COMMENTARY
tvc.dsj.org | January 16, 2018
27
Recreational Marijuana: Pleasure, Panacea, Poison?
By Father Gerald D. Coleman, P.S.S.
Adjunct professor, Graduate Department of
Pastoral Ministries, Santa Clara University
The New York Times concluded its December 28
article about the January 1, 2018 legalization of rec-
reational marijuana in California by stating, “People
are gaining confi dence as legalization spreads, and
the growth is going to be huge.” Medical marijuana
is legal in 28 states, and recreational marijuana legal
in 8 states. Companies investing in marijuana are
growing exponentially, well-exampled in Silicon
Valley and Oakland, especially since selling mari-
juana in California has the potential to generate $5
billion yearly.
The moral slope is worrisome and dangerous as
society grows in its support of recreational mari-
juana use (about 58 percent of Americans). California
led the nation in legalizing medical marijuana in
1996. As demonstrated in the 2013 documentary Weed
by CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta,
positive medi