Not a Pot of Gold

Yesterday, the media was filled with images of mostly young people all smiling while waiting in line to be the first to buy pot in one of the numerous locations around the city and suburbs. And I thought. how sad.

To be absolutely clear, I have never tried pot. Never wanted to. Not even when I was in college back in the late 60s when it seemed like everyone else in the world was doing it. Even a Frum friend of mine who I am still very close with today. I also do not drink nor have any interest in drinking any alcoholic beverages accept for wine on Shabbos and Yom Tov - in quantities not nearly enough to get high on.

For me the desire to get artificially high is a sign of depression at some level. Getting high is a way to escape that feeling. Which is the same thing alcohol consumption does. I otherwise never understood the desire to scramble your brain by getting high on drugs or alcohol.

I realize of course that with respect to alcohol consumption, this is not the popular view. But it is my view nonetheless.

Until now only one of these vices were legal. Now both are. At least here in my town. (Although pot is still illegal on a national level and I suppose federal authorities can still arrest you for committing a federal crime - that is not going to happen. The Feds have more important fish to fry.)

Truth is - it doesn’t really matter that much whether it is legal or not. Just about anyone could score some weed any day of the week with great ease. This is apparently even true for Orthodox Jews.  Sadly I am told that there is at least one (supposedly) Orthodox Jew that can get it for you – simply for the asking.  And he’s been doing it for quite some time now.

So why not make it legal since those that want it can get it so easily, anyway?

For one thing, more people will try it and use it. I’m pretty sure that there will be a sizable increase in the number of people smoking pot or eating marijuana laced brownies. Making it legal removed that last bit of negative aura. It is now sanctioned by a government elected by the people – thus a societal imprimatur has been placed on something that not all that long ago was illegal. And for good reason in my view.

I was disappointed though not surprised that Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker legalized the drug. I know the state badly needs revenue. Pot will be taxed and that will surely help in this regard. But is it worth the price? Which might be counted in the increased number of deaths and injuries that will surely take place?

Do we know all we need to know about a drug that affects the brain? Are there enough definitive studies to know whether this drug does any long term damage to the brain not experienced until used over a long period of time? But even if it doesn’t, what about marijuana being a gateway drug to other more serious and harmful drugs like heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamines ? After awhile the high one gets from smoking marijuana wears off. When that happens seekers of an artificial high will ‘graduate’ to stronger drugs to achieve that same high. Those drugs are both addictive and dangerous. And still illegal.

There are other reasons why this law should not have been passed. Getting high impairs your judgment. Driving a car under those conditions is much the same thing as driving drunk. How many people have been killed or sustained serious lifetime injuries being hit by a car driven by a drunk driver?!   That’s why driving while intoxicated (DWI) is illegal. I’m sure that applies to being high on pot. The difference is that drunk drivers can be given breathalyzer tests to determine if they are legally drunk. Pot smokers cannot. To the best of my knowledge there are no tests like that for pot.

But even if there were, there is little doubt in my mind that the number of serious injuries and deaths caused will increase because of the increased availability and use of pot. How much revenue is worth the life of such a victim?

There is another consideration for observant Jews. Which is whether there are any Halachic issues with pot. Although written decades ago. R’ Moshe Feinstein said it was absolutely against Halacha for a variety of reasons.(Igros Moshe, Yoreh De’ah 3:35). And recently there was a notice signed by many prominent rabbis from a wide spectrum of Hashkafos here in Chicago that said the same thing.

Bottom line – Nothing good can come from this. And yet with all these negative implications, that’s the direction this country is going.  So sad that our current lawmakers can’t see that. I hope the observant Jewish community can.