless drug that some imagine it to be,” they wrote. “Rather, there is ample evidence that regular marijuana use impairs brain functioning, stunts brain development, damages the lungs, and is linked to a lowered immune system.”

Marijuana can affect brain development in teenagers by impairing thinking, memory, and learning functions, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

“Regular marijuana use is also associated with mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and suicide,” the bishops continued. “Significant numbers of users become addicted to marijuana, and it often serves as a gateway to even harder drugs.”

Citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the bishops noted that as human life and health are gifts from God, the Church teaches that “the use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense” (CCC, 2291). 

“Thus, the political community has a duty to provide for ‘the protection of security and health [of the family], especially with respect to dangers like drugs’ (CCC, 2211),” the bishops continued. 

“Pope Francis recently spoke out against legalizing recreational drugs, calling such policies an ‘illusion’ that only leads to more drug use,” the bishops added.

The bishops also cited increased societal problems such as crime and hospitalizations due to cannabis use. 

“Other states that have gone down the road of legalizing recreational marijuana have seen spikes in drug use, mental health problems, crime, DUIs, emergency-room visits, hospitalizations, and workplace accidents, all associated with marijuana use. 

“Things have gotten so bad in Colorado that Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver issued a lengthy pastoral letter last December cataloging the extensive harms caused by recreational marijuana since its legalization in 2012, characterizing it as ‘disastrous to our society,’” the bishops noted. 

The legalization of marijuana “is destroying the health and social fabric of Colorado,” read a  2021 study on the impact of marijuana legalization in Colorado by Missouri Medicine. 

“Suicide, overdoses, ER visits, hospitalizations, and domestic and street violence due to cannabis are soaring while cannabis tax revenues are an anemic 0.98% of the 2021 state budget,” the study noted. 

“Likewise, just a few months ago, our brother bishops in Minnesota issued a pastoral letter warning of the serious risks of marijuana usage in the wake of its legalization last year,” the bishops added. “Why would we ever want to go down this same path?”