Pope speaks against legalizing drugs
He told delegates at a Rome event that even limited steps don't bring "the desired effects."
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis condemned the legalization of recreational drugs as a flawed and failed experiment as he lent his voice Friday to a debate that is raging in the United States and elsewhere.
Francis told delegates attending a Rome drug enforcement conference that even limited steps to legalize recreational drugs "are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects."
"Let me state this in the clearest terms possible," he said. "The problem of drug use is not solved with drugs!" He added: "Drug addiction is an evil, and with evil there can be no yielding or compromise. To think that harm can be reduced by permitting drug addicts to use narcotics in no way resolves the problem."
Francis has years of experience ministering to addicts in the drug-laden slums of the Argentine capital, and he frequently has railed against drug abuse and the drug traffickers who fuel the market. But his comments Friday marked his strongest and clearest yet as pope directed at the movement to legalize recreational pot, which has been gaining ground in recent years, particularly in the U.S. and South America.
Recreational use of marijuana has been legalized in Colorado and Washington state, and Oregon may vote on the issue this year.
In Francis' own homeland of Argentina, personal possession of controlled substances has been decriminalized. Next door in Brazil, authorities don't punish personal drug use, although trafficking and transporting controlled substances is a crime. In December, neighboring Uruguay became the first nation to approve marijuana legalization and regulation altogether.
Oddly enough, Argentina's drug czar, who believes Argentina deserves a debate about whether to follow Uruguay's lead, is a Roman Catholic priest.
But Francis believes just the opposite. In his comments Friday, Francis did not address the use of medical marijuana and it's unclear whether his denunciation of the legalization movement encompasses that therapy.