And no, they're not all Rastafari …
In a shocking turn of events, a coalition of churches voted last month in favor of a resolution to end America's "War on Drugs."
With gay marriage no longer a debatable issue in America, Christians are now turning their God-inspired voices to the right to get high — something everyone could stand behind (unless they're too high to stand).
The New England Conference of United Methodist Churches say they, “urge the creation of a genuinely new system for the care and restoration of victims, offenders, criminal justice officials, and the community as a whole.”
After all, between killing dinosaurs and making women out of human ribs, God was pretty busy creating the drugs everyone loves, from Afghan Kush to South American Ayahuasca and yes, even Columbian Bam Bam.
"Sorry buddy, but your bones are going to make some killer fertilizer for all this weed."
Think, if God did create drugs and gave us free will to choose whether or not to use them, why can't everyone do so without the government turning to persecution? It's not like users harming anyone besides themselves, for the most part, and if someone becomes addicted, shouldn't they be able to get treatment instead of being thrown in jail with murderers and rapists?
Right now, anyone can buy a carton of cigarettes and chain-smoke them on the front porch until the whole neighborhood got cancer — and police wouldn't likely care. But the second someone lights up a joint in the park, cops come running. Sounds a little crazy, right?
Free will aside, the churches' resolution also notes how prohibition is a breeding ground for organized crime and violence. America felt this during alcohol's prohibition — making something illegal doesn't instantly make people stop using it. Prohibition just makes drugs more expensive and harder to find, but the people that really want their fix will find it, and they don't care who they're buying it from, or what it's cut with, or what cartel is profiting off of them.
Wouldn't it be better for the user to get drugs from a government regulated facility that tracks quality, amount purchased and even spent profits to help the community? Hell, we've already seen the positive effects of legal marijuana in Colorado. A little federal regulation is far greater than making all drugs illegal and hoping the police can keep it out of other towns (spoiler — they can't).
Regardless of what our government chooses to do, it is a good sign to see Christians putting their persuasive powers towards something that could actually progress civilization — instead of keeping us stuck forever in the 17th century.
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