Why No One Should Care What the Pope Has to Say About Marijuana

Earlier this month, Pope Francis indirectly voiced his opposition to the wave of marijuana legalization efforts sweeping the globe, specifically in the United States.

According to the Associated Press, while addressing a drug-enforcement conference meeting in Rome earlier this month the Supreme Leader of the Catholic Church commented, “[attempts to legalize recreational drugs] are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects.”

Why should anyone care what il Papa has to say on drug legalization of any kind anyway? The Catholic church never seriously addressed its open-armed position to child abusers and openly drugs its own congregations with a psychotropic substance. There is no logical or moral reason anyone should even care what the Catholic church says, mainly because they harbor pedophiles.

This is a thurible, it’s basically a Catholic open-air bong.

Anyone who has ever (whether or not voluntarily) dabbled in Catholicism is familiar with a thurible, even if they aren’t familiar with its proper name. A thurible is an ornately decorated incense burner swung on chains in the general direction of an assembly during such sacred celebrations as the Stations of the Cross, where the devout go through a series of recited prayers while alternately sitting-standing-kneeling in the general direction of an exorbitantly beautiful and yet terrifying image of Jesus marching to his death at Gethsemane.

What is usually burning inside the thurible is Frankincense, one of the gifts the three wise men brought to Baby Jesus and an organic psychoactive drug that when inhaled relieves depression and provides inhalers a sense of happiness, euphoria. Apparently this drug makes Catholic congregants feel so good they simply look the other way when confronted with the reality that the religion is overrun with career pedophiles protected at every level, even straight to the Vatican itself.

As a quick disclaimer, I am completely allowed to criticize the Catholic church as much as I see fit. Not only did I enjoy 12 years in the Catholic education system, attend nearly 1,000 Catholic masses (+/- a margin of error of 200 for school retreat masses, holidays and all-school masses held in a high school gym) and can recite a Hail Mary in 5.32 seconds, I was forced to verbally profess my loyalty, support and devoted prayers to the venerable Cardinal Roger Mahony, who served as the Archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 through 2011, when his instrumental role in sweeping more than a few child sex scandals under the rug and shuffling child molesting priests around came to light.

This isn’t old news either, its developing news. This case is still playing itself out in California courts. Although this is undeniably the most progressive papacy in the history of the church (even more progressive than the great leap into the future the church made during Vatican II), Pope Francis, has made no meaningful steps to address and correct the situation. There have been no mass firing of priests and no structural reorganization to weed out offenders and those who protect them, they continue to harbor pedophiles.

At least 5 percent of the Catholic clergy is estimated to be involved in sexual abuse against minors and congregants worldwide. There are documented cases on all six inhabited continents (and I’m sure when Antarctica is warm enough to live on it will happen there too). In the long term, the victims of childhood sexual abuse are 40 to 60 percent more likely to abuse drugs than those who were not abused. They have a higher incidence of eating disorders, depression and suicide. They live with the consequences for the rest of their lives, which are statistically shorter.

How can the church not take action on this front and still be considered a reliable source of anything? If the Pope was a reliable source on anything, anything at all, he would have already formed an opinion in line with science on cannabis, policy and the Drug War, that safe access to medical cannabis is a human right. This is true whether or not it is recognized by the Catholic church or the federal government or anyone but the person who is using it to feel better from whatever condition they are seeking relief from, especially if they are seeking to treat the lifelong symptoms of PTSD brought on by childhood sexual abuse.

As a true Catholic, not a part of the rapist-establishment, Pope Francis would be one of the most vocal opponents to the War on Drugs and all its “unintended consequences” such as bloody international drug wars, rampant addiction and mass incarcerations.

But Pope Francis is an establishment pontiff. He harbors pedophiles.