"Stay Away From Every Kind Of Evil"

According to Governing.com, twenty-six states and the District of Columbia currently have laws broadly legalizing marijuana in some form. More than likely, it won't be too long before every state will have similar laws. However, just because man-made laws will be in place regarding the dispensing and use of marijuana, the obvious question we need to ask is, "Just how beneficial to man is the marijuana drug?"

1) This Mayo Clinic site, provides us with information on the uses of medical marijuana.
2) Healthline.com provides us with information regarding the effects of marijuana on the human body and mind (place and hold your mouse over each designated section of the illustrated body for more information). Also, see articles here and here.
3) Physician Dr. Marc Siegel states in this Fox News article: "Regular marijuana use carries significant health risks" (see USA Today article and see these 27 slides).

As we can plainly see from the above three article links, marijuana use, just like any other drug, has side effects -- some temporary -- some lasting. We need to know and understand, that anything that alters the natural function of the human body and mind, is not good (including prescription drugs). When reading this article from USA Today, my eyes immediately noticed what Kenneth Lynch wrote regarding the downside of legalizing marijuana in the comments section:

"After pot was legalized, I believe big businesses took over and most people aren’t able to afford legal pot — but the demand has grown. This could have led to even more drug dealers than before because they sell cheap pot to those who can’t afford the expensive legal stuff. Crime increases, drug use is up, people spend their hard-earned money on pot instead of paying their bills. It’s a lose-lose situation. The only winners are those in the pot business. Just like with alcohol and tobacco, big business preys on the weak."

Beloved, after looking at all of the above information, this writer's recommendation regarding the use of marijuana, whether medicinal or otherwise, is the exact same recommendation as the inspired Apostle Paul provides us in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 NLT: "Stay away from every kind of evil"- regarding the word, "evil" in this verse - see Strong's 4190 here.

Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets

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