{"id":5638,"date":"2018-01-06T16:27:13","date_gmt":"2018-01-06T22:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5638"},"modified":"2018-01-06T16:27:13","modified_gmt":"2018-01-06T22:27:13","slug":"legalization-of-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/06\/legalization-of-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Legalization of Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Johnny O. Trail<\/strong>
\nOur last presidential election caused many to pause and consider the moral climate of our great nation.\u00a0 It would be wrongheaded to assume that the America of a few decades ago is still the same nation today. \u00a0Regardless of your feelings, regarding of the outcome of the presidential portion of the election, two votes have caused much concern among God fearing people in our nation.\u00a0 Two more states voted to legalize gay marriage and two states voted in favor of making recreational marijuana legal.\u00a0 Colorado and Washington voted to make the drug legal despite ongoing opposition from the federal government.
\nEven in a free society there must be limits to personal freedom.\u00a0 It is the hallmark of a great people to control themselves even in a nation that extends great freedoms to its citizens.\u00a0 There are several biblical and common sense reasons to oppose the legalization of marijuana.
\nFirstly and most importantly, it is wrong for a child of God to put things into his body that are harmful.\u00a0 We are called upon to be good stewards of our physical bodies\u2014after all they were created by God.\u00a0 I Corinthians 6.19-20 \u201cWhat?\u00a0 Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own.\u00a0 \u00a0For ye are bought with a price:\u00a0 therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God\u2019s.\u201d
\nWith this fact in mind, drugs destroy a person\u2019s essential humanity.\u00a0 We were all created in God\u2019s spiritual image.\u00a0 Genesis 1.26 \u201cAnd God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Drugs destroy the lives of those who choose to use them and of those around them.\u00a0 At present, we have thousands of people who are addicted to marijuana.\u00a0 If marijuana is further legalized, we would have tens of thousands who are addicted.\u00a0 Is it moral and just for a society to legalize drugs and constrain future generations to the problems created by legal drug use?\u00a0 It is by no means.\u00a0 The policy passed by Colorado has been described as \u201cleft\u201d of the policy in the Netherlands (http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/ABC_Univision\/News\/colorado-washington-legalize-recreational-marijuana\/story?id=17656515#.UJpQHIZRFI4).
\nFinally, drugs, by their addictive nature, can become the equivalent of an idol to the one using the narcotic.\u00a0 Anything which supplants the supremacy of God in our lives is sinful.\u00a0 This writer has personally known of addicts who have lost everything to obtain the next high.\u00a0 Considering the addictive nature of drugs, can we honestly say that legalizing narcotics will not result in more of the same behavior but on a far worse scale?
\nThe negative effects of marijuana on our bodies are legion.\u00a0 It is far from being a harmless recreational drug.\u00a0 One who uses marijuana is 104 times more likely to progress to cocaine (www.emedicinehealth.com\/substanceabuse\/article_em.htm<\/a>).\u00a0 As with most other forms of drug use, marijuana is coupled with a plethora of other substances to enhance its intoxicating effects.\u00a0 That is, drug and substance abuse tends to evolve to strong substances and greater degrees of intoxification.\u00a0 Other negative effects are listed here:<\/p>\n