The New Intoxication - part 9: Assessment

     In the last post in this series I concluded my plea for consistent thought regarding the topic at hand and in this post I intend to make a brief assesment of the Church's consideration of the topic of the consumption of intoxicating substances.

One of the greatest problems surrounding the American Church’s consideration of the topic of intoxication seems to be one of classification and legalization. The legal restrictions of a substance’s use capitalize on, or necessarily create and reinforce its cultural taboo. While at the same time, these restrictions also generate rebellion. Alternatively, the legal permissiveness and the accepted medicinal efficacy of a substance tends to legitimize its use, even in the face of information that might prove it to be of more physical, emotional and thus societal harm than good. So when a substance is illegal then it is difficult for us to see any medicinal value it may have and when a substance is regarded by the popular culture as medically necessary then it is difficult for many of us to accept its possible negative repercussions. In yet other cases a substance may become illegal in a society solely because it has first become culturally disapproved. This very article and the promotion of similar philosophies in other venues, some would argue, lends to the legitimization of the use of substances which in their view should remain forbidden in all cases—consider for example the perception of tobacco use in America. As the Church considers the topic of intoxication, we must also remember the largeness of our world and know that simply because a substance in one country is illegal or culturally disapproved, or both, doesn't mean that its use is universally immoral. Even so, we also must concede that it is immoral to break laws to use a substance which may, even wrongly so, be scheduled as illicit—it isn't likely that being asked to refrain from any substance would be equal to asking one to sin. Also, just because a culture condones the moderate use of a substance does not mean that it is rightly permitted or that its use is universally moral.

In the next post in this series I will begin a two part conclusion to this article, "The New Intoxication".